Mowgli's Song

• 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 grazing-grounds. Gray Brother, come to me!
• Come to me, Lone Wolf, for there is big game afoot!
• Bring up the great bull buffaloes, the blue-skinned herd bulls
• with the angry eyes. Drive them to and fro as I order.
• Sleepest thou still, Shere Khan? Wake, oh, 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 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, I will stoop down for my gift.
• Waters of the Waingunga, 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.
• The Man Pack are angry. They throw stones and talk child's talk.
• My mouth is bleeding. Let me 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 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.