THE JUNGLE BOOK
Now Rann the Kite brings home the night
That Mang the Bat sets free—
The herds are shut in byre and hut
For loosed till dawn are we
This is the hour of pride and power
Talon and tush and claw
Oh hear the call—Good hunting all
That keep the Jungle Law
NightSong in the Jungle
MOWGLIS BROTHERS
IT was seven oclock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his days rest scratched himself yawned and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in the tips Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling squealing cubs and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived Augrh said Father Wolf it is time to hunt again and he was going to spring downhill when a little shadow with a bushy tail crossed the threshold and whined Good luck go with you O Chief of the Wolves and good luck and strong white teeth go with the noble children that they may never forget the hungry in this world
GOOD LUCK GO WITH YOU O CHIEF OF THE WOLVES
GOOD LUCK GO WITH YOU O CHIEF OF THE WOLVES
It was the jackal—Tabaqui the Dishlicker—and the wolves of India despise Tabaqui because he runs about making mischief and telling tales and eating rags and pieces of leather from the village rubbishheaps They are afraid of him too because Tabaqui more than any one else in the jungle is apt to go mad and then he forgets that he was ever afraid of any one and runs through the forest biting everything in his way Even the tiger hides when little Tabaqui goes mad for madness is the most disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature We call it hydrophobia but they call it dewanee—the madness—and run
Enter then and look said Father Wolf stiffly but there is no food here
For a wolf no said Tabaqui but for so mean a person as myself a dry bone is a good feast Who are we the Gidurlog the Jackal People to pick and choose He scuttled to the back of the cave where he found the bone of a buck with some meat on it and sat cracking the end merrily
All thanks for this good meal he said licking his lips How beautiful are the noble children How large are their eyes And so young too Indeed indeed I might have remembered that the children of kings are men from the beginning
Now Tabaqui knew as well as any one else that there is nothing so unlucky as to compliment children to their faces and it pleased him to see Mother and Father Wolf look uncomfortable
Tabaqui sat still rejoicing in the mischief that he had made and then he said spitefully
Shere Khan the Big One has shifted his huntinggrounds He will hunt among these hills during the next moon so he has told me
Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River twenty miles away
He has no right Father Wolf began angrily By the Law of the Jungle he has no right to change his quarters without fair warning He will frighten every head of game within ten miles and I—I have to kill for two these days
His mother did not call him Lungri the Lame One for nothing said Mother Wolf quietly He has been lame in one foot from his birth That is why he has only killed cattle Now the villagers of the Waingunga are angry with him and he has come here to make our villagers angry They will scour the jungle for him when he is far away and we and our children must run when the grass is set alight Indeed we are very grateful to Shere Khan
Shall I tell him of your gratitude said Tabaqui
Out snapped Father Wolf Out and hunt with thy master Thou hast done harm enough for one night
I go said Tabaqui quietly Ye can hear Shere Khan below in the thickets I might have saved myself the message
Father Wolf listened and in the dark valley that ran down to a little river he heard the dry angry snarly singsong whine of a tiger who has caught nothing and does not care if all the jungle knows it
The fool said Father Wolf To begin a nights work with that noise Does he think that our buck are like his fat Waingunga bullocks
Hsh It is neither bullock nor buck that he hunts tonight said Mother Wolf it is Man The whine had changed to a sort of humming purr that seemed to roll from every quarter of the compass It was the noise that bewilders woodcutters and gipsies sleeping in the open and makes them run sometimes into the very mouth of the tiger
Man said Father Wolf showing all his white teeth Faugh Are there not enough beetles and frogs in the tanks that he must eat Man—and on our ground too
The Law of the Jungle which never orders anything without a reason forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill and then he must hunt outside the huntinggrounds of his pack or tribe The real reason for this is that mankilling means sooner or later the arrival of white men on elephants with guns and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches Then everybody in the jungle suffers The reason the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him They say too—and it is true—that maneaters become mangy and lose their teeth
The purr grew louder and ended in the fullthroated Aaarh of the tigers charge
Then there was a howl—an untigerish howl—from Shere Khan He has missed said Mother Wolf What is it
Father Wolf ran out a few paces and heard Shere Khan muttering and mumbling savagely as he tumbled about in the scrub
The fool has had no more sense than to jump at a woodcutters campfire so he has burned his feet said Father Wolf with a grunt Tabaqui is with him
Something is coming uphill said Mother Wolf twitching one ear Get ready
The bushes rustled a little in the thicket and Father Wolf dropped with his haunches under him ready for his leap Then if you had been watching you would have seen the most wonderful thing in the world—the wolf checked in midspring He made his bound before he saw what it was he was jumping at and then he tried to stop himself The result was that he shot up straight into the air for four or five feet landing almost where he left ground
Man he snapped A mans cub Look
Directly in front of him holding on by a low branch stood a naked brown baby who could just walk—as soft and as dimpled a little thing as ever came to a wolfs cave at night He looked up into Father Wolfs face and laughed
Is that a mans cub said Mother Wolf I have never seen one Bring it here
A wolf accustomed to moving his own cubs can if necessary mouth an egg without breaking it and though Father Wolfs jaws closed right on the childs back not a tooth even scratched the skin as he laid it down among the cubs
How little How naked and—how bold said Mother Wolf softly The baby was pushing his way between the cubs to get close to the warm hide Ahai He is taking his meal with the others And so this is a mans cub Now was there ever a wolf that could boast of a mans cub among her children
I have heard now and again of such a thing but never in our pack or in my time said Father Wolf He is altogether without hair and I could kill him with a touch of my foot But see he looks up and is not afraid
The moonlight was blocked out of the mouth of the cave for Shere Khans great square head and shoulders were thrust into the entrance Tabaqui behind him was squeaking My Lord my Lord it went in here
Shere Khan does us great honor said Father Wolf but his eyes were very angry What does Shere Khan need
My quarry A mans cub went this way said Shere Khan Its parents have run off Give it to me
Shere Khan had jumped at a woodcutters campfire as Father Wolf had said and was furious from the pain of his burned feet But Father Wolf knew that the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to come in by Even where he was Shere Khans shoulders and fore paws were cramped for want of room as a mans would be if he tried to fight in a barrel
The Wolves are a free people said Father Wolf They take orders from the Head of the Pack and not from any striped cattlekiller The mans cub is ours—to kill if we choose
Ye choose and ye do not choose What talk is this of choosing By the Bull that I killed am I to stand nosing into your dogs den for my fair dues It is I Shere Khan who speak
The tigers roar filled the cave with thunder Mother Wolf shook herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward her eyes like two green moons in the darkness facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan
THE TIGERS ROAR FILLED THE CAVE WITH THUNDER
THE TIGERS ROAR FILLED THE CAVE WITH THUNDER
And it is I Raksha the Demon who answer The mans cub is mine Lungri—mine to me He shall not be killed He shall live to run with the Pack and to hunt with the Pack and in the end look you hunter of little naked cubs—frogeater—fishkiller he shall hunt thee Now get hence or by the Sambhur that I killed I eat no starved cattle back thou goest to thy mother burned beast of the jungle lamer than ever thou camest into the world Go
Father Wolf looked on amazed He had almost forgotten the days when he won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves when she ran in the Pack and was not called the Demon for compliments sake Shere Khan might have faced Father Wolf but he could not stand up against Mother Wolf for he knew that where he was she had all the advantage of the ground and would fight to the death So he backed out of the cavemouth growling and when he was clear he shouted
Each dog barks in his own yard We will see what the Pack will say to this fostering of mancubs The cub is mine and to my teeth he will come in the end O bushtailed thieves
Mother Wolf threw herself down panting among the cubs and Father Wolf said to her gravely
Shere Khan speaks this much truth The cub must be shown to the Pack Wilt thou still keep him Mother
Keep him she gasped He came naked by night alone and very hungry yet he was not afraid Look he has pushed one of my babes to one side already And that lame butcher would have killed him and would have run off to the Waingunga while the villagers here hunted through all our lairs in revenge Keep him Assuredly I will keep him Lie still little frog O thou Mowgli—for Mowgli the Frog I will call thee—the time will come when thou wilt hunt Shere Khan as he has hunted thee
But what will our Pack say said Father Wolf
The Law of the Jungle lays down very clearly that any wolf may when he marries withdraw from the Pack he belongs to but as soon as his cubs are old enough to stand on their feet he must bring them to the Pack Council which is generally held once a month at full moon in order that the other wolves may identify them After that inspection the cubs are free to run where they please and until they have killed their first buck no excuse is accepted if a grown wolf of the Pack kills one of them The punishment is death where the murderer can be found and if you think for a minute you will see that this must be so
Father Wolf waited till his cubs could run a little and then on the night of the Pack Meeting took them and Mowgli and Mother Wolf to the Council Rock—a hilltop covered with stones and boulders where a hundred wolves could hide Akela the great gray Lone Wolf who led all the Pack by strength and cunning lay out at full length on his rock and below him sat forty or more wolves of every size and color from badgercolored veterans who could handle a buck alone to young black threeyearolds who thought they could The Lone Wolf had led them for a year now He had fallen twice into a wolftrap in his youth and once he had been beaten and left for dead so he knew the manners and customs of men
THE MEETING AT THE COUNCIL ROCK
THE MEETING AT THE COUNCIL ROCK
There was very little talking at the Rock The cubs tumbled over one another in the center of the circle where their mothers and fathers sat and now and again a senior wolf would go quietly up to a cub look at him carefully and return to his place on noiseless feet Sometimes a mother would push her cub far out into the moonlight to be sure that he had not been overlooked Akela from his rock would cry Ye know the Law—ye know the Law Look well O Wolves And the anxious mothers would take up the call Look—look well O Wolves
At last—and Mother Wolfs neckbristles lifted as the time came—Father Wolf pushed Mowgli the Frog as they called him into the center where he sat laughing and playing with some pebbles that glistened in the moonlight
Akela never raised his head from his paws but went on with the monotonous cry Look well A muffled roar came up from behind the rocks—the voice of Shere Khan crying The cub is mine give him to me What have the Free People to do with a mans cub
Akela never even twitched his ears All he said was Look well O Wolves What have the Free People to do with the orders of any save the Free People Look well
There was a chorus of deep growls and a young wolf in his fourth year flung back Shere Khans question to Akela What have the Free People to do with a mans cub
Now the Law of the Jungle lays down that if there is any dispute as to the right of a cub to be accepted by the Pack he must be spoken for by at least two members of the Pack who are not his father and mother
Who speaks for this cub said Akela Among the Free People who speaks There was no answer and Mother Wolf got ready for what she knew would be her last fight if things came to fighting
Then the only other creature who is allowed at the Pack Council—Baloo the sleepy brown bear who teaches the wolf cubs the Law of the Jungle old Baloo who can come and go where he pleases because he eats only nuts and roots and honey—rose up on his hind quarters and grunted
The mans cub—the mans cub he said I speak for the mans cub There is no harm in a mans cub I have no gift of words but I speak the truth Let him run with the Pack and be entered with the others I myself will teach him
We need yet another said Akela Baloo has spoken and he is our teacher for the young cubs Who speaks besides Baloo
A black shadow dropped down into the circle It was Bagheera the Black Panther inky black all over but with the panther markings showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk Everybody knew Bagheera and nobody cared to cross his path for he was as cunning as Tabaqui as bold as the wild buffalo and as reckless as the wounded elephant But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree and a skin softer than down
O Akela and ye the Free People he purred I have no right in your assembly but the Law of the Jungle says that if there is a doubt which is not a killing matter in regard to a new cub the life of that cub may be bought at a price And the Law does not say who may or may not pay that price Am I right
Good good said the young wolves who are always hungry Listen to Bagheera The cub can be bought for a price It is the Law
Knowing that I have no right to speak here I ask your leave
Speak then cried twenty voices
To kill a naked cub is shame Besides he may make better sport for you when he is grown Baloo has spoken in his behalf Now to Baloos word I will add one bull and a fat one newly killed not half a mile from here if ye will accept the mans cub according to the Law Is it difficult
There was a clamor of scores of voices saying What matter He will die in the winter rains He will scorch in the sun What harm can a naked frog do us Let him run with the Pack Where is the bull Bagheera Let him be accepted And then came Akelas deep bay crying Look well—look well O Wolves
Mowgli was still playing with the pebbles and he did not notice when the wolves came and looked at him one by one At last they all went down the hill for the dead bull and only Akela Bagheera Baloo and Mowglis own wolves were left Shere Khan roared still in the night for he was very angry that Mowgli had not been handed over to him
Ay roar well said Bagheera under his whiskers for the time comes when this naked thing will make thee roar to another tune or I know nothing of Man
It was well done said Akela Men and their cubs are very wise He may be a help in time
Truly a help in time of need for none can hope to lead the Pack forever said Bagheera
Akela said nothing He was thinking of the time that comes to every leader of every pack when his strength goes from him and he gets feebler and feebler till at last he is killed by the wolves and a new leader comes up—to be killed in his turn
Take him away he said to Father Wolf and train him as befits one of the Free People
And that is how Mowgli was entered into the Seeonee wolfpack for the price of a bull and on Baloos good word
Now you must be content to skip ten or eleven whole years and only guess at all the wonderful life that Mowgli led among the wolves because if it were written out it would fill ever so many books He grew up with the cubs though they of course were grown wolves almost before he was a child and Father Wolf taught him his business and the meaning of things in the jungle till every rustle in the grass every breath of the warm night air every note of the owls above his head every scratch of a bats claws as it roosted for a while in a tree and every splash of every little fish jumping in a pool meant just as much to him as the work of his office means to a business man When he was not learning he sat out in the sun and slept and ate and went to sleep again when he felt dirty or hot he swam in the forest pools and when he wanted honey Baloo told him that honey and nuts were just as pleasant to eat as raw meat he climbed up for it and that Bagheera showed him how to do
Bagheera would lie out on a branch and call Come along Little Brother and at first Mowgli would cling like the sloth but afterward he would fling himself through the branches almost as boldly as the gray ape He took his place at the Council Rock too when the Pack met and there he discovered that if he stared hard at any wolf the wolf would be forced to drop his eyes and so he used to stare for fun
BAGHEERA WOULD LIE OUT ON A BRANCH AND CALL
COME ALONG LITTLE BROTHER
BAGHEERA WOULD LIE OUT ON A BRANCH AND CALL
COME ALONG LITTLE BROTHER
At other times he would pick the long thorns out of the pads of his friends for wolves suffer terribly from thorns and burs in their coats He would go down the hillside into the cultivated lands by night and look very curiously at the villagers in their huts but he had a mistrust of men because Bagheera showed him a square box with a dropgate so cunningly hidden in the jungle that he nearly walked into it and told him it was a trap
He loved better than anything else to go with Bagheera into the dark warm heart of the forest to sleep all through the drowsy day and at night see how Bagheera did his killing Bagheera killed right and left as he felt hungry and so did Mowgli—with one exception As soon as he was old enough to understand things Bagheera told him that he must never touch cattle because he had been bought into the Pack at the price of a bulls life All the jungle is thine said Bagheera and thou canst kill everything that thou art strong enough to kill but for the sake of the bull that bought thee thou must never kill or eat any cattle young or old That is the Law of the Jungle Mowgli obeyed faithfully
And he grew and grew strong as a boy must grow who does not know that he is learning any lessons and who has nothing in the world to think of except things to eat
Mother Wolf told him once or twice that Shere Khan was not a creature to be trusted and that some day he must kill Shere Khan but though a young wolf would have remembered that advice every hour Mowgli forgot it because he was only a boy—though he would have called himself a wolf if he had been able to speak in any human tongue
Shere Khan was always crossing his path in the jungle for as Akela grew older and feebler the lame tiger had come to be great friends with the younger wolves of the Pack who followed him for scraps a thing Akela would never have allowed if he had dared to push his authority to the proper bounds Then Shere Khan would flatter them and wonder that such fine young hunters were content to be led by a dying wolf and a mans cub They tell me Shere Khan would say that at Council ye dare not look him between the eyes and the young wolves would growl and bristle
Bagheera who had eyes and ears everywhere knew something of this and once or twice he told Mowgli in so many words that Shere Khan would kill him some day and Mowgli would laugh and answer I have the Pack and I have thee and Baloo though he is so lazy might strike a blow or two for my sake Why should I be afraid
It was one very warm day that a new notion came to Bagheera—born of something that he had heard Perhaps Ikki the Porcupine had told him but he said to Mowgli when they were deep in the jungle as the boy lay with his head on Bagheeras beautiful black skin Little Brother how often have I told thee that Shere Khan is thy enemy
As many times as there are nuts on that palm said Mowgli who naturally could not count What of it I am sleepy Bagheera and Shere Khan is all long tail and loud talk like Mao the Peacock
But this is no time for sleeping Baloo knows it I know it the Pack know it and even the foolish foolish deer know Tabaqui has told thee too
Ho ho said Mowgli Tabaqui came to me not long ago with some rude talk that I was a naked mans cub and not fit to dig pignuts but I caught Tabaqui by the tail and swung him twice against a palmtree to teach him better manners
That was foolishness for though Tabaqui is a mischiefmaker he would have told thee of something that concerned thee closely Open those eyes Little Brother Shere Khan dares not kill thee in the jungle for fear of those that love thee but remember Akela is very old and soon the day comes when he cannot kill his buck and then he will be leader no more Many of the wolves that looked thee over when thou wast brought to the Council first are old too and the young wolves believe as Shere Khan has taught them that a mancub has no place with the Pack In a little time thou wilt be a man
And what is a man that he should not run with his brothers said Mowgli I was born in the jungle I have obeyed the Law of the Jungle and there is no wolf of ours from whose paws I have not pulled a thorn Surely they are my brothers
Bagheera stretched himself at full length and half shut his eyes Little Brother said he feel under my jaw
Mowgli put up his strong brown hand and just under Bagheeras silky chin where the giant rolling muscles were all hid by the glossy hair he came upon a little bald spot
There is no one in the jungle that knows that I Bagheera carry that mark—the mark of the collar and yet Little Brother I was born among men and it was among men that my mother died—in the cages of the Kings Palace at Oodeypore It was because of this that I paid the price for thee at the Council when thou wast a little naked cub Yes I too was born among men I had never seen the jungle They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera the Panther and no mans plaything and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away and because I had learned the ways of men I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan Is it not so
Yes said Mowgli all the jungle fear Bagheera—all except Mowgli
Oh thou art a mans cub said the Black Panther very tenderly and even as I returned to my jungle so thou must go back to men at last—to the men who are thy brothers—if thou art not killed in the Council
But why—but why should any wish to kill me said Mowgli
Look at me said Bagheera and Mowgli looked at him steadily between the eyes The big panther turned his head away in half a minute
That is why he said shifting his paw on the leaves Not even I can look thee between the eyes and I was born among men and I love thee Little Brother The others they hate thee because their eyes cannot meet thine because thou art wise because thou hast pulled out thorns from their feet—because thou art a man
I did not know these things said Mowgli sullenly and he frowned under his heavy black eyebrows
What is the Law of the Jungle Strike first and then give tongue By thy very carelessness they know that thou art a man But be wise It is in my heart that when Akela misses his next kill—and at each hunt it costs him more to pin the buck—the Pack will turn against him and against thee They will hold a jungle Council at the Rock and then—and then I have it said Bagheera leaping up Go thou down quickly to the mens huts in the valley and take some of the Red Flower which they grow there so that when the time comes thou mayest have even a stronger friend than I or Baloo or those of the Pack that love thee Get the Red Flower
By Red Flower Bagheera meant fire only no creature in the jungle will call fire by its proper name Every beast lives in deadly fear of it and invents a hundred ways of describing it
The Red Flower said Mowgli That grows outside their huts in the twilight I will get some
There speaks the mans cub said Bagheera proudly Remember that it grows in little pots Get one swiftly and keep it by thee for time of need
Good said Mowgli I go But art thou sure O my Bagheera—he slipped his arm round the splendid neck and looked deep into the big eyes—art thou sure that all this is Shere Khans doing
By the Broken Lock that freed me I am sure Little Brother
Then by the Bull that bought me I will pay Shere Khan full tale for this and it may be a little over said Mowgli and he bounded away
That is a man That is all a man said Bagheera to himself lying down again Oh Shere Khan never was a blacker hunting than that froghunt of thine ten years ago
Mowgli was far and far through the forest running hard and his heart was hot in him He came to the cave as the evening mist rose and drew breath and looked down the valley The cubs were out but Mother Wolf at the back of the cave knew by his breathing that something was troubling her frog
What is it Son she said
Some bats chatter of Shere Khan he called back I hunt among the plowed fields tonight and he plunged downward through the bushes to the stream at the bottom of the valley There he checked for he heard the yell of the Pack hunting heard the bellow of a hunted Sambhur and the snort as the buck turned at bay Then there were wicked bitter howls from the young wolves Akela Akela Let the Lone Wolf show his strength Room for the leader of our Pack Spring Akela
The Lone Wolf must have sprung and missed his hold for Mowgli heard the snap of his teeth and then a yelp as the Sambhur knocked him over with his fore foot
He did not wait for anything more but dashed on and the yells grew fainter behind him as he ran into the croplands where the villagers lived
Bagheera spoke truth he panted as he nestled down in some cattlefodder by the window of a hut Tomorrow is one day for Akela and for me
Then he pressed his face close to the window and watched the fire on the hearth He saw the husbandmans wife get up and feed it in the night with black lumps and when the morning came and the mists were all white and cold he saw the mans child pick up a wicker pot plastered inside with earth fill it with lumps of redhot charcoal put it under his blanket and go out to tend the cows in the byre
Is that all said Mowgli If a cub can do it there is nothing to fear so he strode around the corner and met the boy took the pot from his hand and disappeared into the mist while the boy howled with fear
They are very like me said Mowgli blowing into the pot as he had seen the woman do This thing will die if I do not give it things to eat and he dropped twigs and dried bark on the red stuff Halfway up the hill he met Bagheera with the morning dew shining like moonstones on his coat
Akela has missed said the panther They would have killed him last night but they needed thee also They were looking for thee on the hill
I was among the plowed lands I am ready Look Mowgli held up the firepot
Good Now I have seen men thrust a dry branch into that stuff and presently the Red Flower blossomed at the end of it Art thou not afraid
No Why should I fear I remember now—if it is not a dream—how before I was a wolf I lay beside the Red Flower and it was warm and pleasant
All that day Mowgli sat in the cave tending his firepot and dipping dry branches into it to see how they looked He found a branch that satisfied him and in the evening when Tabaqui came to the cave and told him rudely enough that he was wanted at the Council Rock he laughed till Tabaqui ran away Then Mowgli went to the Council still laughing
Akela the Lone Wolf lay by the side of his rock as a sign that the leadership of the Pack was open and Shere Khan with his following of scrapfed wolves walked to and fro openly being flattered Bagheera lay close to Mowgli and the firepot was between Mowglis knees When they were all gathered together Shere Khan began to speak—a thing he would never have dared to do when Akela was in his prime
He has no right whispered Bagheera Say so He is a dogs son He will be frightened
Mowgli sprang to his feet Free People he cried does Shere Khan lead the Pack What has a tiger to do with our leadership
Seeing that the leadership is yet open and being asked to speak— Shere Khan began
By whom said Mowgli Are we all jackals to fawn on this cattlebutcher The leadership of the Pack is with the Pack alone
There were yells of Silence thou mans cub Let him speak he has kept our law And at last the seniors of the Pack thundered Let the Dead Wolf speak
When a leader of the Pack has missed his kill he is called the Dead Wolf as long as he lives which is not long as a rule
Akela raised his old head wearily
Free People and ye too jackals of Shere Khan for twelve seasons I have led ye to and from the kill and in all that time not one has been trapped or maimed Now I have missed my kill Ye know how that plot was made Ye know how ye brought me up to an untried buck to make my weakness known It was cleverly done Your right is to kill me here on the Council Rock now Therefore I ask Who comes to make an end of the Lone Wolf For it is my right by the Law of the Jungle that ye come one by one
There was a long hush for no single wolf cared to fight Akela to the death Then Shere Khan roared Bah What have we to do with this toothless fool He is doomed to die It is the mancub who has lived too long Free People he was my meat from the first Give him to me I am weary of this manwolf folly He has troubled the jungle for ten seasons Give me the mancub or I will hunt here always and not give you one bone He is a man—a mans child and from the marrow of my bones I hate him
Then more than half the Pack yelled A man—a man What has a man to do with us Let him go to his own place
And turn all the people of the villages against us snarled Shere Khan No give him to me He is a man and none of us can look him between the eyes
Akela lifted his head again and said He has eaten our food he has slept with us he has driven game for us he has broken no word of the Law of the Jungle
Also I paid for him with a bull when he was accepted The worth of a bull is little but Bagheeras honor is something that he will perhaps fight for said Bagheera in his gentlest voice
A bull paid ten years ago the Pack snarled What do we care for bones ten years old
Or for a pledge said Bagheera his white teeth bared under his lip Well are ye called the Free People
No mans cub can run with the people of the jungle roared Shere Khan Give him to me
He is our brother in all but blood Akela went on and ye would kill him here In truth I have lived too long Some of ye are eaters of cattle and of others I have heard that under Shere Khans teaching ye go by dark night and snatch children from the villagers doorstep Therefore I know ye to be cowards and it is to cowards I speak It is certain that I must die and my life is of no worth or I would offer that in the mancubs place But for the sake of the Honor of the Pack—a little matter that by being without a leader ye have forgotten—I promise that if ye let the mancub go to his own place I will not when my time comes to die bare one tooth against ye I will die without fighting That will at least save the Pack three lives More I cannot do but if ye will I can save ye the shame that comes of killing a brother against whom there is no fault—a brother spoken for and bought into the Pack according to the Law of the Jungle
He is a man—a man—a man snarled the Pack and most of the wolves began to gather round Shere Khan whose tail was beginning to switch
Now the business is in thy hands said Bagheera to Mowgli We can do no more except fight
Mowgli stood upright—the firepot in his hands Then he stretched out his arms and yawned in the face of the Council but he was furious with rage and sorrow for wolflike the wolves had never told him how they hated him
