The Jungle Book Read Online Free PDF

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 Khan’s 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 meet those mysterious things that are called men.
    HUNTING SONG OF THE SEEONEE PACK
                 As the dawn was breaking the sambur 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 sambur 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 wolf pack 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!

 KAA’S HUNTING 
                 His spots are the joy of the leopard: his horns are the buffalo’s 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 heavy-browed sambur 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 fussy, 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
    A
ll that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was turned out of the Seeonee Wolf Pack, or revenged himself on Shere Khan the Tiger. 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 the jackal and the hyena whom we hate.” But Mowgli, as a man-cub, 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 day’s 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