Listen you he cried There is no need for this dogs jabber Ye have told me so often tonight that I am a man though indeed I would have been a wolf with you to my lifes end that I feel your words are true So I do not call ye my brothers any more but sag dogs as a man should What ye will do and what ye will not do is not yours to say That matter is with me and that we may see the matter more plainly I the man have brought here a little of the Red Flower which ye dogs fear
He flung the firepot on the ground and some of the red coals lit a tuft of dried moss that flared up as all the Council drew back in terror before the leaping flames
Mowgli thrust his dead branch into the fire till the twigs lit and crackled and whirled it above his head among the cowering wolves
Thou art the master said Bagheera in an undertone Save Akela from the death He was ever thy friend
Akela the grim old wolf who had never asked for mercy in his life gave one piteous look at Mowgli as the boy stood all naked his long black hair tossing over his shoulders in the light of the blazing branch that made the shadows jump and quiver
Good said Mowgli staring around slowly and thrusting out his lower lip I see that ye are dogs I go from you to my own people—if they be my own people The jungle is shut to me and I must forget your talk and your companionship but I will be more merciful than ye are Because I was all but your brother in blood I promise that when I am a man among men I will not betray ye to men as ye have betrayed me He kicked the fire with his foot and the sparks flew up There shall be no war between any of us and the Pack But here is a debt to pay before I go He strode forward to where Shere Khan sat blinking stupidly at the flames and caught him by the tuft on his chin Bagheera followed close in case of accidents Up dog Mowgli cried Up when a man speaks or I will set that coat ablaze
Shere Khans ears lay flat back on his head and he shut his eyes for the blazing branch was very near
This cattlekiller said he would kill me in the Council because he had not killed me when I was a cub Thus and thus then do we beat dogs when we are men Stir a whisker Lungri and I ram the Red Flower down thy gullet He beat Shere Khan over the head with the branch and the tiger whimpered and whined in an agony of fear
Pah Singed junglecat—go now But remember when next I come to the Council Rock as a man should come it will be with Shere Khans hide on my head For the rest Akela goes free to live as he pleases Ye will not kill him because that is not my will Nor do I think that ye will sit here any longer lolling out your tongues as though ye were somebodies instead of dogs whom I drive out—thus Go
The fire was burning furiously at the end of the branch and Mowgli struck right and left round the circle and the wolves ran howling with the sparks burning their fur At last there were only Akela Bagheera and perhaps ten wolves that had taken Mowglis part Then something began to hurt Mowgli inside him as he had never been hurt in his life before and he caught his breath and sobbed and the tears ran down his face
What is it What is it he said I do not wish to leave the jungle and I do not know what this is Am I dying Bagheera
No Little Brother Those are only tears such as men use said Bagheera Now I know thou art a man and a mans cub no longer The jungle is shut indeed to thee henceforward Let them fall Mowgli they are only tears So Mowgli sat and cried as though his heart would break and he had never cried in all his life before
Now he said I will go to men But first I must say farewell to my mother and he went to the cave where she lived with Father Wolf and he cried on her coat while the four cubs howled miserably
Ye will not forget me said Mowgli
Never while we can follow a trail said the cubs Come to the foot of the hill when thou art a man and we will talk to thee and we will come into the croplands to play with thee by night
Come soon said Father Wolf Oh wise little Frog come again soon for we be old thy mother and I
Come soon said Mother Wolf little naked son of mine for listen child of man I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs
I will surely come said Mowgli and when I come it will be to lay out Shere Khans hide upon the Council Rock Do not forget me Tell them in the jungle never to forget me
The dawn was beginning to break when Mowgli went down the hillside alone to the crops to meet those mysterious things that are called men
HUNTINGSONG OF THE SEEONEE PACK
As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled
Once twice and again
And a doe leaped up—and a doe leaped up
From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup
This I scouting alone beheld
Once twice and again
As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled
Once twice and again
And a wolf stole back—and a wolf stole back
To carry the word to the waiting Pack
And we sought and we found and we bayed on his track
Once twice and again
As the dawn was breaking the Wolfpack yelled
Once twice and again
Feet in the jungle that leave no mark
Eyes that can see in the dark—the dark
Tongue—give tongue to it Hark O Hark
Once twice and again
KAAS HUNTING
His spots are the joy of the Leopard his horns are the Buffalos pride—
Be clean for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss of his hide
If ye find that the Bullock can toss you or the heavybrowed Sambhur can gore
Ye need not stop work to inform us we knew it ten seasons before
Oppress not the cubs of the stranger but hail them as Sister and Brother
For though they are little and fubsy it may be the Bear is their mother
There is none like to me says the Cub in the pride of his earliest kill
But the Jungle is large and the Cub he is small Let him think and be still
Maxims of Baloo
KAAS HUNTING
ALL that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was turned out of the Seeonee wolfpack It was in the days when Baloo was teaching him the Law of the Jungle The big serious old brown bear was delighted to have so quick a pupil for the young wolves will only learn as much of the Law of the Jungle as applies to their own pack and tribe and run away as soon as they can repeat the Hunting Verse Feet that make no noise eyes that can see in the dark ears that can hear the winds in their lairs and sharp white teeth—all these things are the marks of our brothers except Tabaqui and the Hyena whom we hate But Mowgli as a mancub had to learn a great deal more than this Sometimes Bagheera the Black Panther would come lounging through the jungle to see how his pet was getting on and would purr with his head against a tree while Mowgli recited the days lesson to Baloo The boy could climb almost as well as he could swim and swim almost as well as he could run so Baloo the Teacher of the Law taught him the Wood and Water laws how to tell a rotten branch from a sound one how to speak politely to the wild bees when he came upon a hive of them fifty feet aboveground what to say to Mang the Bat when he disturbed him in the branches at midday and how to warn the watersnakes in the pools before he splashed down among them None of the Jungle People like being disturbed and all are very ready to fly at an intruder Then too Mowgli was taught the Strangers Hunting Call which must be repeated aloud till it is answered whenever one of the Jungle People hunts outside his own grounds It means translated Give me leave to hunt here because I am hungry and the answer is Hunt then for food but not for pleasure
All this will show you how much Mowgli had to learn by heart and he grew very tired of repeating the same thing a hundred times but as Baloo said to Bagheera one day when Mowgli had been cuffed and had run off in a temper A mans cub is a mans cub and he must learn all the Law of the Jungle
But think how small he is said the Black Panther who would have spoiled Mowgli if he had had his own way How can his little head carry all thy long talk
Is there anything in the jungle too little to be killed No That is why I teach him these things and that is why I hit him very softly when he forgets
Softly What dost thou know of softness old Ironfeet Bagheera grunted His face is all bruised today by thy—softness Ugh
Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than that he should come to harm through ignorance Baloo answered very earnestly I am now teaching him the Master Words of the Jungle that shall protect him with the Birds and the Snake People and all that hunt on four feet except his own pack He can now claim protection if he will only remember the Words from all in the jungle Is not that worth a little beating
Well look to it then that thou dost not kill the mancub He is no treetrunk to sharpen thy blunt claws upon But what are those Master Words I am more likely to give help than to ask it—Bagheera stretched out one paw and admired the steelblue rippingchisel talons at the end of it—Still I should like to know
I will call Mowgli and he shall say them—if he will Come Little Brother
My head is ringing like a beetree said a sullen voice over their heads and Mowgli slid down a treetrunk very angry and indignant adding as he reached the ground I come for Bagheera and not for thee fat old Baloo
That is all one to me said Baloo though he was hurt and grieved Tell Bagheera then the Master Words of the Jungle that I have taught thee this day
Master Words for which people said Mowgli delighted to show off The jungle has many tongues I know them all
A little thou knowest but not much See O Bagheera they never thank their teacher Not one small wolfling has come back to thank old Baloo for his teachings Say the Word for the Hunting People then—great scholar
We be of one blood ye and I said Mowgli giving the words the Bear accent which all the Hunting People of the Jungle use
Good Now for the Birds
Mowgli repeated with the Kites whistle at the end of the sentence
Now for the Snake People said Bagheera
The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss and Mowgli kicked up his feet behind clapped his hands together to applaud himself and jumped on Bagheeras back where he sat sideways drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and making the worst faces that he could think of at Baloo
There—there That was worth a little bruise said the Brown Bear tenderly Some day thou wilt remember me Then he turned aside to tell Bagheera how he had begged the Master Words from Hathi the Wild Elephant who knows all about these things and how Hathi had taken Mowgli down to a pool to get the Snake Word from a watersnake because Baloo could not pronounce it and how Mowgli was now reasonably safe against all accidents in the jungle because neither snake bird nor beast would hurt him
No one then is to be feared Baloo wound up patting his big furry stomach with pride
Except his own tribe said Bagheera under his breath and then aloud to Mowgli Have a care for my ribs Little Brother What is all this dancing up and down
Mowgli had been trying to make himself heard by pulling at Bagheeras shoulderfur and kicking hard When the two listened to him he was shouting at the top of his voice And so I shall have a tribe of my own and lead them through the branches all day long
What is this new folly little dreamer of dreams said Bagheera
Yes and throw branches and dirt at old Baloo Mowgli went on They have promised me this ah
Whoof Baloos big paw scooped Mowgli off Bagheeras back and as the boy lay between the big fore paws he could see the bear was angry
Mowgli said Baloo thou hast been talking with the Bandarlog—the Monkey People
Mowgli looked at Bagheera to see if the panther was angry too and Bagheeras eyes were as hard as jadestones
Thou hast been with the Monkey People—the gray apes—the people without a Law—the eaters of everything That is great shame
When Baloo hurt my head said Mowgli he was still down on his back I went away and the gray apes came down from the trees and had pity on me No one else cared He snuffled a little
The pity of the Monkey People Baloo snorted
The stillness of the mountain stream The cool of the summer sun And then mancub
And then—and then they gave me nuts and pleasant things to eat and they—they carried me in their arms up to the top of the trees and said I was their bloodbrother except that I had no tail and should be their leader some day
They have no leader said Bagheera They lie They have always lied
They were very kind and bade me come again Why have I never been taken among the Monkey People They stand on their feet as I do They do not hit me with hard paws They play all day Let me get up Bad Baloo let me up I will go play with them again
Listen mancub said the bear and his voice rumbled like thunder on a hot night I have taught thee all the Law of the Jungle for all the Peoples of the Jungle—except the Monkey Folk who live in the trees They have no Law They are outcastes They have no speech of their own but use the stolen words which they overhear when they listen and peep and wait up above in the branches Their way is not our way They are without leaders They have no remembrance They boast and chatter and pretend that they are a great people about to do great affairs in the jungle but the falling of a nut turns their minds to laughter and all is forgotten We of the jungle have no dealings with them We do not drink where the monkeys drink we do not go where the monkeys go we do not hunt where they hunt we do not die where they die Hast thou ever heard me speak of the Bandarlog till today
No said Mowgli in a whisper for the forest was very still now that Baloo had finished
The Jungle People put them out of their mouths and out of their minds They are very many evil dirty shameless and they desire if they have any fixed desire to be noticed by the Jungle People But we do not notice them even when they throw nuts and filth on our heads
He had hardly spoken when a shower of nuts and twigs spattered down through the branches and they could hear coughings and howlings and angry jumpings high up in the air among the thin branches
The Monkey People are forbidden said Baloo forbidden to the Jungle People Remember
Forbidden said Bagheera but I still think Baloo should have warned thee against them
I—I How was I to guess he would play with such dirt The Monkey People Faugh
A fresh shower came down on their heads and the two trotted away taking Mowgli with them What Baloo had said about the monkeys was perfectly true They belonged to the treetops and as beasts very seldom look up there was no occasion for the monkeys and the Jungle People to cross one another's path But whenever they found a sick wolf or a wounded tiger or bear the monkeys would torment him and would throw sticks and nuts at any beast for fun and in the hope of being noticed Then they would howl and shriek senseless songs and invite the Jungle People to climb up their trees and fight them or would start furious battles over nothing among themselves and leave the dead monkeys where the Jungle People could see them
They were always just going to have a leader and laws and customs of their own but they never did because their memories would not hold over from day to day and so they settled things by making up a saying What the Bandarlog think now the Jungle will think later and that comforted them a great deal None of the beasts could reach them but on the other hand none of the beasts would notice them and that was why they were so pleased when Mowgli came to play with them and when they heard how angry Baloo was
They never meant to do any more—the Bandarlog never mean anything at all—but one of them invented what seemed to him a brilliant idea and he told all the others that Mowgli would be a useful person to keep in the tribe because he could weave sticks together for protection from the wind so if they caught him they could make him teach them Of course Mowgli as a woodcutters child inherited all sorts of instincts and used to make little playhuts of fallen branches without thinking how he came to do it The Monkey People watching in the trees considered these huts most wonderful This time they said they were really going to have a leader and become the wisest people in the jungle—so wise that every one else would notice and envy them Therefore they followed Baloo and Bagheera and Mowgli through the jungle very quietly till it was time for the midday nap and Mowgli who was very much ashamed of himself slept between the panther and the bear resolving to have no more to do with the Monkey People
The next thing he remembered was feeling hands on his legs and arms—hard strong little hands—and then a swash of branches in his face and then he was staring down through the swaying boughs as Baloo woke the jungle with his deep cries and Bagheera bounded up the trunk with every tooth bared The Bandarlog howled with triumph and scuffled away to the upper branches where Bagheera dared not follow shouting He has noticed us Bagheera has noticed us All the Jungle People admire us for our skill and our cunning Then they began their flight and the flight of the Monkey People through treeland is one of the things nobody can describe They have their regular roads and crossroads uphills and downhills all laid out from fifty to seventy or a hundred feet aboveground and by these they can travel even at night if necessary
Two of the strongest monkeys caught Mowgli under the arms and swung off with him through the treetops twenty feet at a bound Had they been alone they could have gone twice as fast but the boys weight held them back Sick and giddy as Mowgli was he could not help enjoying the wild rush though the glimpses of earth far down below frightened him and the terrible check and jerk at the end of the swing over nothing but empty air brought his heart between his teeth
His escort would rush him up a tree till he felt the weak topmost branches crackle and bend under them and then with a cough and a whoop would fling themselves into the air outward and downward and bring up hanging by their hands or their feet to the lower limbs of the next tree Sometimes he could see for miles and miles over the still green jungle as a man on the top of a mast can see for miles across the sea and then the branches and leaves would lash him across the face and he and his two guards would be almost down to earth again
So bounding and crashing and whooping and yelling the whole tribe of Bandarlog swept along the treeroads with Mowgli their prisoner
For a time he was afraid of being dropped then he grew angry but he knew better than to struggle and then he began to think The first thing was to send back word to Baloo and Bagheera for at the pace the monkeys were going he knew his friends would be left far behind It was useless to look down for he could see only the top sides of the branches so he stared upward and saw far away in the blue Rann the Kite balancing and wheeling as he kept watch over the jungle waiting for things to die Rann noticed that the monkeys were carrying something and dropped a few hundred yards to find out whether their load was good to eat He whistled with surprise when he saw Mowgli being dragged up to a treetop and heard him give the Kite call for We be of one blood thou and I The waves of the branches closed over the boy but Rann balanced away to the next tree in time to see the little brown face come up again Mark my trail Mowgli shouted Tell Baloo of the Seeonee Pack and Bagheera of the Council Rock
In whose name Brother Rann had never seen Mowgli before though of course he had heard of him
Mowgli the Frog Mancub they call me Mark my tra—il
The last words were shrieked as he was being swung through the air but Rann nodded and rose up till he looked no bigger than a speck of dust and there he hung watching with his telescope eyes the swaying of the treetops as Mowglis escort whirled along
They never go far he said with a chuckle They never do what they set out to do Always pecking at new things are the Bandarlog This time if I have any eyesight they have pecked down trouble for themselves for Baloo is no fledgling and Bagheera can as I know kill more than goats
Then he rocked on his wings his feet gathered up under him and waited
Meanwhile Baloo and Bagheera were furious with rage and grief Bagheera climbed as he had never climbed before but the branches broke beneath his weight and he slipped down his claws full of bark
Why didst thou not warn the mancub he roared to poor Baloo who had set off at a clumsy trot in the hope of overtaking the monkeys What was the use of half slaying him with blows if thou didst not warn him
Haste O haste We—we may catch them yet Baloo panted
At that speed It would not tire a wounded cow Teacher of the Law cubbeater—a mile of that rolling to and fro would burst thee open Sit still and think Make a plan This is no time for chasing They may drop him if we follow too close
Arrula Whoo They may have dropped him already being tired of carrying him Who can trust the Bandarlog Put dead bats on my head Give me black bones to eat Roll me into the hives of the wild bees that I may be stung to death and bury me with the hyena for I am the most miserable of bears Arulala Wahooa O Mowgli Mowgli Why did I not warn thee against the Monkey Folk instead of breaking thy head Now perhaps I may have knocked the days lesson out of his mind and he will be alone in the jungle without the Master Words
Baloo clasped his paws over his ears and rolled to and fro moaning
At least he gave me all the Words correctly a little time ago said Bagheera impatiently Baloo thou hast neither memory nor respect What would the jungle think if I the Black Panther curled myself up like Ikki the Porcupine and howled
What do I care what the jungle thinks He may be dead by now
Unless and until they drop him from the branches in sport or kill him out of idleness I have no fear for the mancub He is wise and welltaught and above all he has the eyes that make the Jungle People afraid But and it is a great evil he is in the power of the Bandarlog and they because they live in trees have no fear of any of our people Bagheera licked his one fore paw thoughtfully
Fool that I am Oh fat brown rootdigging fool that I am said Baloo uncoiling himself with a jerk It is true what Hathi the Wild Elephant says To each his own fear and they the Bandarlog fear Kaa the Rock Snake He can climb as well as they can He steals the young monkeys in the night The mere whisper of his name makes their wicked tails cold Let us go to Kaa
What will he do for us He is not of our tribe being footless and with most evil eyes said Bagheera
He is very old and very cunning Above all he is always hungry said Baloo hopefully Promise him many goats
He sleeps for a full month after he has once eaten He may be asleep now and even were he awake what if he would rather kill his own goats Bagheera who did not know much about Kaa was naturally suspicious
Then in that case thou and I together old hunter may make him see reason Here Baloo rubbed his faded brown shoulder against the panther and they went off to look for Kaa the Rock Python
They found him stretched out on a warm ledge in the afternoon sun admiring his beautiful new coat for he had been in retirement for the last ten days changing his skin and now he was very splendid—darting his big bluntnosed head along the ground and twisting the thirty feet of his body into fantastic knots and curves and licking his lips as he thought of his dinner to come
He has not eaten said Baloo with a grunt of relief as soon as he saw the beautifully mottled brown and yellow jacket Be careful Bagheera He is always a little blind after he has changed his skin and very quick to strike
Kaa was not a poison snake—in fact he rather despised the Poison Snakes for cowards but his strength lay in his hug and when he had once lapped his huge coils round anybody there was no more to be said Good hunting cried Baloo sitting up on his haunches Like all snakes of his breed Kaa was rather deaf and did not hear the call at first Then he curled up ready for any accident his head lowered
Good hunting for us all he answered Oho Baloo what dost thou do here Good hunting Bagheera One of us at least needs food Is there any news of game afoot A doe now or even a young buck I am as empty as a dried well
We are hunting said Baloo carelessly He knew that you must not hurry Kaa He is too big
Give me permission to come with you said Kaa A blow more or less is nothing to thee Bagheera or Baloo but I—I have to wait and wait for days in a wood path and climb half a night on the mere chance of a young ape Pss naw The branches are not what they were when I was young Rotten twigs and dry boughs are they all
Maybe thy great weight has something to do with the matter said Baloo
I am a fair length—a fair length said Kaa with a little pride But for all that it is the fault of this newgrown timber I came very near to falling on my last hunt—very near indeed—and the noise of my slipping for my tail was not tight wrapped round the tree waked the Bandarlog and they called me most evil names
Footless yellow earthworm said Bagheera under his whiskers as though he were trying to remember something
Sssss Have they ever called me that said Kaa
Something of that kind it was that they shouted to us last moon but we never noticed them They will say anything—even that thou hast lost all thy teeth and dare not face anything bigger than a kid because they are indeed shameless these Bandarlog—because thou art afraid of the hegoats horns Bagheera went on sweetly
Now a snake especially a wary old python like Kaa very seldom shows that he is angry but Baloo and Bagheera could see the big swallowing muscles on either side of Kaas throat ripple and bulge
The Bandarlog have shifted their grounds he said quietly When I came up into the sun today I heard them whooping among the treetops
It—it is the Bandarlog that we follow now said Baloo but the words stuck in his throat for this was the first time in his memory that one of the Jungle People had owned to being interested in the doings of the monkeys
Beyond doubt then it is no small thing that takes two such hunters—leaders in their own jungle I am certain—on the trail of the Bandarlog Kaa replied courteously as he swelled with curiosity
Indeed Baloo began I am no more than the old and sometimes very foolish Teacher of the Law to the Seeonee wolfcubs and Bagheera here—
Is Bagheera said the Black Panther and his jaws shut with a snap for he did not believe in being humble The trouble is this Kaa Those nutstealers and pickers of palmleaves have stolen away our mancub of whom thou hast perhaps heard
I heard some news from Ikki his quills make him presumptuous of a manthing that was entered into a wolfpack but I did not believe Ikki is full of stories half heard and very badly told
But it is true He is such a mancub as never was said Baloo The best and wisest and boldest of mancubs My own pupil who shall make the name of Baloo famous through all the jungles and besides I—we—love him Kaa
Ts Ts said Kaa shaking his head to and fro I also have known what love is There are tales I could tell that—
That need a clear night when we are all well fed to praise properly said Bagheera quickly Our mancub is in the hands of the Bandarlog now and we know that of all the Jungle People they fear Kaa alone
They fear me alone They have good reason said Kaa Chattering foolish vain—vain foolish and chattering—are the monkeys But a manthing in their hands is in no good luck They grow tired of the nuts they pick and throw them down They carry a branch half a day meaning to do great things with it and then they snap it in two That manling is not to be envied They called me also—yellow fish was it not
Worm—worm—earthworm said Bagheera as well as other things which I cannot now say for shame
We must remind them to speak well of their master Aaasssh We must help their wandering memories Now whither went they with thy cub
The jungle alone knows Toward the sunset I believe said Baloo We had thought that thou wouldst know Kaa
I How I take them when they come in my way but I do not hunt the Bandarlog—or frogs—or green scum on a waterhole for that matter
Up up Up up Hillo Illo Illo Look up Baloo of the Seeonee Wolf Pack
Baloo looked up to see where the voice came from and there was Rann the Kite sweeping down with the sun shining on the upturned flanges of his wings It was near Ranns bedtime but he had ranged all over the jungle looking for the bear and missed him in the thick foliage
What is it said Baloo
I have seen Mowgli among the Bandarlog He bade me tell you I watched The Bandarlog have taken him beyond the river to the Monkey City—to the Cold Lairs They may stay there for a night or ten nights or an hour I have told the bats to watch through the dark time That is my message Good hunting all you below
Full gorge and a deep sleep to you Rann cried Bagheera I will remember thee in my next kill and put aside the head for thee alone O best of kites
It is nothing It is nothing The boy held the Master Word I could have done no less and Rann circled up again to his roost
He has not forgotten to use his tongue said Baloo with a chuckle of pride To think of one so young remembering the Master Word for the birds while he was being pulled across trees
It was most firmly driven into him said Bagheera But I am proud of him and now we must go to the Cold Lairs
They all knew where that place was but few of the Jungle People ever went there because what they called the Cold Lairs was an old deserted city lost and buried in the jungle and beasts seldom use a place that men have once used The wild boar will but the huntingtribes do not Besides the monkeys lived there as much as they could be said to live anywhere and no selfrespecting animal would come within eyeshot of it except in times of drouth when the halfruined tanks and reservoirs held a little water
It is half a nights journey—at full speed said Bagheera Baloo looked very serious I will go as fast as I can he said anxiously
We dare not wait for thee Follow Baloo We must go on the quickfoot—Kaa and I
Feet or no feet I can keep abreast of all thy four said Kaa shortly
Baloo made one effort to hurry but had to sit down panting and so they left him to come on later while Bagheera hurried forward at the rocking panthercanter Kaa said nothing but strive as Bagheera might the huge Rock Python held level with him When they came to a hillstream Bagheera gained because he bounded across while Kaa swam his head and two feet of his neck clearing the water but on level ground Kaa made up the distance
By the Broken Lock that freed me said Bagheera when twilight had fallen thou art no slowgoer
I am hungry said Kaa Besides they called me speckled frog
Worm—earthworm and yellow to boot
All one Let us go on and Kaa seemed to pour himself along the ground finding the shortest road with his steady eyes and keeping to it
In the Cold Lairs the Monkey People were not thinking of Mowglis friends at all They had brought the boy to the Lost City and were very pleased with themselves for the time Mowgli had never seen an Indian city before and though this was almost a heap of ruins it seemed very wonderful and splendid Some king had built it long ago on a little hill You could still trace the stone causeways that led up to the ruined gates where the last splinters of wood hung to the worn rusted hinges Trees had grown into and out of the walls the battlements were tumbled down and decayed and wild creepers hung out of the windows of the towers on the walls in bushy hanging clumps
A great roofless palace crowned the hill and the marble of the courtyards and the fountains was split and stained with red and green and the very cobblestones in the courtyard where the kings elephants used to live had been thrust up and apart by grasses and young trees From the palace you could see the rows and rows of roofless houses that made up the city looking like empty honeycombs filled with blackness the shapeless block of stone that had been an idol in the square where four roads met the pits and dimples at street corners where the public wells once stood and the shattered domes of temples with wild figs sprouting on their sides
The monkeys called the place their city and pretended to despise the Jungle People because they lived in the forest And yet they never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use them They would sit in circles on the hall of the kings councilchamber and scratch for fleas and pretend to be men or they would run in and out of the roofless houses and collect pieces of plaster and old bricks in a corner and forget where they had hidden them and fight and cry in scuffling crowds and then break off to play up and down the terraces of the kings garden where they would shake the rosetrees and the oranges in sport to see the fruit and flowers fall They explored all the passages and dark tunnels in the palace and the hundreds of little dark rooms but they never remembered what they had seen and what they had not and so drifted about in ones and twos or crowds telling one another that they were doing as men did They drank at the tanks and made the water all muddy and then they fought over it and then they would all rush together in mobs and shout There are none in the jungle so wise and good and clever and strong and gentle as the Bandarlog Then all would begin again till they grew tired of the city and went back to the treetops hoping the Jungle People would notice them
Mowgli who had been trained under the Law of the Jungle did not like or understand this kind of life The monkeys dragged him into the Cold Lairs late in the afternoon and instead of going to sleep as Mowgli would have done after a long journey they joined hands and danced about and sang their foolish songs
One of the monkeys made a speech and told his companions that Mowglis capture marked a new thing in the history of the Bandarlog for Mowgli was going to show them how to weave sticks and canes together as a protection against rain and cold Mowgli picked up some creepers and began to work them in and out and the monkeys tried to imitate but in a very few minutes they lost interest and began to pull their friends tails or jump up and down on all fours coughing
I want to eat said Mowgli I am a stranger in this part of the jungle Bring me food or give me leave to hunt here
Twenty or thirty monkeys bounded away to bring him nuts and wild pawpaws but they fell to fighting on the road and it was too much trouble to go buck with what was left of the fruit Mowgli was sore and angry as well as hungry and he roamed through the empty city giving the Strangers Hunting Call from time to time but no one answered him and Mowgli felt that he had reached a very bad place indeed
All that Baloo has said about the Bandarlog is true he thought to himself They have no Law no Hunting Call and no leaders—nothing but foolish words and little picking thievish hands So if I am starved or killed here it will be all my own fault But I must try to return to my own jungle Baloo will surely beat me but that is better than chasing silly roseleaves with the Bandarlog
But no sooner had he walked to the city wall than the monkeys pulled him back telling him that he did not know how happy he was and pinching him to make him grateful He set his teeth and said nothing but went with the shouting monkeys to a terrace above the red sandstone reservoirs that were half full of rainwater There was a ruined summerhouse of white marble in the center of the terrace built for queens dead a hundred years ago The domed roof had half fallen in and blocked up the underground passage from the palace by which the queens used to enter but the walls were made of screens of marble tracery—beautiful milkwhite fretwork set with agates and cornelians and jasper and lapis lazuli and as the moon came up behind the hill it shone through the openwork casting shadows on the ground like blackvelvet embroidery
Sore sleepy and hungry as he was Mowgli could not help laughing when the Bandarlog began twenty at a time to tell him how great and wise and strong and gentle they were and how foolish he was to wish to leave them We are great We are free We are wonderful We are the most wonderful people in all the jungle We all say so and so it must be true they shouted Now as you are a new listener and can carry our words back to the Jungle People so that they may notice us in future we will tell you all about our most excellent selves
Mowgli made no objection and the monkeys gathered by hundreds and hundreds on the terrace to listen to their own speakers singing the praises of the Bandarlog and whenever a speaker stopped for want of breath they would all shout together This is true we all say so
Mowgli nodded and blinked and said Yes when they asked him a question and his head spun with the noise Tabaqui the Jackal must have bitten all these people he said to himself and now they have the madness Certainly this is dewance—the madness Do they never go to sleep Now there is a cloud coming to cover that moon If it were only a big enough cloud I might try to run away in the darkness But I am tired
That same cloud was being watched by two good friends in the ruined ditch below the city wall for Bagheera and Kaa knowing well how dangerous the Monkey People were in large numbers did not wish to run any risks The monkeys never fight unless they are a hundred to one and few in the jungle care for those odds
I will go to the west wall Kaa whispered and come down swiftly with the slope of the ground in my favor They will not throw themselves upon my back in their hundreds but—
I know it said Bagheera Would that Baloo were here but we must do what we can When that cloud covers the moon I shall go to the terrace They hold some sort of council there over the boy
Good hunting said Kaa grimly and glided away to the west wall That happened to be the least ruined of any and the big snake was delayed a while before he could find a way up the stones
The cloud hid the moon and as Mowgli wondered what would come next he heard Bagheeras light feet on the terrace The Black Panther had raced up the slope almost without a sound and was striking—he knew better than to waste time in biting—right and left among the monkeys who were seated round Mowgli in circles fifty and sixty deep There was a howl of fright and rage and then as Bagheera tripped on the rolling kicking bodies beneath him a monkey shouted There is only one here Kill him Kill A scuffling mass of monkeys biting scratching tearing and pulling closed over Bagheera while five or six laid hold of Mowgli dragged him up the wall of the summerhouse and pushed him through the hole of the broken dome A mantrained boy would have been badly bruised for the fall was a good ten feet but Mowgli fell as Baloo had taught him to fall and landed light
Stay there shouted the monkeys till we have killed thy friend Later we will play with thee if the Poison People leave thee alive
We be of one blood ye and I said Mowgli quickly giving the Snakes Call He could hear rustling and hissing in the rubbish all round him and gave the Call a second time to make sure
Down hoods all said half a dozen low voices Every old ruin in India becomes sooner or later a dwellingplace of snakes and the old summerhouse was alive with cobras Stand still Little Brother lest thy feet do us harm
Mowgli stood as quietly as he could peering through the openwork and listening to the furious din of the fight round the Black Panther—the yells and chatterings and scufflings and Bagheeras deep hoarse cough as he backed and bucked and twisted and plunged under the heaps of his enemies For the first time since he was born Bagheera was fighting for his life
Baloo must be at hand Bagheera would not have come alone Mowgli thought and then he called aloud To the tank Bagheera Roll to the watertanks Roll and plunge Get to the water
Bagheera heard and the cry that told him Mowgli was safe gave him new courage He worked his way desperately inch by inch straight for the reservoirs hitting in silence
Then from the ruined wall nearest the jungle rose up the rumbling warshout of Baloo The old bear had done his best but he could not come before Bagheera he shouted I am here I climb I haste Ahuwora The stones slip under my feet Wait my coming O most infamous Bandar log
He panted up the terrace only to disappear to the head in a wave of monkeys but he threw himself squarely on his haunches and spreading out his fore paws hugged as many as he could hold and then began to hit with a regular batbatbat like the flipping strokes of a paddlewheel
A crash and a splash told Mowgli that Bagheera had fought his way to the tank where the monkeys could not follow The panther lay gasping for breath his head just out of water while the monkeys stood three deep on the red stone steps dancing up and down with rage ready to spring upon him from all sides if he came out to help Baloo It was then that Bagheera lifted up his dripping chin and in despair gave the Snakes Call for protection—We be of one blood ye and I—for he believed that Kaa had turned tail at the last minute Even Baloo half smothered under the monkeys on the edge of the terrace could not help chuckling as he heard the big Black Panther asking for help
Kaa had only just worked his way over the west wall landing with a wrench that dislodged a copingstone into the ditch He had no intention of losing any advantage of the ground and coiled and uncoiled himself once or twice to be sure that every foot of his long body was in working order
All that while the fight with Baloo went on and the monkeys yelled in the tank round Bagheera and Mang the Bat flying to and fro carried the news of the great battle over the jungle till even Hathi the Wild Elephant trumpeted and far away scattered bands of the Monkey Folk woke and came leaping along the treeroads to help their comrades in the Cold Lairs and the noise of the fight roused all the daybirds for miles round
Then Kaa came straight quickly and anxious to kill The fighting strength of a python is in the driving blow of his head backed by all the strength and weight of his body If you can imagine a lance or a batteringram or a hammer weighing nearly half a ton driven by a cool quiet mind living in the handle of it you can imagine roughly what Kaa was like when he fought A python four or five feet long can knock a man down if he hits him fairly in the chest and Kaa was thirty feet long as you know His first stroke was delivered into the heart of the crowd round Baloo—was sent home with shut mouth in silence and there was no need of a second The monkeys scattered with cries of Kaa It is Kaa Run Run
Generations of monkeys had been scared into good behavior by the stories their elders told them of Kaa the nightthief who could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived of old Kaa who could make himself look so like a dead branch or a rotten stump that the wisest were deceived till the branch caught them and then—
Kaa was everything that the monkeys feared in the jungle for none of them knew the limits of his power none of them could look him in the face and none had ever come alive out of his hug And so they ran stammering with terror to the walls and the roofs of the houses and Baloo drew a deep breath of relief His fur was much thicker than Bagheeras but he had suffered sorely in the fight Then Kaa opened his mouth for the first time and spoke one long hissing word and the faraway monkeys hurrying to the defense of the Cold Lairs stayed where they were cowering till the loaded branches bent and crackled under them The monkeys on the walls and the empty houses stopped their cries and in the stillness that fell upon the city Mowgli heard Bagheera shaking his wet sides as he came up from the tank
Then the clamor broke out again The monkeys leaped higher up the walls they clung round the necks of the big stone idols and shrieked as they skipped along the battlements while Mowgli dancing in the summerhouse put his eye to the screenwork and hooted owlfashion between his front teeth to show his derision and contempt
Get the mancub out of that trap I can do no more Bagheera gasped Let us take the mancub and go They may attack again
They will not move till I order them Stay you sssso Kaa hissed and the city was silent once more I could not come before Brother but I think I heard thee call—this was to Bagheera
I—I may have cried out in the battle Bagheera answered Baloo art thou hurt
I am not sure that they have not pulled me into a hundred little bearlings said Baloo gravely shaking one leg after the other Wow I am sore Kaa we owe thee I think our lives—Bagheera and I
No matter Where is the manling
Here in a trap I cannot climb out cried Mowgli The curve of the broken dome was above his head
Take him away He dances like Mao the Peacock He will crush our young said the cobras inside
Hah said Kaa with a chuckle he has friends everywhere this manling Stand back Manling and hide you O Poison People I break down the wall
Kaa looked carefully till he found a discolored crack in the marble tracery showing a weak spot made two or three light taps with his head to get the distance and then lifting up six feet of his body clear of the ground sent home half a dozen fullpower smashing blows nosefirst The screenwork broke and fell away in a cloud of dust and rubbish and Mowgli leaped through the opening and flung himself between Baloo and Bagheera—an arm round each big neck
Art thou hurt said Baloo hugging him softly
I am sore hungry and not a little bruised but oh they have handled ye grievously my Brothers Ye bleed
Others also said Bagheera licking his lips and looking at the monkeydead on the terrace and round the tank
It is nothing it is nothing if thou art safe O my pride of all little frogs whimpered Baloo
Of that we shall judge later said Bagheera in a dry voice that Mowgli did not at all like But here is Kaa to whom we owe the battle and thou owest thy life Thank him according to our customs Mowgli
Mowgli turned and saw the great pythons head swaying a foot above his own
So this is the manling said Kaa Very soft is his skin and he is not so unlike the Bandarlog Have a care Manling that I do not mistake thee for a monkey some twilight when I have newly changed my coat
We be of one blood thou and I Mowgli answered I take my life from thee tonight My kill shall be thy kill if ever thou art hungry O Kaa
All thanks Little Brother said Kaa though his eyes twinkled And what may so bold a hunter kill I ask that I may follow when next he goes abroad
I kill nothing—I am too little—but I drive goats toward such as can use them When thou art empty come to me and see if I speak the truth I have some skill in these he held out his hands and if ever thou art in a trap I may pay the debt which I owe to thee to Bagheera and to Baloo here Good hunting to ye all my masters
Well said growled Baloo for Mowgli had returned thanks very prettily The python dropped his head lightly for a minute on Mowglis shoulder A brave heart and a courteous tongue said he They shall carry thee far through the jungle Manling But now go hence quickly with thy friends Go and sleep for the moon sets and what follows it is not well that thou shouldst see
The moon was sinking behind the hills and the lines of trembling monkeys huddled together on the walls and battlements looked like ragged shaky fringes of things Baloo went down to the tank for a drink and Bagheera began to put his fur in order as Kaa glided out into the center of the terrace and brought his jaws together with a ringing snap that drew all the monkeys eyes upon him
The moon sets he said Is there yet light to see
From the walls came a moan like the wind in the treetops We see O Kaa
Good Begins now the Dance—the Dance of the Hunger of Kaa Sit still and watch
He turned twice or thrice in a big circle weaving his head from right to left Then he began making loops and figures of eight with his body and soft oozy triangles that melted into squares and fivesided figures and coiled mounds never resting never hurrying and never stopping his low humming song It grew darker and darker till at last the dragging shifting coils disappeared but they could hear the rustle of the scales
Baloo and Bagheera stood still as stone growling in their throats their neckhair bristling and Mowgli watched and wondered
Bandarlog said the voice of Kaa at last can ye stir foot or hand without my order Speak
Without thy order we cannot stir foot or hand O Kaa
Good Come all one pace nearer to me
The lines of the monkeys swayed forward helplessly and Baloo and Bagheera took one stiff step forward with them
Nearer hissed Kaa and they all moved again
Mowgli laid his hands on Baloo and Bagheera to get them away and the two great beasts started as though they had been waked from a dream
Keep thy hand on my shoulder Bagheera whispered Keep it there or I must go back—must go back to Kaa Aah
It is only old Kaa making circles on the dust said Mowgli let us go and the three slipped off through a gap in the walls to the jungle
Whoof said Baloo when he stood under the still trees again Never more will I make an ally of Kaa and he shook himself all over
He knows more than we said Bagheera trembling In a little time had I stayed I should have walked down his throat
Many will walk that road before the moon rises again said Baloo He will have good hunting—after his own fashion
But what was the meaning of it all said Mowgli who did not know anything of a pythons powers of fascination I saw no more than a big snake making foolish circles till the dark came And his nose was all sore Ho Ho
Mowgli said Bagheera angrily his nose was sore on thy account as my ears and sides and paws and Baloos neck and shoulders are bitten on thy account Neither Baloo nor Bagheera will be able to hunt with pleasure for many days
It is nothing said Baloo we have the mancub again
True but he has cost us most heavily in time which might have been spent in good hunting in wounds in hair—I am half plucked along my back—and last of all in honor For remember Mowgli I who am the Black Panther was forced to call upon Kaa for protection and Baloo and I were both made stupid as little birds by the HungerDance All this Mancub came of thy playing with the Bandarlog
True it is true said Mowgli sorrowfully I am an evil mancub and my stomach is sad in me
Mf What says the Law of the Jungle Baloo
Baloo did not wish to bring Mowgli into any more trouble but he could not tamper with the Law so he mumbled Sorrow never stays punishment But remember Bagheera he is very little
I will remember but he has done mischief and blows must be dealt now Mowgli hast thou anything to say
Nothing I did wrong Baloo and thou art wounded It is just
Bagheera gave him half a dozen lovetaps from a panthers point of view they would hardly have waked one of his own cubs but for a seven yearold boy they amounted to as severe a beating as you could wish to avoid When it was all over Mowgli sneezed and picked himself up without a word
Now said Bagheera jump on my back Little Brother and we will go home
One of the beauties of Jungle Law is that punishment settles all scores There is no nagging afterward
Mowgli laid his head down on Bagheeras back and slept so deeply that he never waked when he was put down by Mother Wolfs side in the homecave
ROADSONG OF THE BANDARLOG
Here we go in a flung festoon
Halfway up to the jealous moon
Dont you envy our pranceful bands
Dont you wish you had extra hands
Wouldnt you like if your tails were—so—
Curved in the shape of a Cupids bow
Now youre angry but—never mind
Brother thy tail hangs down behind
Here we sit in a branchy row
Thinking of beautiful things we know
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do
All complete in a minute or two—
Something noble and grand and good
Won by merely wishing we could
Now were going to—never mind
Brother thy tail hangs down behind
All the talk we ever have heard
Uttered by bat or beast or bird—
Hide or fin or scale or feather—
Jabber it quickly and all together
Excellent Wonderful Once again
Now we are talking just like men
Lets pretend we are never mind
Brother thy tail hangs down behind
This is the way of the Monkeykind
Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines
That rocket by where light and high the wildgrape swings
By the rubbish in our wake and the noble noise we make
Be sure be sure were going to do some splendid things
TIGER TIGER
What of the hunting hunter bold
Brother the watch was long and cold
What of the quarry ye went to kill
Brother he crops in the jungle still
Where is the power that made your pride
Brother it ebbs from my flank and side
Where is the haste that ye hurry by
Brother I go to my lair—to die
TIGER TIGER
NOW we must go back to the last tale but one When Mowgli left the wolfs cave after the fight with the Pack at the Council Rock he went down to the plowed lands where the villagers lived but he would not stop there because it was too near to the jungle and he knew that he had made at least one bad enemy at the Council So he hurried on keeping to the rough road that ran down the valley and followed it at a steady jogtrot for nearly twenty miles till he came to a country that he did not know The valley opened out into a great plain dotted over with rocks and cut up by ravines At one end stood a little village and at the other the thick jungle came down in a sweep to the grazinggrounds and stopped there as though it had been cut off with a hoe All over the plain cattle and buffaloes were grazing and when the little boys in charge of the herds saw Mowgli they shouted and ran away and the yellow pariah dogs that hang about every Indian village barked Mowgli walked on for he was feeling hungry and when he came to the village gate he saw the big thornbush that was drawn up before the gate at twilight pushed to one side
Umph he said for he had come across more than one such barricade in his night rambles after things to eat So men are afraid of the People of the Jungle here also He sat down by the gate and when a man came out he stood up opened his mouth and pointed down it to show that he wanted food The man stared and ran back up the one street of the village shouting for the priest who was a big fat man dressed in white with a red and yellow mark on his forehead The priest came to the gate and with him at least a hundred people who stared and talked and shouted and pointed at Mowgli
They have no manners these Men Folk said Mowgli to himself Only the gray ape would behave as they do So he threw back his long hair and frowned at the crowd
What is there to be afraid of said the priest Look at the marks on his arms and legs They are the bites of wolves He is but a wolfchild run away from the jungle
Of course in playing together the cubs had often nipped Mowgli harder than they intended and there were white scars all over his arms and legs But he would have been the last person in the world to call these bites for he knew what real biting meant
Arré Arré said two or three women together To be bitten by wolves poor child He is a handsome boy He has eyes like red fire By my honor Messua he is not unlike thy boy that was taken by the tiger
Let me look said a woman with heavy copper rings on her wrists and ankles and she peered at Mowgli under the palm of her hand Indeed he is not He is thinner but he has the very look of my boy
The priest was a clever man and he knew that Messua was wife to the richest villager in the place So he looked up at the sky for a minute and said solemnly What the jungle has taken the jungle has restored Take the boy into thy house my sister and forget not to honor the priest who sees so far into the lives of men
By the Bull that bought me said Mowgli to himself but all this talking is like another lookingover by the Pack Well if I am a man a man I must become
The crowd parted as the woman beckoned Mowgli to her hut where there was a red lacquered bedstead a great earthen grainchest with curious raised patterns on it half a dozen copper cookingpots an image of a Hindu god in a little alcove and on the wall a real lookingglass such as they sell at the country fairs
She gave him a long drink of milk and some bread and then she laid her hand on his head and looked into his eyes for she thought perhaps that he might be her real son come back from the jungle where the tiger had taken him So she said Nathoo O Nathoo Mowgli did not show that he knew the name Dost thou not remember the day when I gave thee thy new shoes She touched his foot and it was almost as hard as horn No she said sorrowfully those feet have never worn shoes but thou art very like my Nathoo and thou shalt be my son
Mowgli was uneasy because he had never been under a roof before but as he looked at the thatch he saw that he could tear it out any time if he wanted to get away and that the window had no fastenings What is the good of a man he said to himself at last if he does not understand mans talk Now I am as silly and dumb as a man would be with us in the jungle I must learn their talk
It was not for fun that he had learned while he was with the wolves to imitate the challenge of bucks in the jungle and the grunt of the little wild pig So as soon as Messua pronounced a word Mowgli would imitate it almost perfectly and before dark he had learned the names of many things in the hut
There was a difficulty at bedtime because Mowgli would not sleep under anything that looked so like a panthertrap as that hut and when they shut the door he went through the window Give him his will said Messuas husband Remember he can never till now have slept on a bed If he is indeed sent in the place of our son he will not run away
So Mowgli stretched himself in some long clean grass at the edge of the field but before he had closed his eyes a soft gray nose poked him under the chin
Phew said Gray Brother he was the eldest of Mother Wolfs cubs This is a poor reward for following thee twenty miles Thou smellest of woodsmoke and cattle—altogether like a man already Wake Little Brother I bring news
WAKE LITTLE BROTHER I BRING NEWS
WAKE LITTLE BROTHER I BRING NEWS
Are all well in the jungle said Mowgli hugging him
All except the wolves that were burned with the Red Flower Now listen Shere Khan has gone away to hunt far off till his coat grows again for he is badly singed When he returns he swears that he will lay thy bones in the Waingunga
There are two words to that I also have made a little promise But news is always good I am tired tonight—very tired with new things Gray Brother—but bring me the news always
Thou wilt not forget that thou art a wolf Men will not make thee forget said Gray Brother anxiously
Never I will always remember that I love thee and all in our cave but also I will always remember that I have been cast out of the Pack
And that thou mayest be cast out of another pack Men are only men Little Brother and their talk is like the talk of frogs in a pond When I come down here again I will wait for thee in the bamboos at the edge of the grazingground
For three months after that night Mowgli hardly ever left the village gate he was so busy learning the ways and customs of men First he had to wear a cloth round him which annoyed him horribly and then he had to learn about money which he did not in the least understand and about plowing of which he did not see the use Then the little children in the village made him very angry Luckily the Law of the Jungle had taught him to keep his temper for in the jungle life and food depend on keeping your temper but when they made fun of him because he would not play games or fly kites or because he mispronounced some word only the knowledge that it was unsportsmanlike to kill little naked cubs kept him from picking them up and breaking them in two
He did not know his own strength in the least In the jungle he knew he was weak compared with the beasts but in the village people said he was as strong as a bull
And Mowgli had not the faintest idea of the difference that caste makes between man and man When the potters donkey slipped in the claypit Mowgli hauled it out by the tail and helped to stack the pots for their journey to the market at Khanhiwara That was very shocking too for the potter is a lowcaste man and his donkey is worse When the priest scolded him Mowgli threatened to put him on the donkey too and the priest told Messuas husband that Mowgli had better be set to work as soon as possible and the village headman told Mowgli that he would have to go out with the buffaloes next day and herd them while they grazed No one was more pleased than Mowgli and that night because he had been appointed a servant of the village as it were he went off to a circle that met every evening on a masonry platform under a great figtree It was the village club and the headman and the watchman and the barber who knew all the gossip of the village and old Buldeo the village hunter who had a Tower musket met and smoked The monkeys sat and talked in the upper branches and there was a hole under the platform where a cobra lived and he had his little platter of milk every night because he was sacred and the old men sat around the tree and talked and pulled at the big huqas the waterpipes till far into the night They told wonderful tales of gods and men and ghosts and Buldeo told even more wonderful ones of the ways of beasts in the jungle till the eyes of the children sitting outside the circle bulged out of their heads Most of the tales were about animals for the jungle was always at their door The deer and the wild pig grubbed up their crops and now and again the tiger carried off a man at twilight within sight of the village gates
Mowgli who naturally knew something about what they were talking of had to cover his face not to show that he was laughing while Buldeo the Tower musket across his knees climbed on from one wonderful story to another and Mowglis shoulders shook
Buldeo was explaining how the tiger that had carried away Messuas son was a ghosttiger and his body was inhabited by the ghost of a wicked old moneylender who had died some years ago And I know that this is true he said because Purun Dass always limped from the blow that he got in a riot when his accountbooks were burned and the tiger that I speak of he limps too for the tracks of his pads are unequal
True true that must be the truth said the graybeards nodding together
Are all these tales such cobwebs and moontalk said Mowgli That tiger limps because he was born lame as every one knows To talk of the soul of a moneylender in a beast that never had the courage of a jackal is childs talk
ARE ALL THESE TALES SUCH COBWEBS AND MOONTALK SAID MOWGLI
ARE ALL THESE TALES SUCH COBWEBS AND MOONTALK SAID MOWGLI
Buldeo was speechless with surprise for a moment and the headman stared
Oho It is the jungle brat is it said Buldeo If thou art so wise better bring his hide to Khanhiwara for the Government has set a hundred rupees 30 on his life Better still do not talk when thy elders speak
Mowgli rose to go All the evening I have lain here listening he called back over his shoulder and except once or twice Buldeo has not said one word of truth concerning the jungle which is at his very doors How then shall I believe the tales of ghosts and gods and goblins which he says he has seen
It is full time that boy went to herding said the headman while Buldeo puffed and snorted at Mowglis impertinence
The custom of most Indian villages is for a few boys to take the cattle and buffaloes out to graze in the early morning and bring them back at night and the very cattle that would trample a white man to death allow themselves to be banged and bullied and shouted at by children that hardly come up to their noses So long as the boys keep with the herds they are safe for not even the tiger will charge a mob of cattle But if they straggle to pick flowers or hunt lizards they are sometimes carried off Mowgli went through the village street in the dawn sitting on the back of Rama the great herd bull and the slatyblue buffaloes with their long backwardsweeping horns and savage eyes rose out of their byres one by one and followed him and Mowgli made it very clear to the children with him that he was the master He beat the buffaloes with a long polished bamboo and told Kamya one of the boys to graze the cattle by themselves while he went on with the buffaloes and to be very careful not to stray away from the herd
An Indian grazingground is all rocks and scrub and tussocks and little ravines among which the herds scatter and disappear The buffaloes generally keep to the pools and muddy places where they lie wallowing or basking in the warm mud for hours Mowgli drove them on to the edge of the plain where the Waingunga River came out of the jungle then he dropped from Ramas neck trotted off to a bamboo clump and found Gray Brother Ah said Gray Brother I have waited here very many days What is the meaning of this cattleherding work
It is an order said Mowgli I am a village herd for a while What news of Shere Khan
He has come back to this country and has waited here a long time for thee Now he has gone off again for the game is scarce But he means to kill thee
Very good said Mowgli So long as he is away do thou or one of the brothers sit on that rock so that I can see thee as I come out of the village When he comes back wait for me in the ravine by the dhâktree in the center of the plain We need not walk into Shere Khans mouth
Then Mowgli picked out a shady place and lay down and slept while the buffaloes grazed round him Herding in India is one of the laziest things in the world The cattle move and crunch and lie down and move on again and they do not even low They only grunt and the buffaloes very seldom say anything but get down into the muddy pools one after another and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring chinablue eyes show above the surface and there they lie like logs The sun makes the rocks dance in the heat and the herdchildren hear one kite never any more whistling almost out of sight overhead and they know that if they died or a cow died that kite would sweep down and the next kite miles away would see him drop and follow and the next and the next and almost before they were dead there would be a score of hungry kites come out of nowhere Then they sleep and wake and sleep again and weave little baskets of dried grass and put grasshoppers in them or catch two prayingmantises and make them fight or string a necklace of red and black junglenuts or watch a lizard basking on a rock or a snake hunting a frog near the wallows Then they sing long long songs with odd native quavers at the end of them and the day seems longer than most peoples whole lives and perhaps they make a mud castle with mud figures of men and horses and buffaloes and put reeds into the mens hands and pretend that they are kings and the figures are their armies or that they are gods to be worshiped Then evening comes and the children call and the buffaloes lumber up out of the sticky mud with noises like gunshots going off one after the other and they all string across the gray plain back to the twinkling village lights
Day after day Mowgli would lead the buffaloes out to their wallows and day after day he would see Gray Brothers back a mile and a half away across the plain so he knew that Shere Khan had not come back and day after day he would lie on the grass listening to the noise round him and dreaming of old days in the jungle If Shere Khan had made a false step with his lame paw up in the jungles by the Waingunga Mowgli would have heard him in those long still mornings
At last a day came when he did not see Gray Brother at the signal place and he laughed and headed the buffaloes for the ravine by the dhâktree which was all covered with goldenred flowers There sat Gray Brother every bristle on his back lifted
He has hidden for a month to throw thee off thy guard He crossed the ranges last night with Tabaqui hotfoot on thy trail said the wolf panting
Mowgli frowned I am not afraid of Shere Khan but Tabaqui is very cunning
Have no fear said Gray Brother licking his lips a little I met Tabaqui in the dawn Now he is telling all his wisdom to the kites but he told me everything before I broke his back Shere Khans plan is to wait for thee at the village gate this evening—for thee and for no one else He is lying up now in the big dry ravine of the Waingunga
Has he eaten today or does he hunt empty said Mowgli for the answer meant life or death to him
He killed at dawn—a pig—and he has drunk too Remember Shere Khan could never fast even for the sake of revenge
Oh Fool fool What a cubs cub it is Eaten and drunk too and he thinks that I shall wait till he has slept Now where does he lie up If there were but ten of us we might pull him down as he lies These buffaloes will not charge unless they wind him and I cannot speak their language Can we get behind his track so that they may smell it
He swam far down the Waingunga to cut that off said Gray Brother
Tabaqui told him that I know He would never have thought of it alone Mowgli stood with his finger in his mouth thinking The big ravine of the Waingunga That opens out on the plain not half a mile from here I can take the herd round through the jungle to the head of the ravine and then sweep down—but he would slink out at the foot We must block that end Gray Brother canst thou cut the herd in two for me
Not I perhaps—but I have brought a wise helper Gray Brother trotted off and dropped into a hole Then there lifted up a huge gray head that Mowgli knew well and the hot air was filled with the most desolate cry of all the jungle—the huntinghowl of a wolf at midday
Akela Akela said Mowgli clapping his hands I might have known that thou wouldst not forget me We have a big work in hand Cut the herd in two Akela Keep the cows and calves together and the bulls and the plowbuffaloes by themselves
The two wolves ran ladieschain fashion in and out of the herd which snorted and threw up its head and separated into two clumps In one the cowbuffaloes stood with their calves in the center and glared and pawed ready if a wolf would only stay still to charge down and trample the life out of him In the other the bulls and the young bulls snorted and stamped but though they looked more imposing they were much less dangerous for they had no calves to protect No six men could have divided the herd so neatly
What orders panted Akela They are trying to join again
Mowgli slipped on to Ramas back Drive the bulls away to the left Akela Gray Brother when we are gone hold the cows together and drive them into the foot of the ravine
How far said Gray Brother panting and snapping
Till the sides are higher than Shere Khan can jump shouted Mowgli Keep them there till we come down The bulls swept off as Akela bayed and Gray Brother stopped in front of the cows They charged down on him and he ran just before them to the foot of the ravine as Akela drove the bulls far to the left
Well done Another charge and they are fairly started Careful now—careful Akela A snap too much and the bulls will charge Hujah This is wilder work than driving blackbuck Didst thou think these creatures could move so swiftly Mowgli called
I have—have hunted these too in my time gasped Akela in the dust Shall I turn them into the jungle
Ay turn Swiftly turn them Rama is mad with rage Oh if I could only tell him what I need of him today
The bulls were turned to the right this time and crashed into the standing thicket The other herdchildren watching with the cattle half a mile away hurried to the village as fast as their legs could carry them crying that the buffaloes had gone mad and run away
But Mowglis plan was simple enough All he wanted to do was to make a big circle uphill and get at the head of the ravine and then take the bulls down it and catch Shere Khan between the bulls and the cows for he knew that after a meal and a full drink Shere Khan would not be in any condition to fight or to clamber up the sides of the ravine He was soothing the buffaloes now by voice and Akela had dropped far to the rear only whimpering once or twice to hurry the rearguard It was a long long circle for they did not wish to get too near the ravine and give Shere Khan warning At last Mowgli rounded up the bewildered herd at the head of the ravine on a grassy patch that sloped steeply down to the ravine itself From that height you could see across the tops of the trees down to the plain below but what Mowgli looked at was the sides of the ravine and he saw with a great deal of satisfaction that they ran nearly straight up and down and the vines and creepers that hung over them would give no foothold to a tiger who wanted to get out
Let them breathe Akela he said holding up his hand They have not winded him yet Let them breathe I must tell Shere Khan who comes We have him in the trap
He put his hands to his mouth and shouted down the ravine—it was almost like shouting down a tunnel—and the echoes jumped from rock to rock
After a long time there came back the drawling sleepy snarl of a fullfed tiger just awakened
Who calls said Shere Khan and a splendid peacock fluttered up out of the ravine screeching
I Mowgli Cattlethief it is time to come to the Council Rock Down—hurry them down Akela Down Rama down
The herd paused for an instant at the edge of the slope but Akela gave tongue in the full huntingyell and they pitched over one after the other just as steamers shoot rapids the sand and stones spurting up round them Once started there was no chance of stopping and before they were fairly in the bed of the ravine Rama winded Shere Khan and bellowed
Ha Ha said Mowgli on his back Now thou knowest and the torrent of black horns foaming muzzles and staring eyes whirled down the ravine like boulders in floodtime the weaker buffaloes being shouldered out to the sides of the ravine where they tore through the creepers They knew what the business was before them—the terrible charge of the buffaloherd against which no tiger can hope to stand Shere Khan heard the thunder of their hoofs picked himself up and lumbered down the ravine looking from side to side for some way of escape but the walls of the ravine were straight and he had to keep on heavy with his dinner and his drink willing to do anything rather than fight The herd splashed through the pool he had just left bellowing till the narrow cut rang Mowgli heard an answering bellow from the foot of the ravine saw Shere Khan turn the tiger knew if the worst came to the worst it was better to meet the bulls than the cows with their calves and then Rama tripped stumbled and went on again over something soft and with the bulls at his heels crashed full into the other herd while the weaker buffaloes were lifted clean off their feet by the shock of the meeting That charge carried both herds out into the plain goring and stamping and snorting Mowgli watched his time and slipped off Ramas neck laying about him right and left with his stick
Quick Akela Break them up Scatter them or they will be fighting one another. Drive them away Akela Hai Rama Hai hai hai my children Softly now softly It is all over
Akela and Gray Brother ran to and fro nipping the buffaloes legs and though the herd wheeled once to charge up the ravine again Mowgli managed to turn Rama and the others followed him to the wallows
Shere Khan needed no more trampling He was dead and the kites were coming for him already
Brothers that was a dogs death said Mowgli feeling for the knife he always carried in a sheath round his neck now that he lived with men But he would never have shown fight His hide will look well on the Council Rock We must get to work swiftly
A boy trained among men would never have dreamed of skinning a tenfoot tiger alone but Mowgli knew better than any one else how an animals skin is fitted on and how it can be taken off But it was hard work and Mowgli slashed and tore and grunted for an hour while the wolves lolled out their tongues or came forward and tugged as he ordered them
Presently a hand fell on his shoulder and looking up he saw Buldeo with the Tower musket The children had told the village about the buffalo stampede and Buldeo went out angrily only too anxious to correct Mowgli for not taking better care of the herd The wolves dropped out of sight as soon as they saw the man coming
What is this folly said Buldeo angrily To think that thou canst skin a tiger Where did the buffaloes kill him It is the Lame Tiger too and there is a hundred rupees on his head Well well we will overlook thy letting the herd run off and perhaps I will give thee one of the rupees of the reward when I have taken the skin to Khanhiwara He fumbled in his waistcloth for flint and steel and stooped down to singe Shere Khans whiskers Most native hunters singe a tigers whiskers to prevent his ghost haunting them
Hum said Mowgli half to himself as he ripped back the skin of a fore paw So thou wilt take the hide to Khanhiwara for the reward and perhaps give me one rupee Now it is in my mind that I need the skin for my own use Heh old man take away that fire
What talk is this to the chief hunter of the village Thy luck and the stupidity of thy buffaloes have helped thee to this kill The tiger has just fed or he would have gone twenty miles by this time Thou canst not even skin him properly little beggarbrat and forsooth I Buldeo must be told not to singe his whiskers Mowgli I will not give thee one anna of the reward but only a very big beating Leave the carcass
By the Bull that bought me said Mowgli who was trying to get at the shoulder must I stay babbling to an old ape all noon Here Akela this man plagues me
Buldeo who was still stooping over Shere Khans head found himself sprawling on the grass with a gray wolf standing over him while Mowgli went on skinning as though he were alone in all India
Yees he said between his teeth Thou art altogether right Buldeo Thou wilt never give me one anna of the reward There is an old war between this lame tiger and myself—a very old war and—I have won
To do Buldeo justice if he had been ten years younger he would have taken his chance with Akela had he met the wolf in the woods but a wolf who obeyed the orders of this boy who had private wars with maneating tigers was not a common animal It was sorcery magic of the worst kind thought Buldeo and he wondered whether the amulet round his neck would protect him He lay as still as still expecting every minute to see Mowgli turn into a tiger too
BULDEO LAY AS STILL AS STILL EXPECTING EVERY MINUTE TO SEE MOWGLI TURN INTO A TIGER TOO
BULDEO LAY AS STILL AS STILL EXPECTING EVERY MINUTE TO SEE MOWGLI TURN INTO A TIGER TOO
Maharaj Great King he said at last in a husky whisper
Yes said Mowgli without turning his head chuckling a little
I am an old man I did not know that thou wast anything more than a herdboy May I rise up and go away or will thy servant tear me to pieces
Go and peace go with thee Only another time do not meddle with my game Let him go Akela
Buldeo hobbled away to the village as fast as he could looking back over his shoulder in case Mowgli should change into something terrible When he got to the village he told a tale of magic and enchantment and sorcery that made the priest look very grave
Mowgli went on with his work but it was nearly twilight before he and the wolves had drawn the great gay skin clear of the body
Now we must hide this and take the buffaloes home Help me to herd them Akela
The herd rounded up in the misty twilight and when they got near the village Mowgli saw lights and heard the conches and bells in the temple blowing and banging Half the village seemed to be waiting for him by the gate That is because I have killed Shere Khan he said to himself but a shower of stones whistled about his ears and the villagers shouted Sorcerer Wolfs brat Jungledemon Go away Get hence quickly or the priest will turn thee into a wolf again Shoot Buldeo shoot
The old Tower musket went off with a bang and a young buffalo bellowed in pain
More sorcery shouted the villagers He can turn bullets Buldeo that was thy buffalo
Now what is this said Mowgli bewildered as the stones flew thicker
They are not unlike the Pack these brothers of thine said Akela sitting down composedly It is in my head that if bullets mean anything they would cast thee out
Wolf Wolfs cub Go away shouted the priest waving a sprig of the sacred tulsi plant
Again Last time it was because I was a man This time it is because I am a wolf Let us go Akela
A woman—it was Messua—ran across to the herd and cried Oh my son my son They say thou art a sorcerer who can turn himself into a beast at will I do not believe but go away or they will kill thee Buldeo says thou art a wizard but I know thou hast avenged Nathoos death
Come back Messua shouted the crowd Come back or we will stone thee
Mowgli laughed a little short ugly laugh for a stone had hit him in the mouth Run back Messua This is one of the foolish tales they tell under the big tree at dusk I have at least paid for thy sons life Farewell and run quickly for I shall send the herd in more swiftly than their brickbats I am no wizard Messua Farewell
Now once more Akela he cried Bring the herd in
The buffaloes were anxious enough to get to the village They hardly needed Akelas yell but charged through the gate like a whirlwind scattering the crowd right and left
Keep count shouted Mowgli scornfully It may be that I have stolen one of them Keep count for I will do your herding no more Fare you well children of men and thank Messua that I do not come in with my wolves and hunt you up and down your street
He turned on his heel and walked away with the Lone Wolf and as he looked up at the stars he felt happy No more sleeping in traps for me Akela Let us get Shere Khans skin and go away No we will not hurt the village for Messua was kind to me
When the moon rose over the plain making it look all milky the horrified villagers saw Mowgli with two wolves at his heels and a bundle on his head trotting across at the steady wolfs trot that eats up the long miles like fire Then they banged the temple bells and blew the conches louder than ever and Messua cried and Buldeo embroidered the story of his adventures in the jungle till he ended by saying that Akela stood up on his hind legs and talked like a man
WHEN THE MOON ROSE OVER THE PLAIN THE VILLAGERS SAW
MOWGLI TROTTING ACROSS WITH TWO WOLVES AT HIS HEELS
WHEN THE MOON ROSE OVER THE PLAIN THE VILLAGERS SAW
MOWGLI TROTTING ACROSS WITH TWO WOLVES AT HIS HEELS
The moon was just going down when Mowgli and the two wolves came to the hill of the Council Rock and they stopped at Mother Wolfs cave
They have cast me out from the Man Pack Mother shouted Mowgli but I come with the hide of Shere Khan to keep my word Mother Wolf walked stiffly from the cave with the cubs behind her and her eyes glowed as she saw the skin
I told him on that day when he crammed his head and shoulders into this cave hunting for thy life Little Frog—I told him that the hunter would be the hunted It is well done
Little Brother it is well done said a deep voice in the thicket We were lonely in the jungle without thee and Bagheera came running to Mowglis bare feet They clambered up the Council Rock together and Mowgli spread the skin out on the flat stone where Akela used to sit and pegged it down with four slivers of bamboo and Akela lay down upon it and called the old call to the Council Look—look well O Wolves exactly as he had called when Mowgli was first brought there
THEY CLAMBERED UP ON THE COUNCIL ROCK TOGETHER AND MOWGLI SPREAD THE SKIN OUT ON THE FLAT STONE
THEY CLAMBERED UP ON THE COUNCIL ROCK
TOGETHER AND MOWGLI SPREAD THE SKIN OUT ON THE FLAT STONE
Ever since Akela had been deposed the Pack had been without a leader hunting and fighting at their own pleasure But they answered the call from habit and some of them were lame from the traps they had fallen into and some limped from shotwounds and some were mangy from eating bad food and many were missing but they came to the Council Rock all that were left of them and saw Shere Khans striped hide on the rock and the huge claws dangling at the end of the empty dangling feet It was then that Mowgli made up a song without any rhymes a song that came up into his throat all by itself, and he shouted it aloud leaping up and down on the rattling skin and beating time with his heels till he had no more breath left while Gray Brother and Akela howled between the verses
Look well O Wolves Have I kept my word said Mowgli when he had finished and the wolves bayed Yes and one tattered wolf howled
Lead us again O Akela Lead us again O Mancub for we be sick of this lawlessness and we would be the Free People once more
Nay purred Bagheera that may not be When ye are fullfed the madness may come upon ye again Not for nothing are ye called the Free People Ye fought for freedom and it is yours Eat it O Wolves
Man Pack and Wolf Pack have cast me out said Mowgli Now I will hunt alone in the jungle
And we will hunt with thee said the four cubs
So Mowgli went away and hunted with the four cubs in the jungle from that day on But he was not always alone because years afterward he became a man and married
But that is a story for grownups
MOWGLIS SONG
THAT HE SANG AT THE COUNCIL ROCK WHEN HE DANCED ON SHERE KHANS HIDE
The Song of Mowgli—I Mowgli am singing Let the jungle listen to the things I have done
Shere Khan said he would kill—would kill At the gates in the twilight he would kill Mowgli the Frog
He ate and he drank Drink deep Shere Khan for when wilt thou drink again Sleep and dream of the kill
I am alone on the grazinggrounds Gray Brother come to me Come to me Lone Wolf for there is big game afoot
Bring up the great bullbuffaloes the blueskinned herdbulls with the angry eyes Drive them to and fro as I order
Sleepest thou still Shere Khan Wake O wake Here come I and the bulls are behind
Rama the King of the Buffaloes stamped with his foot Waters of the Waingunga whither went Shere Khan
He is not Ikki to dig holes nor Mao the Peacock that he should fly He is not Mang the Bat to hang in the branches Little bamboos that creak together tell me where he ran
Ow He is there Ahoo He is there Under the feet of Rama lies the Lame One Up Shere Khan Up and kill Here is meat break the necks of the bulls
Hsh He is asleep We will not wake him for his strength is very great The kites have come down to see it The black ants have come up to know it There is a great assembly in his honor
Alala I have no cloth to wrap me The kites will see that I am naked I am ashamed to meet all these people
Lend me thy coat Shere Khan Lend me thy gay striped coat that I may go to the Council Rock
By the Bull that bought me I have made a promise—a little promise Only thy coat is lacking before I keep my word
With the knife—with the knife that men use—with the knife of the hunter the man I will stoop down for my gift
Waters of the Waingunga bear witness that Shere Khan gives me his coat for the love that he bears me Pull Gray Brother Pull Akela Heavy is the hide of Shere Khan Heavy is the hide of Shere Khan
The Man Pack are angry They throw stones and talk childs talk My mouth is bleeding Let us run away
Through the night through the hot night run swiftly with me my brothers We will leave the lights of the village and go to the low moon
Waters of the Waingunga the Man Pack have cast me out I did them no harm but they were afraid of me Why
Wolf Pack ye have cast me out too The jungle is shut to me and the village gates are shut Why
As Mang flies between the beasts and the birds so fly I between the village and the jungle Why
I dance on the hide of Shere Khan but my heart is very heavy My mouth is cut and wounded with the stones from the village but my heart is very light because I have come back to the jungle Why
These two things fight together in me as the snakes fight in the spring The water comes out of my eyes yet I laugh while it falls Why
I am two Mowglis but the hide of Shere Khan is under my feet
All the jungle knows that I have killed Shere Khan Look—look well O Wolves
Ahae My heart is heavy with the things that I do not understand
THE WHITE SEAL
Oh hush thee my baby the night is behind us
And black are the waters that sparkled so green
The moon oer the combers looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between
Where billow meets billow there soft be thy pillow
Ah weary wee flipperling curl at thy ease
The storm shall not wake thee nor shark overtake thee
Asleep in the arms of the slowswinging seas
Seal Lullaby
THE WHITE SEAL
ALL these things happened several years ago at a place called Novastoshnah or North East Point on the Island of St Paul away and away in the Bering Sea Limmershin the Winter Wren told me the tale when he was blown on to the rigging of a steamer going to Japan and I took him down into my cabin and warmed and fed him for a couple of days till he was fit to fly back to St Pauls again Limmershin is a very odd little bird but he knows how to tell the truth
Nobody comes to Novastoshnah except on business and the only people who have regular business there are the seals They come in the summer months by hundreds and hundreds of thousands out of the cold gray sea for Novastoshnah Beach has the finest accommodation for seals of any place in all the world
Sea Catch knew that and every spring would swim from whatever place he happened to be in—would swim like a torpedoboat straight for Novastoshnah and spend a month fighting with his companions for a good place on the rocks as close to the sea as possible Sea Catch was fifteen years old a huge gray furseal with almost a mane on his shoulders and long wicked dogteeth When he heaved himself up on his front flippers he stood more than four feet clear of the ground and his weight if any one had been bold enough to weigh him was nearly seven hundred pounds He was scarred all over with the marks of savage fights but he was always ready for just one fight more He would put his head on one side as though he were afraid to look his enemy in the face then he would shoot it out like lightning and when the big teeth were firmly fixed on the other seals neck the other seal might get away if he could but Sea Catch would not help him
Yet Sea Catch never chased a beaten seal for that was against the Rules of the Beach He only wanted room by the sea for his nursery but as there were forty or fifty thousand other seals hunting for the same thing each spring the whistling bellowing roaring and blowing on the beach was something frightful
From a little hill called Hutchinsons Hill you could look over three and a half miles of ground covered with fighting seals and the surf was dotted all over with the heads of seals hurrying to land and begin their share of the fighting They fought in the breakers they fought in the sand and they fought on the smoothworn basalt rocks of the nurseries for they were just as stupid and unaccommodating as men Their wives never came to the island until late in May or early in June for they did not care to be torn to pieces and the young two three and fouryearold seals who had not begun housekeeping went inland about half a mile through the ranks of the fighters and played about on the sanddunes in droves and legions and rubbed off every single green thing that grew They were called the holluschickie—the bachelors—and there were perhaps two or three hundred thousand of them at Novastoshnah alone
Sea Catch had just finished his fortyfifth fight one spring when Matkah his soft sleek gentleeyed wife came up out of the sea and he caught her by the scruff of the neck and dumped her down on his reservation saying gruffly Late as usual Where have you been
It was not the fashion for Sea Catch to eat anything during the four months he stayed on the beaches and so his temper was generally bad Matkah knew better than to answer back She looked around and cooed How thoughtful of you Youve taken the old place again
I should think I had said Sea Catch Look at me
He was scratched and bleeding in twenty places one eye was almost blind and his sides were torn to ribbons
Oh you men you men Matkah said fanning herself with her hind flipper Why cant you be sensible and settle your places quietly You look as though you had been fighting with the Killer Whale
I havent been doing anything but fight since the middle of May The beach is disgracefully crowded this season Ive met at least a hundred seals from Lukannon Beach househunting Why cant people stay where they belong
Ive often thought we should be much happier if we hauled out at Otter Island instead of this crowded place said Matkah
Bah Only the holluschickie go to Otter Island If we went there they would say we were afraid We must preserve appearances my dear
Sea Catch sunk his head proudly between his fat shoulders and pretended to go to sleep for a few minutes but all the time he was keeping a sharp lookout for a fight Now that all the seals and their wives were on the land you could hear their clamor miles out to sea above the loudest gales At the lowest counting there were over a million seals on the beach—old seals mother seals tiny babies and holluschickie fighting scuffling bleating crawling and playing together—going down to the sea and coming up from it in gangs and regiments lying over every foot of ground as far as the eye could reach and skirmishing about in brigades through the fog It is nearly always foggy at Novastoshnah except when the sun comes out and makes everything look all pearly and rainbowcolored for a little while
Kotick Matkahs baby was born in the middle of that confusion and he was all head and shoulders with pale watery blue eyes as tiny seals must be but there was something about his coat that made his mother look at him very closely
Sea Catch she said at last our babys going to be white
Empty clamshells and dry seaweed snorted Sea Catch There never has been such a thing in the world as a white seal
I cant help that said Matkah theres going to be now and she sang the low crooning sealsong that all the mother seals sing to their babies
You mustnt swim till youre six weeks old
Or your head will be sunk by your heels
And summer gales and Killer Whales
Are bad for baby seals
Are bad for baby seals dear rat
As bad as bad can be
But splash and grow strong
And you cant be wrong
Child of the Open Sea
Of course the little fellow did not understand the words at first He paddled and scrambled about by his mothers side and learned to scuffle out of the way when his father was fighting with another seal and the two rolled and roared up and down the slippery rocks Matkah used to go to sea to get things to eat and the baby was fed only once in two days but then he ate all he could and throve upon it
The first thing he did was to crawl inland and there he met tens of thousands of babies of his own age and they played together like puppies went to sleep on the clean sand and played again The old people in the nurseries took no notice of them and the holluschickie kept to their own grounds so the babies had a beautiful playtime
When Matkah came back from her deepsea fishing she would go straight to their playground and call as a sheep calls for a lamb and wait until she heard Kotick bleat Then she would take the straightest of straight lines in his direction striking out with her fore flippers and knocking the youngsters head over heels right and left There were always a few hundred mothers hunting for their children through the playgrounds and the babies were kept lively but as Matkah told Kotick So long as you dont lie in muddy water and get mange or rub the hard sand into a cut or scratch and so long as you never go swimming when there is a heavy sea nothing will hurt you here
Little seals can no more swim than little children but they are unhappy till they learn The first time that Kotick went down to the sea a wave carried him out beyond his depth and his big head sank and his little hind flippers flew up exactly as his mother had told him in the song and if the next wave had not thrown him back again he would have drowned
After that he learned to lie in a beachpool and let the wash of the waves just cover him and lift him up while he paddled but he always kept his eye open for big waves that might hurt He was two weeks learning to use his flippers and all that while he floundered in and out of the water and coughed and grunted and crawled up the beach and took catnaps on the sand and went back again until at last he found that he truly belonged to the water
Then you can imagine the times that he had with his companions ducking under the rollers or coming in on top of a comber and landing with a swash and a splutter as the big wave went whirling far up the beach or standing up on his tail and scratching his head as the old people did or playing Im the King of the Castle on slippery weedy rocks that just stuck out of the wash Now and then he would see a thin fin like a big sharks fin drifting along close to shore and he knew that that was the Killer Whale the Grampus who eats young seals when he can get them and Kotick would head for the beach like an arrow and the fin would jig off slowly as if it were looking for nothing at all
Late in October the seals began to leave St Pauls for the deep sea by families and tribes and there was no more fighting over the nurseries and the holluschickie played anywhere they liked Next year said Matkah to Kotick you will be a holluschickie but this year you must learn how to catch fish
They set out together across the Pacific and Matkah showed Kotick how to sleep on his back with his flippers tucked down by his side and his little nose just out of the water No cradle is so comfortable as the long rocking swell of the Pacific When Kotick felt his skin tingle all over Matkah told him he was learning the feel of the water and that tingly prickly feelings meant bad weather coming and he must swim hard and get away
In a little time she said youll know where to swim to but just now well follow Sea Pig the Porpoise for he is very wise A school of porpoises were ducking and tearing through the water and little Kotick followed them as fast as he could How do you know where to go to he panted The leader of the school rolled his white eyes and ducked under My tail tingles youngster he said That means theres a gale behind me Come along When youre south of the Sticky Water he meant the Equator and your tail tingles that means theres a gale in front of you and you must head north Come along The water feels bad here
This was one of very many things that Kotick learned and he was always learning Matkah taught him how to follow the cod and the halibut along the undersea banks and wrench the rockling out of his hole among the weeds how to skirt the wrecks lying a hundred fathoms below water and dart like a riflebullet in at one porthole and out at another as the fishes ran how to dance on the top of the waves when the lightning was racing all over the sky and wave his flipper politely to the Stumpytailed Albatross and the Manofwar Hawk as they went down the wind how to jump three or four feet clear of the water like a dolphin flippers close to the side and tail curved to leave the flyingfish alone because they are all bony to take the shoulderpiece out of a cod at full speed ten fathoms deep and never to stop and look at a boat or a ship but particularly a row boat At the end of six months what Kotick did not know about deepsea fishing was not worth the knowing and all that time he never set flipper on dry ground
TEN FATHOMS DEEP
TEN FATHOMS DEEP
One day however as he was lying half asleep in the warm water somewhere off the Island of Juan Fernandez he felt faint and lazy all over just as human people do when the spring is in their legs and he remembered the good firm beaches of Novastoshnah seven thousand miles away the games his companions played the smell of the seaweed the sealroar and the fighting That very minute he turned north swimming steadily and as he went on he met scores of his mates all bound for the same place and they said Greeting Kotick This year we are all holluschickie and we can dance the Firedance in the breakers off Lukannon and play on the new grass But where did you get that coat
Koticks fur was almost pure white now and though he felt very proud of it he only said Swim quickly My bones are aching for the land And so they all came to the beaches where they had been born and heard the old seals their fathers fighting in the rolling mist
That night Kotick danced the Firedance with the yearling seals The sea is full of fire on summer nights all the way down from Novastoshnah to Lukannon and each seal leaves a wake like burning oil behind him and a flaming flash when he jumps and the waves break in great phosphorescent streaks and swirls Then they went inland to the holluschickie grounds and rolled up and down in the new wild wheat and told stories of what they had done while they had been at sea They talked about the Pacific as boys would talk about a wood that they had been nutting in and if any one had understood them he could have gone away and made such a chart of that ocean as never was The three and fouryearold holluschickie romped down from Hutchinsons Hill crying Out of the way youngsters The sea is deep and you dont know all thats in it yet Wait till youve rounded the Horn Hi you yearling where did you get that white coat
I didnt get it said Kotick it grew And just as he was going to roll the speaker over a couple of blackhaired men with flat red faces came from behind a sanddune and Kotick who had never seen a man before coughed and lowered his head The holluschickie just bundled off a few yards and sat staring stupidly The men were no less than Kerick Booterin the chief of the sealhunters on the island and Patalamon his son They came from the little village not half a mile from the seal nurseries and they were deciding what seals they would drive up to the killingpens for the seals were driven just like sheep to be turned into sealskin jackets later on
Ho said Patalamon Look Theres a white seal
Kerick Booterin turned nearly white under his oil and smoke for he was an Aleut and Aleuts are not clean people Then he began to mutter a prayer Dont touch him Patalamon There has never been a white seal since—since I was born Perhaps it is old Zaharrofs ghost He was lost last year in the big gale
Im not going near him said Patalamon Hes unlucky Do you really think he is old Zaharrof come back I owe him for some gulls eggs
Dont look at him said Kerick Head off that drove of fouryearolds The men ought to skin two hundred today but its the beginning of the season and they are new to the work A hundred will do Quick
Patalamon rattled a pair of seals shoulderbones in front of a herd of holluschickie and they stopped dead puffing and blowing Then he stepped near and the seals began to move and Kerick headed them inland and they never tried to get back to their companions Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of seals watched them being driven but they went on playing just the same Kotick was the only one who asked questions and none of his companions could tell him anything except that the men always drove seals in that way for six weeks or two months of every year
I am going to follow he said and his eyes nearly popped out of his head as he shuffled along in the wake of the herd
The white seal is coming after us cried Patalamon Thats the first time a seal has ever come to the killinggrounds alone
Hsh Dont look behind you said Kerick It is Zaharrofs ghost I must speak to the priest about this
The distance to the killinggrounds was only half a mile but it took an hour to cover because if the seals went too fast Kerick knew that they would get heated and then their fur would come off in patches when they were skinned So they went on very slowly past SeaLions Neck past Webster House till they came to the Salt House just beyond the sight of the seals on the beach Kotick followed panting and wondering He thought that he was at the worlds end but the roar of the seal nurseries behind him sounded as loud as the roar of a train in a tunnel Then Kerick sat down on the moss and pulled out a heavy pewter watch and let the drove cool off for thirty minutes and Kotick could hear the fogdew dripping from the brim of his cap Then ten or twelve men each with an ironbound club three or four feet long came up and Kerick pointed out one or two of the drove that were bitten by their companions or were too hot and the men kicked those aside with their heavy boots made of the skin of a walruss throat and then Kerick said Let go and then the men clubbed the seals on the head as fast as they could
Ten minutes later little Kotick did not recognize his friends any more for their skins were ripped off from the nose to the hind flippers—whipped off and thrown down on the ground in a pile
That was enough for Kotick He turned and galloped a seal can gallop very swiftly for a short time back to the sea his little new mustache bristling with horror At SeaLions Neck where the great sealions sit on the edge of the surf he flung himself flipper overhead into the cool water and rocked there gasping miserably Whats here said a sealion gruffly for as a rule the sealions keep themselves to themselves
Scoochnie Ochen scoochnie Im lonesome very lonesome said Kotick Theyre killing all the holluschickie on all the beaches
The sealion turned his head inshore Nonsense he said your friends are making as much noise as ever You must have seen old Kerick polishing off a drove Hes done that for thirty years
Its horrible said Kotick backing water as a wave went over him and steadying himself with a screwstroke of his flippers that brought him up all standing within three inches of a jagged edge of rock
Well done for a yearling said the sealion who could appreciate good swimming I suppose it is rather awful from your way of looking at it but if you seals will come here year after year of course the men get to know of it and unless you can find an island where no men ever come you will always be driven
Isnt there any such island began Kotick
Ive followed the poltoos the halibut for twenty years and I cant say Ive found it yet But look here—you seem to have a fondness for talking to your betters suppose you go to Walrus Islet and talk to Sea Vitch He may know something Dont flounce off like that Its a sixmile swim and if I were you I should haul out and take a nap first little one
Kotick thought that that was good advice so he swam round to his own beach hauled out and slept for half an hour twitching all over as seals will Then he headed straight for Walrus Islet a little low sheet of rocky island almost due northeast from Novastoshnah all ledges of rock and gulls nests where the walrus herded by themselves
He landed close to old Sea Vitch—the big ugly bloated pimpled fatnecked longtusked walrus of the North Pacific who has no manners except when he is asleep—as he was then with his hind flippers half in and half out of the surf
Wake up barked Kotick for the gulls were making a great noise
Hah Ho Hmph Whats that said Sea Vitch and he struck the next walrus a blow with his tusks and waked him up and the next struck the next and so on till they were all awake and staring in every direction but the right one
THEY WERE ALL AWAKE AND STARING IN EVERY
DIRECTION BUT THE RIGHT ONE
THEY WERE ALL AWAKE AND STARING IN EVERY
DIRECTION BUT THE RIGHT ONE
Hi Its me said Kotick bobbing in the surf and looking like a little white slug
Well May I be——skinned said Sea Vitch and they all looked at Kotick as you can fancy a club full of drowsy old gentlemen would look at a little boy Kotick did not care to hear any more about skinning just then he had seen enough of it so he called out Isnt there any place for seals to go where men dont ever come
Go and find out said Sea Vitch shutting his eyes Run away Were busy here
Kotick made his dolphinjump in the air and shouted as loud as he could Clameater Clameater He knew that Sea Vitch never caught a fish in his life but always rooted for clams and seaweeds though he pretended to be a very terrible person Naturally the Chickies and the Gooverooskies and the Epatkas the Burgomaster Gulls and the Kittiwakes and the Puffins who are always looking for a chance to be rude took up the cry and—so Limmershin told me—for nearly five minutes you could not have heard a gun fired on Walrus Islet All the population was yelling and screaming Clameater Stareek old man while Sea Vitch rolled from side to side grunting and coughing
Now will you tell said Kotick all out of breath
Go and ask Sea Cow said Sea Vitch If he is living still hell be able to tell you
How shall I know Sea Cow when I meet him said Kotick sheering off
Hes the only thing in the sea uglier than Sea Vitch screamed a burgomaster gull wheeling under Sea Vitchs nose Uglier and with worse manners Stareek
Kotick swam back to Novastoshnah leaving the gulls to scream There he found that no one sympathized with him in his little attempts to discover a quiet place for the seals They told him that men had always driven the holluschickie—it was part of the days work—and that if he did not like to see ugly things he should not have gone to the killinggrounds But none of the other seals had seen the killing and that made the difference between him and his friends Besides Kotick was a white seal
What you must do said old Sea Catch after he had heard his sons adventures is to grow up and be a big seal like your father and have a nursery on the beach and then they will leave you alone In another five years you ought to be able to fight for yourself Even gentle Matkah his mother said You will never be able to stop the killing Go and play in the sea Kotick And Kotick went off and danced the Firedance with a very heavy little heart
That autumn he left the beach as soon as he could and set off alone because of a notion in his bullethead He was going to find Sea Cow if there was such a person in the sea and he was going to find a quiet island with good firm beaches for seals to live on where men could not get at them So he explored and explored by himself from the North to the South Pacific swimming as much as three hundred miles in a day and a night He met with more adventures than can be told and narrowly escaped being caught by the Basking Shark and the Spotted Shark and the Hammerhead and he met all the untrustworthy ruffians that loaf up and down the high seas and the heavy polite fish and the scarletspotted scallops that are moored in one place for hundreds of years and grow very proud of it but he never met Sea Cow and he never found an island that he could fancy
If the beach was good and hard with a slope behind it for seals to play on there was always the smoke of a whaler on the horizon boiling down blubber and Kotick knew what that meant Or else he could see that seals had once visited the island and been killed off and Kotick knew that where men had come once they would come again
He picked up with an old stumpytailed albatross who told him that Kerguelen Island was the very place for peace and quiet and when Kotick went down there he was all but smashed to pieces against some wicked black cliffs in a heavy sleetstorm with lightning and thunder Yet as he pulled out against the gale he could see that even there had once been a seal nursery And it was so in all the other islands that he visited
Limmershin gave a long list of them for he said that Kotick spent five seasons exploring with a four months rest each year at Novastoshnah where the holluschickie used to make fun of him and his imaginary islands He went to the Gallapagos a horrid dry place on the Equator where he was nearly baked to death he went to the Georgia Islands the Orkneys Emerald Island Little Nightingale Island Goughs Island Bouvets Island the Crossets and even to a little speck of an island south of the Cape of Good Hope But everywhere the People of the Sea told him the same things Seals had come to those islands once upon a time but men had killed them all off Even when he swam thousands of miles out of the Pacific and got to a place called Cape Corientes that was when he was coming back from Goughs Island he found a few hundred mangy seals on a rock and they told him that men came there too
That nearly broke his heart and he headed round the Horn back to his own beaches and on his way north he hauled out on an island full of green trees where he found an old old seal who was dying and Kotick caught fish for him and told him all his sorrows Now said Kotick I am going back to Novastoshnah and if I am driven to the killingpens with the holluschickie I shall not care
The old seal said Try once more I am the last of the Lost Rookery of Masafuera and in the days when men killed us by the hundred thousand there was a story on the beaches that some day a white seal would come out of the north and lead the seal people to a quiet place I am old and I shall never live to see that day but others will Try once more
And Kotick curled up his mustache it was a beauty and said I am the only white seal that has ever been born on the beaches and I am the only seal black or white who ever thought of looking for new islands
That cheered him immensely and when he came back to Novastoshnah that summer Matkah his mother begged him to marry and settle down for he was no longer a holluschick but a fullgrown seacatch with a curly white mane on his shoulders as heavy as big and as fierce as his father Give me another season he said Remember Mother it is always the seventh wave that goes farthest up the beach
Curiously enough there was another seal who thought that she would put off marrying till the next year and Kotick danced the Firedance with her all down Lukannon Beach the night before he set off on his last exploration
This time he went westward because he had fallen on the trail of a great shoal of halibut and he needed at least one hundred pounds of fish a day to keep him in good condition He chased them till he was tired and then he curled himself up and went to sleep on the hollows of the groundswell that sets in to Copper Island He knew the coast perfectly well so about midnight when he felt himself gently bumped on a weed bed he said Hm tide s running strong tonight and turning over under water opened his eyes slowly and stretched Then he jumped like a cat for he saw huge things nosing about in the shoal water and browsing on the heavy fringes of the weeds
By the Great Combers of Magellan he said beneath his mustache Who in the Deep Sea are these people
They were like no walrus sealion seal bear whale shark fish squid or scallop that Kotick had ever seen before They were between twenty and thirty feet long and they had no hind flippers but a shovellike tail that looked as if it had been whittled out of wet leather Their heads were the most foolishlooking things you ever saw and they balanced on the ends of their tails in deep water when they werent grazing bowing solemnly to one another and waving their front flippers as a fat man waves his arm
Ahem said Kotick Good sport gentlemen The big things answered by bowing and waving their flippers like the FrogFootman When they began feeding again Kotick saw that their upper lip was split into two pieces that they could twitch apart about a foot and bring together again with a whole bushel of seaweed between the splits They tucked the stuff into their mouths and chumped solemnly
Messy style of feeding that said Kotick They bowed again and Kotick began to lose his temper Very good he said If you do happen to have an extra joint in your front flipper you neednt show off so I see you bow gracefully but I should like to know your names The split lips moved and twitched and the glassy green eyes stared but they did not speak
Well said Kotick youre the only people Ive ever met uglier than Sea Vitch—and with worse manners
Then he remembered in a flash what the Burgomaster Gull had screamed to him when he was a little yearling at Walrus Islet and he tumbled backward in the water for he knew that he had found Sea Cow at last
HE HAD FOUND SEA COW AT LAST
HE HAD FOUND SEA COW AT LAST
The sea cows went on schlooping and grazing and chumping in the weed and Kotick asked them questions in every language that he had picked up in his travels and the Sea People talk nearly as many languages as human beings But the Sea Cow did not answer because Sea Cow cannot talk He has only six bones in his neck where he ought to have seven and they say under the sea that that prevents him from speaking even to his companions but as you know he has an extra joint in his fore flipper and by waving it up and down and about he makes what answers to a sort of clumsy telegraphic code
By daylight Koticks mane was standing on end and his temper was gone where the dead crabs go Then the Sea Cow began to travel northward very slowly stopping to hold absurd bowing councils from time to time and Kotick followed them saying to himself People who are such idiots as these are would have been killed long ago if they hadnt found out some safe island and what is good enough for the Sea Cow is good enough for the Sea Catch All the same I wish theyd hurry
It was weary work for Kotick The herd never went more than forty or fifty miles a day and stopped to feed at night and kept close to the shore all the time while Kotick swam round them and over them and under them but he could not hurry them up one halfmile As they went farther north they held a bowing council every few hours and Kotick nearly bit off his mustache with impatience till he saw that they were following up a warm current of water and then he respected them more
One night they sank through the shiny water—sank like stones—and for the first time since he had known them began to swim quickly Kotick followed and the pace astonished him for he never dreamed that Sea Cow was anything of a swimmer They headed for a cliff by the shore a cliff that ran down into deep water and plunged into a dark hole at the foot of it twenty fathoms under the sea It was a long long swim and Kotick badly wanted fresh air before he was out of the dark tunnel they led him through
My wig he said when he rose gasping and puffing into open water at the farther end It was a long dive but it was worth it
The sea cows had separated and were browsing lazily along the edges of the finest beaches that Kotick had ever seen There were long stretches of smooth worn rock running for miles exactly fitted to make seal nurseries and there were playgrounds of hard sand sloping inland behind them and there were rollers for seals to dance in and long grass to roll in and sanddunes to climb up and down and best of all Kotick knew by the feel of the water which never deceives a true Sea Catch that no men had ever come there
The first thing he did was to assure himself that the fishing was good and then he swam along the beaches and counted up the delightful low sandy islands half hidden in the beautiful rolling fog Away to the northward out to sea ran a line of bars and shoals and rocks that would never let a ship come within six miles of the beach and between the islands and the mainland was a stretch of deep water that ran up to the perpendicular cliffs and somewhere below the cliffs was the mouth of the tunnel
Its Novastoshnah over again but ten times better said Kotick Sea Cow must be wiser than I thought Men cant come down the cliffs even if there were any men and the shoals to seaward would knock a ship to splinters If any place in the sea is safe this is it
He began to think of the seal he had left behind him but though he was in a hurry to go back to Novastoshnah he thoroughly explored the new country so that he would be able to answer all questions
Then he dived and made sure of the mouth of the tunnel and raced through to the southward No one but a sea cow or a seal would have dreamed of there being such a place and when he looked back at the cliffs even Kotick could hardly believe that he had been under them
He was six days going home though he was not swimming slowly and when he hauled out just above SeaLions Neck the first person he met was the seal who had been waiting for him and she saw by the look in his eyes that he had found his island at last
But the holluschickie and Sea Catch his father and all the other seals laughed at him when he told them what he had discovered and a young seal about his own age said This is all very well Kotick but you cant come from no one knows where and order us off like this Remember weve been fighting for our nurseries and thats a thing you never did You preferred prowling about in the sea
The other seals laughed at this and the young seal began twisting his head from side to side He had just married that year and was making a great fuss about it
Ive no nursery to fight for said Kotick I want only to show you all a place where you will be safe Whats the use of fighting
Oh if youre trying to back out of course Ive no more to say said the young seal with an ugly chuckle
Will you come with me if I win said Kotick and a green light came into his eyes for he was very angry at having to fight at all
Very good said the young seal carelessly If you win Ill come
He had no time to change his mind for Koticks head darted out and his teeth sunk in the blubber of the young seals neck Then he threw himself back on his haunches and hauled his enemy down the beach shook him and knocked him over Then Kotick roared to the seals Ive done my best for you these five seasons past Ive found you the island where youll be safe but unless your heads are dragged off your silly necks you wont believe Im going to teach you now Look out for yourselves
Limmershin told me that never in his life—and Limmershin sees ten thousand big seals fighting every year—never in all his little life did he see anything like Koticks charge into the nurseries He flung himself at the biggest seacatch he could find caught him by the throat choked him and bumped him and banged him till he grunted for mercy and then threw him aside and attacked the next You see Kotick had never fasted for four months as the big seals did every year and his deepsea swimmingtrips kept him in perfect condition and best of all he had never fought before His curly white mane stood up with rage and his eyes flamed and his big dogteeth glistened and he was splendid to look at
Old Sea Catch his father saw him tearing past hauling the grizzled old seals about as though they had been halibut and upsetting the young bachelors in all directions and Sea Catch gave one roar and shouted He may be a fool but he is the best fighter on the Beaches Dont tackle your father my son Hes with you
Kotick roared in answer and old Sea Catch waddled in his mustache on end blowing like a locomotive while Matkah and the seal that was going to marry Kotick cowered down and admired their menfolk It was a gorgeous fight for the two fought as long as there was a seal that dared lift up his head and then they paraded grandly up and down the beach side by side bellowing
At night just as the Northern Lights were winking and flashing through the fog Kotick climbed a bare rock and looked down on the scattered nurseries and the torn and bleeding seals Now he said Ive taught you your lesson
My wig said old Sea Catch boosting himself up stiffly for he was fearfully mauled The Killer Whale himself could not have cut them up worse Son Im proud of you and whats more Ill come with you to your island—if there is such a place
Hear you fat pigs of the sea Who comes with me to the Sea Cows tunnel Answer or I shall teach you again roared Kotick
There was a murmur like the ripple of the tide all up and down the beaches We will come said thousands of tired voices We will follow Kotick the White Seal
Then Kotick dropped his head between his shoulders and shut his eyes proudly He was not a white seal any more but red from head to tail All the same he would have scorned to look at or touch one of his wounds
A week later he and his army nearly ten thousand holluschickie and old seals went away north to the Sea Cows tunnel Kotick leading them and the seals that stayed at Novastoshnah called them idiots But next spring when they all met off the fishingbanks of the Pacific Koticks seals told such tales of the new beaches beyond Sea Cows tunnel that more and more seals left Novastoshnah
Of course it was not all done at once for the seals need a long time to turn things over in their minds but year by year more seals went away from Novastoshnah and Lukannon and the other nurseries to the quiet sheltered beaches where Kotick sits all the summer through getting bigger and fatter and stronger each year while the holluschickie play round him in that sea where no man comes
LUKANNON
This is the great deepsea song that all the St Paul seals sing when they are heading back to their beaches in the summer It is a sort of very sad seal National Anthem
I met my mates in the morning and oh but I am old
Where roaring on the ledges the summer groundswell rolled
I heard them lift the chorus that dropped the breakers song—
The beaches of Lukannon—two million voices strong
The song of pleasant stations beside the salt lagoons
The song of blowing squadrons that shuffled down the dunes
The song of midnight dances that churned the sea to flame—
The beaches of Lukannon—before the sealers came
I met my mates in the morning Ill never meet them more
They came and went in legions that darkened all the shore
And through the foamflecked offing as far as voice could reach
We hailed the landingparties and we sang them up the beach
The beaches of Lukannon—the winterwheat so tall—
The dripping crinkled lichens and the seafog drenching all
The platforms of our playground all shining smooth and worn
The beaches of Lukannon—the home where we were born
I meet my mates in the morning a broken scattered band
Men shoot us in the water and club us on the land
Men drive us to the Salt House like silly sheep and tame
And still we sing Lukannon—before the sealers came
Wheel down wheel down to southward oh Gooverooska go
And tell the DeepSea Viceroys the story of our woe
Ere empty as the sharks egg the tempest flings ashore
The beaches of Lukannon shall know their sons no more
RIKKITIKKITAVI
At the hole where he went in
RedEye called to WrinkleSkin
Hear what little RedEye saith
Nag come up and dance with death
Eye to eye and head to head
Keep the measure Nag
This shall end when one is dead
At thy pleasure Nag
Turn for turn and twist for twist—
Run and hide thee Nag
Hah The hooded Death has missed
Woe betide thee Nag
RIKKITIKKITAVI
THIS is the story of the great war that Rikkitikkitavi fought singlehanded through the bathrooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment Darzee the tailorbird helped him and Chuchundra the muskrat who never comes out into the middle of the floor but always creeps round by the wall gave him advice but Rikkitikki did the real fighting
He was a mongoose rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink he could scratch himself anywhere he pleased with any leg front or back that he chose to use he could fluff up his tail till it looked like a bottlebrush and his warcry as he scuttled through the long grass was Rikktikktikkitikkitchk
One day a high summer flood washed him out of the burrow where he lived with his father and mother and carried him kicking and clucking down a roadside ditch He found a little wisp of grass floating there and clung to it till he lost his senses When he revived he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path very draggled indeed and a small boy was saying Heres a dead mongoose Lets have a funeral
No said his mother lets take him in and dry him Perhaps he isnt really dead
They took him into the house and a big man picked him up between his finger and thumb and said he was not dead but half choked so they wrapped him in cottonwool and warmed him and he opened his eyes and sneezed
Now said the big man he was an Englishman who had just moved into the bungalow dont frighten him and well see what hell do
It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity The motto of all the mongoose family is Run and find out and Rikkitikki was a true mongoose He looked at the cottonwool decided that it was not good to eat ran all round the table sat up and put his fur in order scratched himself and jumped on the small boys shoulder
Dont be frightened Teddy said his father Thats his way of making friends
Ouch Hes tickling under my chin said Teddy
RIKKITIKKI LOOKED DOWN BETWEEN
THE BOYS COLLAR AND NECK
RIKKITIKKI LOOKED DOWN BETWEEN
THE BOYS COLLAR AND NECK
Rikkitikki looked down between the boys collar and neck snuffed at his ear and climbed down to the floor where he sat rubbing his nose
Good gracious said Teddys mother and thats a wild creature I suppose hes so tame because weve been kind to him
All mongooses are like that said her husband If Teddy doesnt pick him up by the tail or try to put him in a cage hell run in and out of the house all day long Lets give him something to eat
They gave him a little piece of raw meat Rikkitikki liked it immensely and when it was finished he went out into the veranda and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the roots Then he felt better
There are more things to find out about in this house he said to himself than all my family could find out in all their lives I shall certainly stay and find out
HE PUT HIS NOSE INTO THE INK
HE PUT HIS NOSE INTO THE INK
He spent all that day roaming over the house He nearly drowned himself in the bathtubs put his nose into the ink on a writingtable and burned it on the end of the big mans cigar for he climbed up in the big mans lap to see how writing was done At nightfall he ran into Teddys nursery to watch how kerosene lamps were lighted and when Teddy went to bed Rikkitikki climbed up too but he was a restless companion because he had to get up and attend to every noise all through the night and find out what made it Teddys mother and father came in the last thing to look at their boy and Rikkitikki was awake on the pillow I dont like that said Teddys mother he may bite the child Hell do no such thing said the father Teddys safer with that little beast than if he had a bloodhound to watch him If a snake came into the nursery now—
RIKKITIKKI WAS AWAKE ON THE PILLOW
RIKKITIKKI WAS AWAKE ON THE PILLOW
But Teddys mother wouldnt think of anything so awful
Early in the morning Rikkitikki came to early breakfast in the veranda riding on Teddys shoulder and they gave him banana and some boiled egg and he sat on all their laps one after the other because every wellbroughtup mongoose always hopes to be a housemongoose some day and have rooms to run about in and Rikkitikkis mother she used to live in the Generals house at Segowlee had carefully told Rikki what to do if ever he came across white men
HE CAME TO BREAKFAST
RIDING ON TEDDYS SHOULDER
HE CAME TO BREAKFAST
RIDING ON TEDDYS SHOULDER
Then Rikkitikki went out into the garden to see what was to be seen It was a large garden only half cultivated with bushes as big as summerhouses of Marshal Niel roses lime and orange trees clumps of bamboos and thickets of high grass Rikkitikki licked his lips This is a splendid huntingground he said and his tail grew bottlebrushy at the thought of it and he scuttled up and down the garden snuffing here and there till he heard very sorrowful voices in a thornbush
It was Darzee the tailorbird and his wife They had made a beautiful nest by pulling two big leaves together and stitching them up the edges with fibers and had filled the hollow with cotton and downy fluff The nest swayed to and fro as they sat on the rim and cried
What is the matter asked Rikkitikki
WE ARE VERY MISERABLE SAID DARZEE
WE ARE VERY MISERABLE SAID DARZEE
We are very miserable said Darzee One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday and Nag ate him
Hm said Rikkitikki that is very sad—but I am a stranger here Who is Nag
Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss—a horrid cold sound that made Rikkitikki jump back two clear feet Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag the big black cobra and he was five feet long from tongue to tail When he had lifted onethird of himself clear of the ground he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandeliontuft balances in the wind and he looked at Rikkitikki with the wicked snakes eyes that never change their expression whatever the snake may be thinking of
Who is Nag he said I am Nag The great god Brahm put his mark upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept Look and be afraid
I AM NAG SAID THE COBRA LOOK AND BE AFRAID BUT AT THE BOTTOM
OF HIS COLD HEART HE WAS AFRAID
I AM NAG SAID THE COBRA LOOK AND BE AFRAID BUT AT THE BOTTOM
OF HIS COLD HEART HE WAS AFRAID
He spread out his hood more than ever and Rikkitikki saw the spectaclemark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hookandeye fastening He was afraid for the minute but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time and though Rikkitikki had never met a live cobra before his mother had fed him on dead ones and he knew that all a grown mongooses business in life was to fight and eat snakes Nag knew that too and at the bottom of his cold heart he was afraid
Well said Rikkitikki and his tail began to fluff up again marks or no marks do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest
Nag was thinking to himself and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikkitikki He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family but he wanted to get Rikkitikki off his guard So he dropped his head a little and put it on one side
Let us talk he said You eat eggs Why should not I eat birds
Behind you Look behind you sang Darzee
Rikkitikki knew better than to waste time in staring He jumped up in the air as high as he could go and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina Nags wicked wife She had crept up behind him as he was talking to make an end of him and he heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed He came down almost across her back and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite but he was afraid of the terrible lashing returnstroke of the cobra He bit indeed but did not bite long enough and he jumped clear of the whisking tail leaving Nagaina torn and angry
HE JUMPED UP IN THE AIR AND JUST UNDER HIM WHIZZED BY THE HEAD OF NAGAINA
HE JUMPED UP IN THE AIR AND JUST UNDER HIM WHIZZED BY THE HEAD OF NAGAINA
Wicked wicked Darzee said Nag lashing up as high as he could reach toward the nest in the thornbush but Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes and it only swayed to and fro
Rikkitikki felt his eyes growing red and hot when a mongooses eyes grow red he is angry and he sat back on his tail and hind legs like a little kangaroo and looked all around him and chattered with rage But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass When a snake misses its stroke it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next Rikkitikki did not care to follow them for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once So he trotted off to the gravel path near the house and sat down to think It was a serious matter for him
If you read the old books of natural history you will find they say that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten he runs off and eats some herb that cures him That is not true The victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot—snakes blow against mongooses jump—and as no eye can follow the motion of a snakes head when it strikes that makes things much more wonderful than any magic herb Rikkitikki knew he was a young mongoose and it made him all the more pleased to think that he had managed to escape a blow from behind It gave him confidence in himself and when Teddy came running down the path Rikkitikki was ready to be petted
But just as Teddy was stooping something flinched a little in the dust and a tiny voice said Be careful I am death It was Karait the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth and his bite is as dangerous as the cobras But he is so small that nobody thinks of him and so he does the more harm to people
Rikkitikkis eyes grew red again and he danced up to Karait with the peculiar rocking swaying motion that he had inherited from his family It looks very funny but it is so perfectly balanced a gait that you can fly off from it at any angle you please and in dealing with snakes this is an advantage If Rikkitikki had only known he was doing a much more dangerous thing than fighting Nag for Karait is so small and can turn so quickly that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head he would get the returnstroke in his eye or lip But Rikki did not know his eyes were all red and he rocked back and forth looking for a good place to hold Karait struck out Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in but the wicked little dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder and he had to jump over the body and the head followed his heels close
Teddy shouted to the house Oh look here Our mongoose is killing a snake and Rikkitikki heard a scream from Teddys mother His father ran out with a stick but by the time he came up Karait had lunged out once too far and Rikkitikki had sprung jumped on the snakes back dropped his head far between his fore legs bitten as high up the back as he could get hold and rolled away That bite paralyzed Karait and Rikkitikki was just going to eat him up from the tail after the custom of his family at dinner when he remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose and if he wanted all his strength and quickness ready he must keep himself thin
He went away for a dustbath under the castoroil bushes while Teddys father beat the dead Karait What is the use of that thought Rikkitikki I have settled it all and then Teddys mother picked him up from the dust and hugged him crying that he had saved Teddy from death and Teddys father said that he was a providence and Teddy looked on with big scared eyes RikkiTikki was rather amused at all the fuss which of course he did not understand Teddys mother might just as well have petted Teddy for playing in the dust Rikki was thoroughly enjoying himself
That night at dinner walking to and fro among the wineglasses on the table he could have stuffed himself three times over with nice things but he remembered Nag and Nagaina and though it was very pleasant to be patted and petted by Teddys mother and to sit on Teddys shoulder his eyes would get red from time to time and he would go off into his long warcry of Rikktikktikkitikkitchk
Teddy carried him off to bed and insisted on Rikkitikki sleeping under his chin Rikkitikki was too well bred to bite or scratch but as soon as Teddy was asleep he went off for his nightly walk round the house and in the dark he ran up against Chuchundra the muskrat creeping round by the wall Chuchundra is a brokenhearted little beast He whimpers and cheeps all the night trying to make up his mind to run into the middle of the room but he never gets there
IN THE DARK HE RAN UP AGAINST CHUCHUNDRA THE MUSKRAT
IN THE DARK HE RAN UP AGAINST CHUCHUNDRA THE MUSKRAT
Dont kill me said Chuchundra almost weeping Rikkitikki dont kill me
Do you think a snakekiller kills muskrats said Rikkitikki scornfully
Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes said Chuchundra more sorrowfully than ever And how am I to be sure that Nag wont mistake me for you some dark night
Theres not the least danger said Rikkitikki but Nag is in the garden and I know you dont go there
My cousin Chua the rat told me— said Chuchundra and then he stopped
Told you what
Hsh Nag is everywhere Rikkitikki You should have talked to Chua in the garden
I didnt—so you must tell me Quick Chuchundra or Ill bite you
Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers I am a very poor man he sobbed I never had spirit enough to run out into the middle of the room Hsh I mustnt tell you anything Cant you hear Rikkitikki
Rikkitikki listened The house was as still as still but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratchscratch in the world—a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a windowpane—the dry scratch of a snakes scales on brickwork
Thats Nag or Nagaina he said to himself and he is crawling into the bathroom sluice Youre right Chuchundra I should have talked to Chua
He stole off to Teddys bathroom but there was nothing there and then to Teddys mothers bathroom At the bottom of the smooth plaster wall there was a brick pulled out to make a sluice for the bathwater and as Rikkitikki stole in by the masonry curb where the bath is put he heard Nag and Nagaina whispering together outside in the moonlight
When the house is emptied of people said Nagaina to her husband he will have to go away and then the garden will be our own again Go in quietly and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite Then come out and tell me and we will hunt for Rikkitikki together
But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the people said Nag
Everything When there were no people in the bungalow did we have any mongoose in the garden So long as the bungalow is empty we are king and queen of the garden and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melonbed hatch as they may tomorrow our children will need room and quiet
I had not thought of that said Nag I will go but there is no need that we should hunt for Rikkitikki afterward I will kill the big man and his wife and the child if I can and come away quietly Then the bungalow will be empty and Rikkitikki will go
Rikkitikki tingled all over with rage and hatred at this and then Nags head came through the sluice and his five feet of cold body followed it Angry as he was Rikkitikki was very frightened as he saw the size of the big cobra Nag coiled himself up raised his head and looked into the bathroom in the dark and Rikki could see his eyes glitter
Now if I kill him here Nagaina will know and if I fight him on the open floor the odds are in his favor What am I to do said Rikkitikkitavi
Nag waved to and fro and then Rikkitikki heard him drinking from the biggest waterjar that was used to fill the bath That is good said the snake Now when Karait was killed the big man had a stick He may have that stick still but when he comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick I shall wait here till he comes Nagaina—do you hear me—I shall wait here in the cool till daytime
There was no answer from outside so Rikkitikki knew Nagaina had gone away Nag coiled himself down coil by coil round the bulge at the bottom of the waterjar and Rikkitikki stayed still as death After an hour he began to move muscle by muscle toward the jar Nag was asleep and Rikkitikki looked at his big back wondering which would be the best place for a good hold If I dont break his back at the first jump said Rikki he can still fight and if he fights—O Rikki He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood but that was too much for him and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage
It must be the head he said at last the head above the hood and when I am once there I must not let go
Then he jumped The head was lying a little clear of the waterjar under the curve of it and as his teeth met Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head This gave him just one seconds purchase and he made the most of it Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a dog—to and fro on the floor up and down and round in great circles but his eyes were red and he held on as the body cartwhipped over the floor upsetting the tin dipper and the soapdish and the fleshbrush and banged against the tin side of the bath As he held he closed his jaws tighter and tighter for he made sure he would be banged to death and for the honor of his family he preferred to be found with his teeth locked He was dizzy aching and felt shaken to pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him a hot wind knocked him senseless and red fire singed his fur The big man had been wakened by the noise and had fired both barrels of a shotgun into Nag just behind the hood
THEN RIKKITIKKI WAS BATTERED TO AND FRO AS A RAT
IS SHAKEN BY A DOG
THEN RIKKITIKKI WAS BATTERED TO AND FRO AS A RAT
IS SHAKEN BY A DOG
Rikkitikki held on with his eyes shut for now he was quite sure he was dead but the head did not move and the big man picked him up and said Its the mongoose again Alice the little chap has saved our lives now Then Teddys mother came in with a very white face and saw what was left of Nag and Rikkitikki dragged himself to Teddys bedroom and spent half the rest of the night shaking himself tenderly to find out whether he really was broken into forty pieces as he fancied
When morning came he was very stiff but well pleased with his doings Now I have Nagaina to settle with and she will be worse than five Nags and theres no knowing when the eggs she spoke of will hatch Goodness I must go and see Darzee he said
Without waiting for breakfast Rikkitikki ran to the thornbush where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice The news of Nags death was all over the garden for the sweeper had thrown the body on the rubbishheap
Oh you stupid tuft of feathers said Rikkitikki angrily Is this the time to sing
Nag is dead—is dead—is dead sang Darzee The valiant Rikkitikki caught him by the head and held fast The big man brought the bangstick and Nag fell in two pieces He will never eat my babies again
All thats true enough but wheres Nagaina said Rikkitikki looking carefully round him
Nagaina came to the bathroom sluice and called for Nag Darzee went on and Nag came out on the end of a stick—the sweeper picked him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbishheap Let us sing about the great the redeyed Rikkitikki and Darzee filled his throat and sang
If I could get up to your nest Id roll all your babies out said Rikkitikki You dont know when to do the right thing at the right time Youre safe enough in your nest there but its war for me down here Stop singing a minute Darzee
For the great the beautiful Rikkitikkis sake I will stop said Darzee What is it O Killer of the terrible Nag
Where is Nagaina for the third time
On the rubbishheap by the stables mourning for Nag Great is Rikkitikki with the white teeth
Bother my white teeth Have you ever heard where she keeps her eggs
In the melonbed on the end nearest the wall where the sun strikes nearly all day She had them there weeks ago
And you never thought it worth while to tell me The end nearest the wall you said
Rikkitikki you are not going to eat her eggs
Not eat exactly no Darzee if you have a grain of sense you will fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken and let Nagaina chase you away to this bush I must get to the melonbed and if I went there now shed see me
Darzee was a featherbrained little fellow who could never hold more than one idea at a time in his head and just because he knew that Nagainas children were born in eggs like his own he didnt think at first that it was fair to kill them But his wife was a sensible bird and she knew that cobras eggs meant young cobras later on so she flew off from the nest and left Darzee to keep the babies warm and continue his song about the death of Nag Darzee was very like a man in some ways
She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbishheap and cried out Oh my wing is broken The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it Then she fluttered more desperately than ever
DARZEES WIFE PRETENDS TO HAVE BROKEN A WING
DARZEES WIFE PRETENDS TO HAVE BROKEN A WING
Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed You warned Rikkitikki when I would have killed him Indeed and truly youve chosen a bad place to be lame in And she moved toward Darzees wife slipping along over the dust
The boy broke it with a stone shrieked Darzees wife
Well It may be some consolation to you when youre dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy My husband lies on the rubbishheap this morning but before night the boy in the house will lie very still What is the use of running away I am sure to catch you Little fool look at me
Darzees wife knew better than to do that for a bird who looks at a snakes eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move Darzees wife fluttered on piping sorrowfully and never leaving the ground and Nagaina quickened her pace
Rikkitikki heard them going up the path from the stables and he raced for the end of the melonpatch near the wall There in the warm litter about the melons very cunningly hidden he found twentyfive eggs about the size of a bantams eggs but with whitish skin instead of shell
I was not a day too soon he said for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could taking care to crush the young cobras and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether he had missed any At last there were only three eggs left and Rikkitikki began to chuckle to himself when he heard Darzees wife screaming
Rikkitikki I led Nagaina toward the house and she has gone into the veranda and—oh come quickly—she means killing
Rikkitikki smashed two eggs and tumbled backward down the melonbed with the third egg in his mouth and scuttled to the veranda as hard as he could put foot to the ground Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast but Rikkitikki saw that they were not eating anything They sat stonestill and their faces were white Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddys chair within easy striking distance of Teddys bare leg and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph
Son of the big man that killed Nag she hissed stay still I am not ready yet Wait a little Keep very still all you three If you move I strike and if you do not move I strike Oh foolish people who killed my Nag
Teddys eyes were fixed on his father and all his father could do was to whisper Sit still Teddy You mustnt move Teddy keep still
Then Rikkitikki came up and cried Turn round Nagaina turn and fight
All in good time said she without moving her eyes I will settle my account with you presently Look at your friends Rikkitikki They are still and white they are afraid They dare not move and if you come a step nearer I strike
Look at your eggs said Rikkitikki in the melonbed near the wall Go and look Nagaina
The big snake turned half round and saw the egg on the veranda Ahh Give it to me she said
Rikkitikki put his paws one on each side of the egg and his eyes were bloodred What price for a snakes egg For a young cobra For a young kingcobra For the last—the very last of the brood The ants are eating all the others down by the melonbed
Nagaina spun clear round forgetting everything for the sake of the one egg and Rikkitikki saw Teddys father shoot out a big hand catch Teddy by the shoulder and drag him across the little table with the teacups safe and out of reach of Nagaina
Tricked Tricked Tricked Rikktcktck chuckled Rikkitikki The boy is safe and it was I—I—I that caught Nag by the hood last night in the bathroom Then he began to jump up and down all four feet together his head close to the floor He threw me to and fro but he could not shake me off He was dead before the big man blew him in two I did it Rikkitikkitcktck Come then Nagaina Come and fight with me You shall not be a widow long
Nagaina saw that she had lost her chance of killing Teddy and the egg lay between Rikkitikkis paws Give me the egg Rikkitikki Give me the last of my eggs and I will go away and never come back she said lowering her hood
Yes you will go away and you will never come back for you will go to the rubbishheap with Nag Fight widow The big man has gone for his gun Fight
Rikkitikki was bounding all round Nagaina keeping just out of reach of her stroke his little eyes like hot coals Nagaina gathered herself together and flung out at him Rikkitikki jumped up and backward Again and again and again she struck and each time her head came with a whack on the matting of the veranda and she gathered herself together like a watchspring Then Rikkitikki danced in a circle to get behind her and Nagaina spun round to keep her head to his head so that the rustle of her tail on the matting sounded like dry leaves blown along by the wind
He had forgotten the egg It still lay on the veranda and Nagaina came nearer and nearer to it till at last while Rikkitikki was drawing breath she caught it in her mouth turned to the veranda steps and flew like an arrow down the path with Rikkitikki behind her When the cobra runs for her life she goes like a whiplash flicked across a horses neck
NAGAINA FLEW
DOWN THE PATH
WITH RIKKITIKKI
BEHIND HER
NAGAINA FLEW DOWN THE PATH
WITH RIKKITIKKI BEHIND HER
Rikkitikki knew that he must catch her or all the trouble would begin again She headed straight for the long grass by the thornbush and as he was running Rikkitikki heard Darzee still singing his foolish little song of triumph But Darzees wife was wiser She flew off her nest as Nagaina came along and flapped her wings about Nagainas head If Darzee had helped they might have turned her but Nagaina only lowered her hood and went on Still the instants delay brought Rikkitikki up to her and as she plunged into the rathole where she and Nag used to live his little white teeth were clenched on her tail and he went down with her—and very few mongooses however wise and old they may be care to follow a cobra into its hole It was dark in the hole and Rikkitikki never knew when it might open out and give Nagaina room to turn and strike at him He held on savagely and struck out his feet to act as brakes on the dark slope of the hot moist earth
Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving and Darzee said It is all over with Rikkitikki We must sing his deathsong Valiant Rikkitikki is dead For Nagaina will surely kill him underground
So he sang a very mournful song that he made up all on the spur of the minute and just as he got to the most touching part the grass quivered again and Rikkitikki covered with dirt dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg licking his whiskers Darzee stopped with a little shout Rikkitikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and sneezed It is all over he said The widow will never come out again And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth
IT IS ALL OVER
IT IS ALL OVER
Rikkitikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he was—slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon for he had done a hard days work
Now he said when he awoke I will go back to the house Tell the Coppersmith Darzee and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is dead
The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating of a little hammer on a copper pot and the reason he is always making it is because he is the towncrier to every Indian garden and tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen As Rikkitikki went up the path he heard his attention notes like a tiny dinnergong and then the steady Dingdongtock Nag is dead—dong Nagaina is dead Dingdongtock That set all the birds in the garden singing and the frogs croaking for Nag and Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds
When Rikki got to the house Teddy and Teddys mother she looked very white still for she had been fainting and Teddys father came out and almost cried over him and that night he ate all that was given him till he could eat no more and went to bed on Teddys shoulder where Teddys mother saw him when she came to look late at night
He saved our lives and Teddys life she said to her husband Just think he saved all our lives
Rikkitikki woke up with a jump for all the mongooses are light sleepers
Oh its you said he What are you bothering for All the cobras are dead and if they werent Im here
Rikkitikki had a right to be proud of himself but he did not grow too proud and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it with tooth and jump and spring and bite till never a cobra dared show its head inside the walls
DARZEES CHAUNT
SUNG IN HONOR OF RIKKITIKKITAVI
Singer and tailor am I—
Doubled the joys that I know—
Proud of my lilt through the sky
Proud of the house that I sew—
Over and under so weave I my music—so weave I the house that I sew
Sing to your fledglings again
Mother oh lift up your head
Evil that plagued us is slain
Death in the garden lies dead
Terror that hid in the roses is impotent—flung on the dunghill and dead
Who hath delivered us who
Tell me his nest and his name
Rikki the valiant the true
Tikki with eyeballs of flame
Riktikkitikki the ivoryfanged the hunter with eyeballs of flame
Give him the Thanks of the Birds
Bowing with tailfeathers spread
Praise him with nightingale words—
Nay I will praise him instead
Hear I will sing you the praise of the bottletailed Rikki with eyeballs of red
Here Rikkitikki interrupted and the rest of the song is lost
TOOMAI OF THE ELEPHANTS
I will remember what I was I am sick of rope and chain—
I will remember my old strength and all my forest affairs
I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugarcane
I will go out to my own kind and the woodfolk in their lairs
I will go out until the day until the morning break
Out to the winds untainted kiss the waters clean caress
I will forget my anklering and snap my picketstake
I will revisit my lost loves and playmates masterless
TOOMAI OF THE ELEPHANTS
KALA NAG which means Black Snake had served the Indian Government in every way that an elephant could serve it for fortyseven years and as he was fully twenty years old when he was caught that makes him nearly seventy—a ripe age for an elephant He remembered pushing with a big leather pad on his forehead at a gun stuck in deep mud and that was before the Afghan war of 1842 and he had not then come to his full strength His mother Radha Pyari—Radha the darling—who had been caught in the same drive with Kala Nag told him before his little milk tusks had dropped out that elephants who were afraid always got hurt and Kala Nag knew that that advice was good for the first time that he saw a shell burst he backed screaming into a stand of piled rifles and the bayonets pricked him in all his softest places So before he was twentyfive he gave up being afraid and so he was the bestloved and the bestlookedafter elephant in the service of the Government of India He had carried tents twelve hundred pounds weight of tents on the march in Upper India he had been hoisted into a ship at the end of a steamcrane and taken for days across the water and made to carry a mortar on his back in a strange and rocky country very far from India and had seen the Emperor Theodore lying dead in Magdala and had come back again in the steamer entitled so the soldiers said to the Abyssinian war medal He had seen his fellowelephants die of cold and epilepsy and starvation and sunstroke up at a place called Ali Musjid ten years later and afterward he had been sent down thousands of miles south to haul and pile big baulks of teak in the timberyards at Moulmein There he had half killed an insubordinate young elephant who was shirking his fair share of the work
KALA NAG WAS THE BESTLOVED ELEPHANT IN THE SERVICE
KALA NAG WAS THE BESTLOVED ELEPHANT IN THE SERVICE
After that he was taken off timberhauling and employed with a few score other elephants who were trained to the business in helping to catch wild elephants among the Garo hills Elephants are very strictly preserved by the Indian Government There is one whole department which does nothing else but hunt them and catch them and break them in and send them up and down the country as they are needed for work
Kala Nag stood ten fair feet at the shoulders and his tusks had been cut off short at five feet and bound round the ends to prevent them splitting with bands of copper but he could do more with those stumps than any untrained elephant could do with the real sharpened ones
When after weeks and weeks of cautious driving of scattered elephants across the hills the forty or fifty wild monsters were driven into the last stockade and the big dropgate made of treetrunks lashed together jarred down behind them Kala Nag at the word of command would go into that flaring trumpeting pandemonium generally at night when the flicker of the torches made it difficult to judge distances and picking out the biggest and wildest tusker of the mob would hammer him and hustle him into quiet while the men on the backs of the other elephants roped and tied the smaller ones
There was nothing in the way of fighting that Kala Nag the old wise Black Snake did not know for he had stood up more than once in his time to the charge of the wounded tiger and curling up his soft trunk to be out of harms way had knocked the springing brute sideways in midair with a quick sicklecut of his head that he had invented all by himself had knocked him over and kneeled upon him with his huge knees till the life went out with a gasp and a howl and there was only a fluffy striped thing on the ground for Kala Nag to pull by the tail
Yes said Big Toomai his driver the son of Black Toomai who had taken him to Abyssinia and grandson of Toomai of the Elephants who had seen him caught there is nothing that the Black Snake fears except me He has seen three generations of us feed him and groom him and he will live to see four
He is afraid of me also said Little Toomai standing up to his full height of four feet with only one rag upon him He was ten years old the eldest son of Big Toomai and according to custom he would take his fathers place on Kala Nags neck when he grew up and would handle the heavy iron ankus the elephantgoad that had been worn smooth by his father and his grandfather and his greatgrandfather He knew what he was talking of for he had been born under Kala Nags shadow had played with the end of his trunk before he could walk had taken him down to water as soon as he could walk and Kala Nag would no more have dreamed of disobeying his shrill little orders than he would have dreamed of killing him on that day when Big Toomai carried the little brown baby under Kala Nags tusks and told him to salute his master that was to be
HE IS AFRAID OF ME SAID LITTLE TOOMAI AND HE MADE KALA NAG LIFT UP
HIS FEET ONE AFTER THE OTHER
HE IS AFRAID OF ME SAID LITTLE TOOMAI AND HE MADE KALA NAG LIFT UP
HIS FEET ONE AFTER THE OTHER
Yes said Little Toomai he is afraid of me and he took long strides up to Kala Nag called him a fat old pig and made him lift up his feet one after the other
Wah said Little Toomai thou art a big elephant and he wagged his fluffy head quoting his father The Government may pay for elephants but they belong to us mahouts When thou art old Kala Nag there will come some rich Rajah and he will buy thee from the Government on account of thy size and thy manners and then thou wilt have nothing to do but to carry gold earrings in thy ears and a gold howdah on thy back and a red cloth covered with gold on thy sides and walk at the head of the processions of the King Then I shall sit on thy neck O Kala Nag with a silver ankus and men will run before us with golden sticks crying Room for the Kings elephant That will be good Kala Nag but not so good as this hunting in the jungles
Umph said Big Toomai Thou art a boy and as wild as a buffalocalf This running up and down among the hills is not the best Government service I am getting old and I do not love wild elephants Give me brick elephantlines one stall to each elephant and big stumps to tie them to safely and flat broad roads to exercise upon instead of this comeandgo camping Aha the Cawnpore barracks were good There was a bazaar close by and only three hours work a day
Little Toomai remembered the Cawnpore elephantlines and said nothing He very much preferred the camp life and hated those broad flat roads with the daily grubbing for grass in the foragereserve and the long hours when there was nothing to do except to watch Kala Nag fidgeting in his pickets
What Little Toomai liked was to scramble up bridlepaths that only an elephant could take the dip into the valley below the glimpses of the wild elephants browsing miles away the rush of the frightened pig and peacock under Kala Nags feet the blinding warm rains when all the hills and valleys smoked the beautiful misty mornings when nobody knew where they would camp that night the steady cautious drive of the wild elephants and the mad rush and blaze and hullaballoo of the last nights drive when the elephants poured into the stockade like boulders in a landslide found that they could not get out and flung themselves at the heavy posts only to be driven back by yells and flaring torches and volleys of blank cartridge
HE WOULD GET HIS TORCH AND WAVE IT AND YELL WITH THE BEST
HE WOULD GET HIS TORCH AND WAVE IT AND YELL WITH THE BEST
Even a little boy could be of use there and Toomai was as useful as three boys He would get his torch and wave it and yell with the best But the really good time came when the driving out began and the Keddah that is the stockade looked like a picture of the end of the world and men had to make signs to one another, because they could not hear themselves speak Then Little Toomai would climb up to the top of one of the quivering stockadeposts his sunbleached brown hair flying loose all over his shoulders and he looking like a goblin in the torchlight and as soon as there was a lull you could hear his highpitched yells of encouragement to Kala Nag above the trumpeting and crashing and snapping of ropes and groans of the tethered elephants Maîl maîl Kala Nag Go on go on Black Snake Dant do Give him the tusk Somalo Somalo Careful careful Maro Mar Hit him hit him Mind the post Arre Arre Hai Yai Kyaaah he would shout and the big fight between Kala Nag and the wild elephant would sway to and fro across the Keddah and the old elephantcatchers would wipe the sweat out of their eyes and find time to nod to Little Toomai wriggling with joy on the top of the posts
He did more than wriggle One night he slid down from the post and slipped in between the elephants and threw up the loose end of a rope which had dropped to a driver who was trying to get a purchase on the leg of a kicking young calf calves always give more trouble than fullgrown animals Kala Nag saw him caught him in his trunk and handed him up to Big Toomai who slapped him then and there and put him back on the post
Next morning he gave him a scolding and said Are not good brick elephantlines and a little tentcarrying enough that thou must needs go elephantcatching on thy own account little worthless Now those foolish hunters whose pay is less than my pay have spoken to Petersen Sahib of the matter Little Toomai was frightened He did not know much of white men but Petersen Sahib was the greatest white man in the world to him He was the head of all the Keddah operations—the man who caught all the elephants for the Government of India and who knew more about the ways of elephants than any living man
What—what will happen said Little Toomai
Happen the worst that can happen Petersen Sahib is a madman Else why should he go hunting these wild devils He may even require thee to be an elephantcatcher to sleep anywhere in these feverfilled jungles and at last to be trampled to death in the Keddah It is well that this nonsense ends safely Next week the catching is over and we of the plains are sent back to our stations Then we will march on smooth roads and forget all this hunting But son I am angry that thou shouldst meddle in the business that belongs to these dirty Assamese junglefolk Kala Nag will obey none but me so I must go with him into the Keddah but he is only a fighting elephant and he does not help to rope them So I sit at my ease as befits a mahout—not a mere hunter—a mahout I say and a man who gets a pension at the end of his service Is the family of Toomai of the Elephants to be trodden underfoot in the dirt of a Keddah Bad one Wicked one Worthless son Go and wash Kala Nag and attend to his ears and see that there are no thorns in his feet or else Petersen Sahib will surely catch thee and make thee a wild hunter—a follower of elephants foottracks a junglebear Bah Shame Go
Little Toomai went off without saying a word but he told Kala Nag all his grievances while he was examining his feet No matter said Little Toomai turning up the fringe of Kala Nags huge right ear They have said my name to Petersen Sahib and perhaps—and perhaps—and perhaps—who knows Hai That is a big thorn that I have pulled out
The next few days were spent in getting the elephants together in walking the newly caught wild elephants up and down between a couple of tame ones to prevent them from giving too much trouble on the downward march to the plains and in taking stock of the blankets and ropes and things that had been worn out or lost in the forest
Petersen Sahib came in on his clever sheelephant Pudmini he had been paying off other camps among the hills for the season was coming to an end and there was a native clerk sitting at a table under a tree to pay the drivers their wages As each man was paid he went back to his elephant and joined the line that stood ready to start The catchers and hunters and beaters the men of the regular Keddah who stayed in the jungle year in and year out sat on the backs of the elephants that belonged to Petersen Sahibs permanent force or leaned against the trees with their guns across their arms and made fun of the drivers who were going away and laughed when the newly caught elephants broke the line and ran about
Big Toomai went up to the clerk with Little Toomai behind him and Machua Appa the headtracker said in an undertone to a friend of his There goes one piece of good elephantstuff at least T is a pity to send that young junglecock to moult in the plains
Now Petersen Sahib had ears all over him as a man must have who listens to the most silent of all living things—the wild elephant He turned where he was lying all along on Pudminis back and said What is that I did not know of a man among the plaindrivers who had wit enough to rope even a dead elephant
This is not a man but a boy He went into the Keddah at the last drive and threw Barmao there the rope when we were trying to get that young calf with the blotch on his shoulder away from his mother
Machua Appa pointed at Little Toomai and Petersen Sahib looked and Little Toomai bowed to the earth
He throw a rope He is smaller than a picketpin Little one what is thy name said Petersen Sahib
Little Toomai was too frightened to speak but Kala Nag was behind him and Toomai made a sign with his hand and the elephant caught him up in his trunk and held him level with Pudminis forehead in front of the great Petersen Sahib Then Little Toomai covered his face with his hands for he was only a child and except where elephants were concerned he was just as bashful as a child could be
Oho said Petersen Sahib smiling underneath his mustache and why didst thou teach thy elephant that trick Was it to help thee steal green corn from the roofs of the houses when the ears are put out to dry
NOT GREEN CORN PROTECTOR OF THE POOR—MELONS
SAID LITTLE TOOMAI
NOT GREEN CORN PROTECTOR OF THE POOR—MELONS
SAID LITTLE TOOMAI
Not green corn Protector of the Poor—melons said Little Toomai and all the men sitting about broke into a roar of laughter Most of them had taught their elephants that trick when they were boys Little Toomai was hanging eight feet up in the air and he wished very much that he were eight feet underground
He is Toomai my son Sahib said Big Toomai scowling He is a very bad boy and he will end in a jail Sahib
Of that I have my doubts said Petersen Sahib A boy who can face a full Keddah at his age does not end in jails See little one here are four annas to spend in sweetmeats because thou hast a little head under that great thatch of hair In time thou mayest become a hunter too Big Toomai scowled more than ever Remember though that Keddahs are not good for children to play in Petersen Sahib went on
Must I never go there Sahib asked Little Toomai with a big gasp
Yes Petersen Sahib smiled again When thou hast seen the elephants dance That is the proper time Come to me when thou hast seen the elephants dance and then I will let thee go into all the Keddahs
There was another roar of laughter for that is an old joke among elephantcatchers and it means just never There are great cleared flat places hidden away in the forests that are called elephants ballrooms but even these are found only by accident and no man has ever seen the elephants dance When a driver boasts of his skill and bravery the other drivers say And when didst thou see the elephants dance
Kala Nag put Little Toomai down and he bowed to the earth again and went away with his father and gave the silver fouranna piece to his mother who was nursing his babybrother and they all were put up on Kala Nags back and the line of grunting squealing elephants rolled down the hillpath to the plains It was a very lively march on account of the new elephants who gave trouble at every ford and who needed coaxing or beating every other minute
Big Toomai prodded Kala Nag spitefully for he was very angry but Little Toomai was too happy to speak Petersen Sahib had noticed him and given him money so he felt as a private soldier would feel if he had been called out of the ranks and praised by his commanderinchief
What did Petersen Sahib mean by the elephantdance he said at last softly to his mother
Big Toomai heard him and grunted That thou shouldst never be one of these hillbuffaloes of trackers That was what he meant Oh you in front what is blocking the way
An Assamese driver two or three elephants ahead turned round angrily crying Bring up Kala Nag and knock this youngster of mine into good behavior Why should Petersen Sahib have chosen me to go down with you donkeys of the ricefields Lay your beast alongside Toomai and let him prod with his tusks By all the Gods of the Hills these new elephants are possessed or else they can smell their companions in the jungle
Kala Nag hit the new elephant in the ribs and knocked the wind out of him as Big Toomai said We have swept the hills of wild elephants at the last catch It is only your carelessness in driving Must I keep order along the whole line
Hear him said the other driver We have swept the hills Ho ho You are very wise you plainspeople Any one but a mudhead who never saw the jungle would know that they know that the drives are ended for the season Therefore all the wild elephants tonight will—but why should I waste wisdom on a riverturtle
What will they do Little Toomai called out
Ohé little one Art thou there Well I will tell thee for thou hast a cool head They will dance and it behooves thy father who has swept all the hills of all the elephants to doublechain his pickets tonight
What talk is this said Big Toomai For forty years father and son we have tended elephants and we have never heard such moonshine about dances
Yes but a plainsman who lives in a hut knows only the four walls of his hut Well leave thy elephants unshackled tonight and see what comes as for their dancing I have seen the place where—BapreeBap how many windings has the Dihang River Here is another ford and we must swim the calves Stop still you behind there
And in this way talking and wrangling and splashing through the rivers they made their first march to a sort of receivingcamp for the new elephants but they lost their tempers long before they got there
Then the elephants were chained by their hind legs to their big stumps of pickets and extra ropes were fitted to the new elephants and the fodder was piled before them and the hilldrivers went back to Petersen Sahib through the afternoon light telling the plainsdrivers to be extra careful that night and laughing when the plainsdrivers asked the reason
Little Toomai attended to Kala Nags supper and as evening fell wandered through the camp unspeakably happy in search of a tomtom When an Indian childs heart is full he does not run about and make a noise in an irregular fashion He sits down to a sort of revel all by himself And Little Toomai had been spoken to by Petersen Sahib If he had not found what he wanted I believe he would have burst But the sweatmeatseller in the camp lent him a little tomtom—a drum beaten with the flat of the hand—and he sat down crosslegged before Kala Nag as the stars began to come out the tomtom in his lap and he thumped and he thumped and he thumped and the more he thought of the great honor that had been done to him the more he thumped all alone among the elephantfodder There was no tune and no words but the thumping made him happy
The new elephants strained at their ropes and squealed and trumpeted from time to time and he could hear his mother in the camp hut putting his small brother to sleep with an old old song about the great God Shiv who once told all the animals what they should eat It is a very soothing lullaby and the first verse says
Shiv who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow
Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago
Gave to each his portion food and toil and fate
From the King upon the guddee to the Beggar at the gate
All things made he—Shiva the Preserver
Mahadeo Mahadeo he made all—
Thorn for the camel fodder for the kine
And mothers heart for sleepy head O little son of mine
Little Toomai came in with a joyous tunkatunk at the end of each verse till he felt sleepy and stretched himself on the fodder at Kala Nags side
At last the elephants began to lie down one after another as is their custom till only Kala Nag at the right of the line was left standing up and he rocked slowly from side to side his ears put forward to listen to the night wind as it blew very slowly across the hills The air was full of all the night noises that taken together make one big silence—the click of one bamboostem against the other the rustle of something alive in the undergrowth the scratch and squawk of a halfwaked bird birds are awake in the night much more often than we imagine and the fall of water ever so far away Little Toomai slept for some time and when he waked it was brilliant moonlight and Kala Nag was still standing up with his ears cocked Little Toomai turned rustling in the fodder and watched the curve of his big back against half the stars in heaven and while he watched he heard so far away that it sounded no more than a pinhole of noise pricked through the stillness the hoottoot of a wild elephant
All the elephants in the lines jumped up as if they had been shot and their grunts at last waked the sleeping mahouts and they came out and drove in the picketpegs with big mallets and tightened this rope and knotted that till all was quiet One new elephant had nearly grubbed up his picket and Big Toomai took off Kala Nags legchain and shackled that elephant fore foot to hind foot but slipped a loop of grassstring round Kala Nags leg and told him to remember that he was tied fast He knew that he and his father and his grandfather had done the very same thing hundreds of times before Kala Nag did not answer to the order by gurgling as he usually did He stood still looking out across the moonlight his head a little raised and his ears spread like fans up to the great folds of the Garo hills
Look to him if he grows restless in the night said Big Toomai to Little Toomai and he went into the hut and slept Little Toomai was just going to sleep too when he heard the coir string snap with a little tang and Kala Nag rolled out of his pickets as slowly and as silently as a cloud rolls out of the mouth of a valley Little Toomai pattered after him barefooted down the road in the moonlight calling under his breath Kala Nag Kala Nag Take me with you O Kala Nag The elephant turned without a sound took three strides back to the boy in the moonlight put down his trunk swung him up to his neck and almost before Little Toomai had settled his knees slipped into the forest
There was one blast of furious trumpeting from the lines and then the silence shut down on everything and Kala Nag began to move Sometimes a tuft of high grass washed along his sides as a wave washes along the sides of a ship and sometimes a cluster of wildpepper vines would scrape along his back or a bamboo would creak where his shoulder touched it but between those times he moved absolutely without any sound drifting through the thick Garo forest as though it had been smoke He was going uphill but though Little Toomai watched the stars in the rifts of the trees he could not tell in what direction
Then Kala Nag reached the crest of the ascent and stopped for a minute and Little Toomai could see the tops of the trees lying all speckled and furry under the moonlight for miles and miles and the bluewhite mist over the river in the hollow Toomai leaned forward and looked and he felt that the forest was awake below him—awake and alive and crowded A big brown fruiteating bat brushed past his ear a porcupines quills rattled in the thicket and in the darkness between the treestems he heard a hogbear digging hard in the moist warm earth and snuffing as it digged
Then the branches closed over his head again and Kala Nag began to go down into the valley—not quietly this time but as a runaway gun goes down a steep bank—in one rush The huge limbs moved as steadily as pistons eight feet to each stride and the wrinkled skin of the elbowpoints rustled The undergrowth on either side of him ripped with a noise like torn canvas and the saplings that he heaved away right and left with his shoulders sprang back again and banged him on the flank and great trails of creepers all matted together hung from his tusks as he threw his head from side to side and plowed out his pathway Then Little Toomai laid himself down close to the great neck lest a swinging bough should sweep him to the ground and he wished that he were back in the lines again
The grass began to get squashy and Kala Nags feet sucked and squelched as he put them down and the night mist at the bottom of the valley chilled Little Toomai There was a splash and a trample and the rush of running water and Kala Nag strode through the bed of a river feeling his way at each step Above the noise of the water as it swirled round the elephants legs Little Toomai could hear more splashing and some trumpeting both upstream and down—great grunts and angry snortings and all the mist about him seemed to be full of rolling wavy shadows
Ai he said half aloud his teeth chattering The elephantfolk are out tonight It is the dance then
Kala Nag swashed out of the water blew his trunk clear and began another climb but this time he was not alone and he had not to make his path That was made already six feet wide in front of him where the bent junglegrass was trying to recover itself and stand up Many elephants must have gone that way only a few minutes before Little Toomai looked back and behind him a great wild tusker with his little pigs eyes glowing like hot coals was just lifting himself out of the misty river Then the trees closed up again and they went on and up with trumpetings and crashings and the sound of breaking branches on every side of them
At last Kala Nag stood still between two treetrunks at the very top of the hill They were part of a circle of trees that grew round an irregular space of some three or four acres and in all that space as Little Toomai could see the ground had been trampled down as hard as a brick floor Some trees grew in the center of the clearing but their bark was rubbed away and the white wood beneath showed all shiny and polished in the patches of moonlight There were creepers hanging from the upper branches and the bells of the flowers of the creepers great waxy white things like convolvuluses hung down fast asleep but within the limits of the clearing there was not a single blade of green—nothing but the trampled earth
The moonlight showed it all irongray except where some elephants stood upon it and their shadows were inky black Little Toomai looked holding his breath with his eyes starting out of his head and as he looked more and more and more elephants swung out into the open from between the treetrunks Little Toomai could count only up to ten and he counted again and again on his fingers till he lost count of the tens and his head began to swim Outside the clearing he could hear them crashing in the undergrowth as they worked their way up the hillside but as soon as they were within the circle of the treetrunks they moved like ghosts
There were whitetusked wild males with fallen leaves and nuts and twigs lying in the wrinkles of their necks and the folds of their ears fat slowfooted sheelephants with restless little pinkyblack calves only three or four feet high running under their stomachs young elephants with their tusks just beginning to show and very proud of them lanky scraggy oldmaid elephants with their hollow anxious faces and trunks like rough bark savage old bullelephants scarred from shoulder to flank with great weals and cuts of bygone fights and the caked dirt of their solitary mudbaths dropping from their shoulders and there was one with a broken tusk and the marks of the fullstroke the terrible drawing scrape of a tigers claws on his side
They were standing head to head or walking to and fro across the ground in couples or rocking and swaying all by themselves—scores and scores of elephants
Toomai knew that so long as he lay still on Kala Nags neck nothing would happen to him for even in the rush and scramble of a Keddahdrive a wild elephant does not reach up with his trunk and drag a man off the neck of a tame elephant and these elephants were not thinking of men that night Once they started and put their ears forward when they heard the chinking of a legiron in the forest but it was Pudmini Petersen Sahibs pet elephant her chain snapped short off grunting snuffling up the hillside She must have broken her pickets and come straight from Petersen Sahibs camp and Little Toomai saw another elephant one that he did not know with deep ropegalls on his back and breast He too must have run away from some camp in the hills about
At last there was no sound of any more elephants moving in the forest and Kala Nag rolled out from his station between the trees and went into the middle of the crowd clucking and gurgling and all the elephants began to talk in their own tongue and to move about
LITTLE TOOMAI LOOKED DOWN UPON SCORES AND SCORES
OF BROAD BACKS
LITTLE TOOMAI LOOKED DOWN UPON SCORES AND SCORES
OF BROAD BACKS
Still lying down Little Toomai looked down upon scores and scores of broad backs and wagging ears and tossing trunks and little rolling eyes He heard the click of tusks as they crossed other tusks by accident and the dry rustle of trunks twined together and the chafing of enormous sides and shoulders in the crowd and the incessant flick and hissh of the great tails Then a cloud came over the moon and he sat in black darkness but the quiet steady hustling and pushing and gurgling went on just the same He knew that there were elephants all round Kala Nag and that there was no chance of backing him out of the assembly so he set his teeth and shivered In a Keddah at least there was torchlight and shouting but here he was all alone in the dark and once a trunk came up and touched him on the knee
Then an elephant trumpeted and they all took it up for five or ten terrible seconds The dew from the trees above spattered down like rain on the unseen backs and a dull booming noise began not very loud at first and Little Toomai could not tell what it was but it grew and grew and Kala Nag lifted up one fore foot and then the other and brought them down on the ground—onetwo onetwo as steadily as triphammers The elephants were stamping altogether now and it sounded like a wardrum beaten at the mouth of a cave The dew fell from the trees till there was no more left to fall and the booming went on and the ground rocked and shivered and Little Toomai put his hands up to his ears to shut out the sound But it was all one gigantic jar that ran through him—this stamp of hundreds of heavy feet on the raw earth Once or twice he could feel Kala Nag and all the others surge forward a few strides and the thumping would change to the crushing sound of juicy green things being bruised but in a minute or two the boom of feet on hard earth began again A tree was creaking and groaning somewhere near him He put out his arm and felt the bark but Kala Nag moved forward still tramping and he could not tell where he was in the clearing There was no sound from the elephants except once when two or three little calves squeaked together Then he heard a thump and a shuffle and the booming went on It must have lasted fully two hours and Little Toomai ached in every nerve but he knew by the smell of the night air that the dawn was coming
The morning broke in one sheet of pale yellow behind the green hills and the booming stopped with the first ray as though the light had been an order Before Little Toomai had got the ringing out of his head before even he had shifted his position there was not an elephant in sight except Kala Nag Pudmini and the elephant with the ropegalls and there was neither sign nor rustle nor whisper down the hillsides to show where the others had gone
Little Toomai stared again and again The clearing as he remembered it had grown in the night More trees stood in the middle of it but the undergrowth and the junglegrass at the sides had been rolled back Little Toomai stared once more Now he understood the trampling The elephants had stamped out more room—had stamped the thick grass and juicy cane to trash the trash into slivers the slivers into tiny fibers and the fibers into hard earth
Wah said Little Toomai and his eyes were very heavy Kala Nag my lord let us keep by Pudmini and go to Peterson Sahibs camp or I shall drop from thy neck
The third elephant watched the two go away snorted wheeled round and took his own path He may have belonged to some little native kings establishment fifty or sixty or a hundred miles away
Two hours later as Petersen Sahib was eating early breakfast his elephants who had been doublechained that night began to trumpet and Pudmini mired to the shoulders with Kala Nag very footsore shambled into the camp
Little Toomais face was gray and pinched and his hair was full of leaves and drenched with dew but he tried to salute Petersen Sahib and cried faintly The dance—the elephantdance I have seen it and—I die As Kala Nag sat down he slid off his neck in a dead faint
But since native children have no nerves worth speaking of in two hours he was lying very contentedly in Petersen Sahibs hammock with Petersen Sahibs shootingcoat under his head and a glass of warm milk a little brandy with a dash of quinine inside of him and while the old hairy scarred hunters of the jungles sat threedeep before him looking at him as though he were a spirit he told his tale in short words as a child will and wound up with
Now if I lie in one word send men to see and they will find that the elephantfolk have trampled down more room in their danceroom and they will find ten and ten and many times ten tracks leading to that danceroom They made more room with their feet I have seen it Kala Nag took me and I saw Also Kala Nag is very legweary
Little Toomai lay back and slept all through the long afternoon and into the twilight and while he slept Petersen Sahib and Machua Appa followed the track of the two elephants for fifteen miles across the hills Petersen Sahib had spent eighteen years in catching elephants and he had only once before found such a danceplace Machua Appa had no need to look twice at the clearing to see what had been done there or to scratch with his toe in the packed rammed earth
The child speaks truth said he All this was done last night and I have counted seventy tracks crossing the river See Sahib where Pudminis legiron cut the bark of that tree Yes she was there too
They looked at each other and up and down and they wondered for the ways of elephants are beyond the wit of any man black or white to fathom
Forty years and five said Machua Appa have I followed my lord the elephant but never have I heard that any child of man had seen what this child has seen By all the Gods of the Hills it is—what can we say?" and he shook his head
When they got back to camp it was time for the evening meal Peterson Sahib ate alone in his tent but he gave orders that the camp should have two sheep and some fowls as well as a doubleration of flour and rice and salt for he knew that there would be a feast
Big Toomai had come up hotfoot from the camp in the plains to search for his son and his elephant and now that he had found them he looked at them as though he were afraid of them both And there was a feast by the blazing campfires in front of the lines of picketed elephants and Little Toomai was the hero of it all and the big brown elephantcatchers the trackers and drivers and ropers and the men who know all the secrets of breaking the wildest elephants passed him from one to the other and they marked his forehead with blood from the breast of a newly killed junglecock to show that he was a forester initiated and free of all the jungles
And at last when the flames died down and the red light of the logs made the elephants look as though they had been dipped in blood too Machua Appa the head of all the drivers of all the Keddahs—Machua Appa Petersen Sahibs other self who had never seen a made road in forty years Machua Appa who was so great that he had no other name than Machua Appa—leaped to his feet with Little Toomai held high in the air above his head and shouted Listen my brothers Listen too you my lords in the lines there for I Machua Appa am speaking This little one shall no more be called Little Toomai but Toomai of the Elephants as his greatgrandfather was called before him What never man has seen he has seen through the long night and the favor of the elephantfolk and of the Gods of the Jungles is with him He shall become a great tracker he shall become greater than I even I Machua Appa He shall follow the new trail and the stale trail and the mixed trail with a clear eye He shall take no harm in the Keddah when he runs under their bellies to rope the wild tuskers and if he slips before the feet of the charging bullelephant that bullelephant shall know who he is and shall not crush him Aihai my lords in the chains—he whirled up the line of pickets—here is the little one that has seen your dances in your hidden places—the sight that never man saw Give him honor my lords Salaam karo my children Make your salute to Toomai of the Elephants Gunga Pershad ahaa Hira Guj Birchi Guj Kuttar Guj ahaa Pudmini—thou hast seen him at the dance and thou too Kala Nag my pearl among elephants—ahaa Together To Toomai of the Elephants Barrao
TO TOOMAI OF THE ELEPHANTS BARRAO
TO TOOMAI OF THE ELEPHANTS BARRAO
And at that last wild yell the whole line flung up their trunks till the tips touched their foreheads and broke out into the full salute—the crashing trumpetpeal that only the Viceroy of India hears the Salaamut of the Keddah
But it was all for the sake of Little Toomai who had seen what never man had seen before—the dance of the elephants at night and alone in the heart of the Garo hills
SHIV AND THE GRASSHOPPER
THE SONG THAT TOOMAIS MOTHER SANG TO THE BABY
Shiv who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow
Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago
Gave to each his portion food and toil and fate
From the King upon the guddee to the Beggar at the gate
All things made he—Shiva the Preserver
Mahadeo Mahadeo he made all—
Thorn for the camel fodder for the kine
And mothers heart for sleepy head O little son of mine
Wheat he gave to rich folk millet to the poor
Broken scraps for holy men that beg from door to door
Cattle to the tiger carrion to the kite
And rags and bones to wicked wolves without the wall at night
Naught he found too lofty none he saw too low—
Parbati beside him watched them come and go
Thought to cheat her husband turning Shiv to jest—
Stole the little grasshopper and hid it in her breast
So she tricked him Shiva the Preserver
Mahadeo Mahadeo turn and see
Tall are the camels heavy are the kine
But this was least of little things O little son of mine
When the dole was ended laughingly she said
Master of a million mouths is not one unfed
Laughing Shiv made answer All have had their part
Even he the little one hidden neath thy heart
From her breast she plucked it Parbati the thief
Saw the Least of Little Things gnawed a newgrown leaf
Saw and feared and wondered making prayer to Shiv
Who hath surely given meat to all that live
All things made he—Shiva the Preserver
Mahadeo Mahadeo he made all—
Thorn for the camel fodder for the kine
And mothers heart for sleepy head O little son of mine
HER MAJESTYS SERVANTS
You can work it out by Fractions or by simple Rule of Three
But the way of Tweedledum is not the way of Tweedledee
You can twist it you can turn it you can plait it till you drop
But the way of PillyWinkys not the way of WinkiePop
HER MAJESTYS SERVANTS
IT had been raining heavily for one whole month—raining on a camp of thirty thousand men thousands of camels elephants horses bullocks and mules all gathered together at a place called Rawal Pindi to be reviewed by the Viceroy of India He was receiving a visit from the Amir of Afghanistan—a wild king of a very wild country and the Amir had brought with him for a bodyguard eight hundred men and horses who had never seen a camp or a locomotive before in their lives—savage men and savage horses from somewhere at the back of Central Asia Every night a mob of these horses would be sure to break their heelropes and stampede up and down the camp through the mud in the dark or the camels would break loose and run about and fall over the ropes of the tents and you can imagine how pleasant that was for men trying to go to sleep My tent lay far away from the camel lines and I thought it was safe but one night a man popped his head in and shouted Get out quick Theyre coming My tents gone
I knew who they were so I put on my boots and waterproof and scuttled out into the slush Little Vixen my foxterrier went out through the other side and then there was a roaring and a grunting and bubbling and I saw the tent cave in as the pole snapped and begin to dance about like a mad ghost A camel had blundered into it and wet and angry as I was I could not help laughing Then I ran on because I did not know how many camels might have got loose and before long I was out of sight of the camp plowing my way through the mud
A CAMEL HAD BLUNDERED INTO MY TENT
A CAMEL HAD BLUNDERED INTO MY TENT
At last I fell over the tailend of a gun and by that knew I was somewhere near the Artillery lines where the cannon were stacked at night As I did not want to plowter about any more in the drizzle and the dark I put my waterproof over the muzzle of one gun and made a sort of wigwam with two or three rammers that I found and lay along the tail of another gun wondering where Vixen had got to and where I might be
Just as I was getting ready to sleep I heard a jingle of harness and a grunt and a mule passed me shaking his wet ears He belonged to a screwgun battery for I could hear the rattle of the straps and rings and chains and things on his saddlepad The screwguns are tidy little cannon made in two pieces that are screwed together when the time comes to use them They are taken up mountains anywhere that a mule can find a road and they are very useful for fighting in rocky country
Behind the mule there was a camel with his big soft feet squelching and slipping in the mud and his neck bobbing to and fro like a strayed hens Luckily I knew enough of beast language—not wildbeast language but campbeast language of course—from the natives to know what he was saying
He must have been the one that flopped into my tent for he called to the mule What shall I do Where shall I go I have fought with a white thing that waved and it took a stick and hit me on the neck That was my broken tentpole and I was very glad to know it Shall we run on
Oh it was you said the mule you and your friends that have been disturbing the camp All right Youll be beaten for this in the morning but I may as well give you something on account now
I heard the harness jingle as the mule backed and caught the camel two kicks in the ribs that rang like a drum Another time he said youll know better than to run through a mulebattery at night shouting Thieves and fire Sit down and keep your silly neck quiet
The camel doubled up camelfashion like a twofoot rule and sat down whimpering There was a regular beat of hoofs in the darkness and a big troophorse cantered up as steadily as though he were on parade jumped a guntail and landed close to the mule
Its disgraceful he said blowing out his nostrils Those camels have racketed through our lines again—the third time this week Hows a horse to keep his condition if he isnt allowed to sleep Whos here
Im the breechpiece mule of number two gun of the First Screw Battery said the mule and the others one of your friends Hes waked me up too Who are you
Number Fifteen E troop Ninth Lancers—Dick Cunliffes horse Stand over a little there
Oh beg your pardon said the mule Its too dark to see much Arent these camels too sickening for anything I walked out of my lines to get a little peace and quiet here
My lords said the camel humbly we dreamed bad dreams in the night and we were very much afraid I am only a baggagecamel of the 39th Native Infantry and I am not so brave as you are my lords
Then why the pickets didnt you stay and carry baggage for the 39th Native Infantry instead of running all round the camp said the mule
They were such very bad dreams said the camel I am sorry Listen What is that Shall we run on again
Sit down said the mule or youll snap your long legs between the guns He cocked one ear and listened Bullocks he said gunbullocks On my word you and your friends have waked the camp very thoroughly It takes a good deal of prodding to put up a gunbullock
I heard a chain dragging along the ground and a yoke of the great sulky white bullocks that drag the heavy siegeguns when the elephants wont go any nearer to the firing came shouldering along together and almost stepping on the chain was another batterymule calling wildly for Billy
Thats one of our recruits said the old mule to the troophorse Hes calling for me Here youngster stop squealing the dark never hurt anybody yet
The gunbullocks lay down together and began chewing the cud but the young mule huddled close to Billy
Things he said fearful and horrible things Billy They came into our lines while we were asleep Dyou think theyll kill us
Ive a very great mind to give you a number one kicking said Billy The idea of a fourteenhand mule with your training disgracing the battery before this gentleman
Gently gently said the troophorse Remember they are always like this to begin with The first time I ever saw a man it was in Australia when I was a threeyearold I ran for half a day and if Id seen a camel I should have been running still
Nearly all our horses for the English cavalry are brought to India from Australia and are broken in by the troopers themselves
True enough said Billy Stop shaking youngster The first time they put the full harness with all its chains on my back I stood on my fore legs and kicked every bit of it off I hadnt learned the real science of kicking then but the battery said they had never seen anything like it
But this wasnt harness or anything that jingled said the young mule You know I dont mind that now Billy It was Things like trees and they fell up and down the lines and bubbled and my headrope broke and I couldnt find my driver and I couldnt find you Billy so I ran off with—with these gentlemen
Hm said Billy As soon as I heard the camels were loose I came away on my own account quietly When a battery—a screwgun mule calls gunbullocks gentlemen he must be very badly shaken up Who are you fellows on the ground there
The gunbullocks rolled their cuds and answered both together The seventh yoke of the first gun of the Big Gun Battery We were asleep when the camels came but when we were trampled on we got up and walked away It is better to lie quiet in the mud than to be disturbed on good bedding We told your friend here that there was nothing to be afraid of but he knew so much that he thought otherwise Wah
They went on chewing
That comes of being afraid said Billy You get laughed at by gunbullocks I hope you like it young un
The young mules teeth snapped and I heard him say something about not being afraid of any beefy old bullock in the world but the bullocks only clicked their horns together and went on chewing
Now dont be angry after youve been afraid Thats the worst kind of cowardice said the troophorse Anybody can be forgiven for being scared in the night I think if they see things they dont understand Weve broken out of our pickets again and again four hundred and fifty of us just because a new recruit got to telling tales of whipsnakes at home in Australia till we were scared to death of the loose ends of our headropes
ANYBODY CAN BE FORGIVEN FOR BEING SCARED IN THE NIGHT
SAID THE TROOPHORSE
ANYBODY CAN BE FORGIVEN FOR BEING SCARED IN THE NIGHT
SAID THE TROOPHORSE
Thats all very well in camp said Billy Im not above stampeding myself for the fun of the thing when I havent been out for a day or two but what do you do on active service
Oh thats quite another set of new shoes said the troophorse Dick Cunliffes on my back then and drives his knees into me and all I have to do is to watch where I am putting my feet and to keep my hind legs well under me and be bridlewise
Whats bridlewise said the young mule
By the Blue Gums of the Back Blocks snorted the troophorse do you mean to say that you arent taught to be bridlewise in your business How can you do anything unless you can spin round at once when the rein is pressed on your neck It means life or death to your man and of course thats life or death to you Get round with your hind legs under you the instant you feel the rein on your neck If you havent room to swing round rear up a little and come round on your hind legs Thats being bridlewise
We arent taught that way said Billy the mule stiffly Were taught to obey the man at our head step off when he says so and step in when he says so I suppose it comes to the same thing Now with all this fine fancy business and rearing which must be very bad for your hocks what do you do
That depends said the troophorse Generally I have to go in among a lot of yelling hairy men with knives—long shiny knives worse than the farriers knives—and I have to take care that Dicks boot is just touching the next mans boot without crushing it I can see Dicks lance to the right of my right eye and I know Im safe I shouldnt care to be the man or horse that stood up to Dick and me when were in a hurry
Dont the knives hurt said the young mule
Well I got one cut across the chest once but that wasnt Dicks fault—
A lot I should have cared whose fault it was if it hurt said the young mule
You must said the troophorse If you dont trust your man you may as well run away at once Thats what some of our horses do and I dont blame them As I was saying it wasnt Dicks fault The man was lying on the ground and I stretched myself not to tread on him and he slashed up at me Next time I have to go over a man lying down I shall step on him—hard
THE MAN WAS LYING ON THE GROUND AND I STRETCHED
MYSELF NOT TO TREAD ON HIM AND HE SLASHED UP AT ME
THE MAN WAS LYING ON THE GROUND AND I STRETCHED
MYSELF NOT TO TREAD ON HIM AND HE SLASHED UP AT ME
Hm said Billy it sounds very foolish Knives are dirty things at any time The proper thing to do is to climb up a mountain with a wellbalanced saddle hang on by all four feet and your ears too and creep and crawl and wriggle along till you come out hundreds of feet above any one else on a ledge where theres just room enough for your hoofs Then you stand still and keep quiet—never ask a man to hold your head young un—keep quiet while the guns are being put together and then you watch the little poppy shells drop down into the treetops ever so far below
Dont you ever trip said the troophorse
They say that when a mule trips you can split a hens ear said Billy Now and again perhaps a badly packed saddle will upset a mule but its very seldom I wish I could show you our business Its beautiful Why it took me three years to find out what the men were driving at The science of the thing is never to show up against the skyline because if you do you may get fired at Remember that young un Always keep hidden as much as possible even if you have to go a mile out of your way I lead the battery when it comes to that sort of climbing
Fired at without the chance of running into the people who are firing said the troophorse thinking hard I couldnt stand that I should want to charge with Dick
Oh no you wouldnt you know that as soon as the guns are in position theyll do all the charging Thats scientific and neat but knives—pah
The baggagecamel had been bobbing his head to and fro for some time past anxious to get a word in edgeways Then I heard him say as he cleared his throat nervously
I—I—I have fought a little but not in that climbing way or that running way
No Now you mention it said Billy you dont look as though you were made for climbing or running—much Well how was it old Haybales
The proper way said the camel We all sat down—
Oh my crupper and breastplate said the troophorse under his breath Sat down
We sat down—a hundred of us the camel went on in a big square and the men piled our packs and saddles outside the square and they fired over our backs the men did on all sides of the square
What sort of men Any men that came along said the troophorse They teach us in ridingschool to lie down and let our masters fire across us but Dick Cunliffe is the only man Id trust to do that It tickles my girths and besides I cant see with my head on the ground
What does it matter who fires across you said the camel There are plenty of men and plenty of other camels close by and a great many clouds of smoke I am not frightened then I sit still and wait
And yet said Billy you dream bad dreams and upset the camp at night Well well Before Id lie down not to speak of sitting down and let a man fire across me my heels and his head would have something to say to each other Did you ever hear anything so awful as that
There was a long silence and then one of the gunbullocks lifted up his big head and said This is very foolish indeed There is only one way of fighting
Oh go on said Billy Please dont mind me I suppose you fellows fight standing on your tails
Only one way said the two together They must have been twins This is that way To put all twenty yoke of us to the big gun as soon as Two Tails trumpets Two Tails is camp slang for the elephant
What does Two Tails trumpet for said the young mule
To show that he is not going any nearer to the smoke on the other side Two Tails is a great coward Then we tug the big gun all together—Heya—Hullah Heeyah Hullah We do not climb like cats nor run like calves We go across the level plain twenty yoke of us till we are unyoked again and we graze while the big guns talk across the plain to some town with mud walls and pieces of the wall fall out and the dust goes up as though many cattle were coming home
Oh And you choose that time for grazing do you said the young mule
That time or any other Eating is always good We eat till we are yoked up again and tug the gun back to where Two Tails is waiting for it Sometimes there are big guns in the city that speak back and some of us are killed and then there is all the more grazing for those that are left This is Fate—nothing but Fate None the less Two Tails is a great coward That is the proper way to fight We are brothers from Hapur Our father was a sacred bull of Shiva We have spoken
Well Ive certainly learned something tonight said the troophorse Do you gentlemen of the screwgun battery feel inclined to eat when you are being fired at with big guns and Two Tails is behind you
About as much as we feel inclined to sit down and let men sprawl all over us or run into people with knives I never heard such stuff A mountain ledge a wellbalanced load a driver you can trust to let you pick your own way and Im your mule but the other things—no said Billy with a stamp of his foot
Of course said the troophorse every one is not made in the same way and I can quite see that your family on your fathers side would fail to understand a great many things
Never you mind my family on my fathers side said Billy angrily for every mule hates to be reminded that his father was a donkey My father was a Southern gentleman and he could pull down and bite and kick into rags every horse he came across Remember that you big brown Brumby
Brumby means wild horse without any breeding Imagine the feelings of Sunol if a carhorse called her a skate and you can imagine how the Australian horse felt I saw the white of his eye glitter in the dark
See here you son of an imported Malaga jackass he said between his teeth Id have you know that Im related on my mothers side to Carbine winner of the Melbourne Cup and where I come from we arent accustomed to being ridden over roughshod by any parrotmouthed pigheaded mule in a popgun peashooter battery Are you ready
On your hind legs squealed Billy They both reared up facing each other and I was expecting a furious fight when a gurgly rumbly voice called out of the darkness to the right—Children what are you fighting about there Be quiet
Both beasts dropped down with a snort of disgust for neither horse nor mule can bear to listen to an elephants voice
Its Two Tails said the troophorse I cant stand him A tail at each end isnt fair
My feelings exactly said Billy crowding into the troophorse for company Were very alike in some things
I suppose weve inherited them from our mothers said the troophorse Its not worth quarreling about Hi Two Tails are you tied up
Yes said Two Tails with a laugh all up his trunk Im picketed for the night Ive heard what you fellows have been saying But dont be afraid Im not coming over
The bullocks and the camel said half aloud Afraid of Two Tails—what nonsense And the bullocks went on We are sorry that you heard but it is true Two Tails why are you afraid of the guns when they fire
Well said Two Tails rubbing one hind leg against the other exactly like a little boy saying a piece I dont quite know whether youd understand
We dont but we have to pull the guns said the bullocks
I know it and I know you are a good deal braver than you think you are But its different with me My battery captain called me a Pachydermatous Anachronism the other day
Thats another way of fighting I suppose said Billy who was recovering his spirits
You dont know what that means of course but I do It means betwixt and between and that is just where I am I can see inside my head what will happen when a shell bursts and you bullocks cant
I can said the troophorse At least a little bit I try not to think about it
I can see more than you and I do think about it I know theres a great deal of me to take care of and I know that nobody knows how to cure me when Im sick All they can do is to stop my drivers pay till I get well and I cant trust my driver
Ah said the troophorse That explains it I can trust Dick
You could put a whole regiment of Dicks on my back without making me feel any better I know just enough to be uncomfortable and not enough to go on in spite of it
We do not understand said the bullocks
I know you dont Im not talking to you You dont know what blood is
We do said the bullocks It is red stuff that soaks into the ground and smells
The troophorse gave a kick and a bound and a snort
Dont talk of it he said I can smell it now just thinking of it It makes me want to run—when I havent Dick on my back
But it is not here said the camel and the bullocks Why are you so stupid
Its vile stuff said Billy I dont want to run but I dont want to talk about it
There you are said Two Tails waving his tail to explain
Surely Yes we have been here all night said the bullocks
Two Tails stamped his foot till the iron ring on it jingled Oh Im not talking to you You cant see inside your heads
No We see out of our four eyes said the bullocks We see straight in front of us
If I could do that and nothing else you wouldnt be needed to pull the big guns at all If I was like my captain—he can see things inside his head before the firing begins and he shakes all over but he knows too much to run away—if I was like him I could pull the guns But if I were as wise as all that I should never be here I should be a king in the forest as I used to be sleeping half the day and bathing when I liked I havent had a good bath for a month
Thats all very fine said Billy but giving a thing a long name doesnt make it any better
Hsh said the troophorse I think I understand what Two Tails means
Youll understand better in a minute said Two Tails angrily Now just you explain to me why you dont like this
He began trumpeting furiously at the top of his trumpet
Stop that said Billy and the troophorse together and I could hear them stamp and shiver An elephants trumpeting is always nasty especially on a dark night
I shant stop said Two Tails Wont you explain that please Hhrrmþh Rrrt Rrrmph Rrrhha Then he stopped suddenly and I heard a little whimper in the dark and knew that Vixen had found me at last She knew as well as I did that if there is one thing in the world the elephant is more afraid of than another it is a little barking dog so she stopped to bully Two Tails in his pickets and yapped round his big feet Two Tails shuffled and squeaked Go away little dog he said Dont snuff at my ankles or I ll kick at you Good little dog—nice little doggie then Go home you yelping little beast Oh why doesnt some one take her away Shell bite me in a minute
Seems to me said Billy to the troophorse that our friend Two Tails is afraid of most things Now if I had a full meal for every dog Ive kicked across the paradeground I should be as fat as Two Tails nearly
I whistled and Vixen ran up to me muddy all over and licked my nose and told me a long tale about hunting for me all through the camp I never let her know that I understood beast talk or she would have taken all sorts of liberties So I buttoned her into the breast of my overcoat and Two Tails shuffled and stamped and growled to himself
Extraordinary Most extraordinary he said It runs in our family Now where has that nasty little beast gone to
I heard him feeling about with his trunk
We all seem to be affected in various ways he went on blowing his nose Now you gentlemen were alarmed I believe when I trumpeted
Not alarmed exactly said the troophorse but it made me feel as though I had hornets where my saddle ought to be Dont begin again
Im frightened of a little dog and the camel here is frightened by bad dreams in the night
It is very lucky for us that we havent all got to fight in the same way said the troophorse
What I want to know said the young mule who had been quiet for a long time—what I want to know is why we have to fight at all
Because we are told to said the troophorse with a snort of contempt
Orders said Billy the mule and his teeth snapped
Hukm hai It is an order said the camel with a gurgle and Two Tails and the bullocks repeated Hukm hai
Yes but who gives the orders said the recruitmule
The man who walks at your head—Or sits on your back—Or holds the noserope—Or twists your tail said Billy and the troophorse and the camel and the bullocks one after the other
But who gives them the orders
Now you want to know too much young un said Billy and that is one way of getting kicked All you have to do is to obey the man at your head and ask no questions
Hes quite right said Two Tails I cant always obey because Im betwixt and between but Billys right Obey the man next to you who gives the order or youll stop all the battery besides getting a thrashing
The gunbullocks got up to go Morning is coming they said We will go back to our lines It is true that we see only out of our eyes and we are not very clever but still we are the only people tonight who have not been afraid Good night you brave people
Nobody answered and the troophorse said to change the conversation Wheres that little dog A dog means a man somewhere near
Here I am yapped Vixen under the guntail with my man You big blundering beast of a camel you you upset our tent My mans very angry
Phew said the bullocks He must be white
Of course he is said Vixen Do you suppose Im looked after by a black bullockdriver
Huah Ouach Ugh said the bullocks Let us get away quickly
They plunged forward in the mud and managed somehow to run their yoke on the pole of an ammunitionwagon where it jammed
Now you have done it said Billy calmly Dont struggle Youre hung up till daylight What on earths the matter
The bullocks went off into the long hissing snorts that Indian cattle give and pushed and crowded and slued and stamped and slipped and nearly fell down in the mud grunting savagely
Youll break your necks in a minute said the troophorse Whats the matter with white men I live with em
They—eat—us Pull said the near bullock the yoke snapped with a twang and they lumbered off together
I never knew before what made Indian cattle so afraid of Englishmen We eat beef—a thing that no cattledriver touches—and of course the cattle do not like it
May I be flogged with my own padchains Whod have thought of two big lumps like those losing their heads said Billy
Never mind Im going to look at this man Most of the white men I know have things in their pockets said the troophorse
Ill leave you then I cant say Im overfond of em myself Besides white men who havent a place to sleep in are more than likely to be thieves and Ive a good deal of Government property on my back Come along young un and well go back to our lines Goodnight Australia See you on parade tomorrow I suppose Goodnight old Haybale—try to control your feelings wont you Goodnight Two Tails If you pass us on the ground tomorrow dont trumpet It spoils our formation
Billy the mule stumped off with the swaggering limp of an old campaigner as the troophorses head came nuzzling into my breast and I gave him biscuits while Vixen who is a most conceited little dog told him fibs about the scores of horses that she and I kept
Im coming to the parade tomorrow in my dogcart she said Where will you be
On the left hand of the second squadron I set the time for all my troop little lady he said politely Now I must go back to Dick My tails all muddy and hell have two hours hard work dressing me for the parade
The big parade of all the thirty thousand men was held that afternoon and Vixen and I had a good place close to the Viceroy and the Amir of Afghanistan with his high big black hat of astrakhan wool and the great diamond star in the center The first part of the review was all sunshine and the regiments went by in wave upon wave of legs all moving together and guns all in a line till our eyes grew dizzy Then the cavalry came up to the beautiful cavalry canter of Bonnie Dundee and Vixen cocked her ear where she sat on the dogcart The second squadron of the lancers shot by and there was the troophorse with his tail like spun silk his head pulled into his breast one ear forward and one back setting the time for all his squadron his legs going as smoothly as waltzmusic Then the big guns came by and I saw Two Tails and two other elephants harnessed in line to a fortypounder siegegun while twenty yoke of oxen walked behind The seventh pair had a new yoke and they looked rather stiff and tired Last came the screwguns and Billy the mule carried himself as though he commanded all the troops and his harness was oiled and polished till it winked I gave a cheer all by myself for Billy the mule but he never looked right or left
The rain began to fall again and for a while it was too misty to see what the troops were doing They had made a big halfcircle across the plain and were spreading out into a line That line grew and grew and grew till it was threequarters of a mile long from wing to wing—one solid wall of men horses and guns Then it came on straight toward the Viceroy and the Amir and as it got nearer the ground began to shake like the deck of a steamer when the engines are going fast
Unless you have been there you cannot imagine what a frightening effect this steady comedown of troops has on the spectators even when they know it is only a review I looked at the Amir Up till then he had not shown the shadow of a sign of astonishment or anything else but now his eyes began to get bigger and bigger and he picked up the reins on his horses neck and looked behind him For a minute it seemed as though he were going to draw his sword and slash his way out through the English men and women in the carriages at the back Then the advance stopped dead the ground stood still the whole line saluted and thirty bands began to play all together That was the end of the review and the regiments went off to their camps in the rain and an infantry band struck up with—
The animals went in two by two
Hurrah
The animals went in two by two
The elephant and the battery mu
l and they all got into the Ark
For to get out of the rain
Then I heard an old grizzled longhaired Central Asian chief who had come down with the Amir asking questions of a native officer
THEN I HEARD AN OLD GRIZZLED LONGHAIRED CENTRAL ASIAN
CHIEF ASKING QUESTIONS OF A NATIVE OFFICER
THEN I HEARD AN OLD GRIZZLED LONGHAIRED CENTRAL ASIAN
CHIEF ASKING QUESTIONS OF A NATIVE OFFICER
Now said he in what manner was this wonderful thing done
And the officer answered There was an order and they obeyed
But are the beasts as wise as the men said the chief
They obey as the men do Mule horse elephant or bullock he obeys his driver and the driver his sergeant and the sergeant his lieutenant and the lieutenant his captain and the captain his major and the major his colonel and the colonel his brigadier commanding three regiments and the brigadier his general who obeys the Viceroy who is the servant of the Empress Thus it is done
Would it were so in Afghanistan said the chief for there we obey only our own wills
And for that reason said the native officer twirling his mustache your Amir whom you do not obey must come here and take orders from our Viceroy
PARADESONG OF THE CAMP ANIMALS
ELEPHANTS OF THE GUNTEAM
We lent to Alexander the strength of Hercules
The wisdom of our foreheads the cunning of our knees
We bowed our necks to service they neer were loosed again—
Make way there way for the tenfoot teams
Of the FortyPounder train
GUNBULLOCKS
Those heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannonball
And what they know of powder upsets them one and all
Then we come into action and tug the guns again—
Make way there way for the twenty yoke
Of the FortyPounder train
CAVALRY HORSES
By the brand on my withers the finest of tunes
Is played by the Lancers Hussars and Dragoons
And its sweeter than Stables or Water to me
The Cavalry Canter of Bonnie Dundee
Then feed us and break us and handle and groom
And give us good riders and plenty of room
And launch us in column of squadrons and see
The way of the warhorse to Bonnie Dundee
SCREWGUN MULES
As me and my companions were scrambling up a hill
The path was lost in rolling stones but we went forward still
For we can wriggle and climb my lads and turn up everywhere
And its our delight on a mountain height with a leg or two to spare
Good luck to every sergeant then that lets us pick our road
Bad luck to all the drivermen that cannot pack a load
For we can wriggle and climb my lads and turn up everywhere
And its our delight on a mountain height with a leg or two to spare
COMMISSARIAT CAMELS
We havent a camelty tune of our own
To help us trollop along
But every neck is a hairy trombone
Rtttatata is a hairy trombone
And this is our marching song
Cant Dont Shant Wont
Pass it along the line
Somebodys pack has slid from his back
Wish it were only mine
Somebodys load has tipped off in the road—
Cheer for a halt and a row
Urrr Yarrh Grr Arrh
Somebodys catching it now
ALL THE BEASTS TOGETHER
Children of the Camp are we
Serving each in his degree
Children of the yoke and goad
Pack and harness pad and load
See our line across the plain
Like a heelrope bent again
Reaching writhing rolling far
Sweeping all away to war
While the men that walk beside
Dusty silent heavyeyed
Cannot tell why we or they
March and suffer day by day
Children of the Camp are we
Serving each in his degree
Children of the yoke and goad
Pack and harness pad and load