The Jungle Book
Page 4
“Great king,” Buldeo said to Mowgli, “I did not know that you were anything more than a herdsboy. May I get up and go now, or will this wolf tear me to pieces?”
“Go, then,” said Mowgli. “But next time, don't interfere with me. Akela, let him go.”
Buldeo hobbled back to the village as fast as he could.
Mowgli calmly went on with his work. It was almost dark before he finished. He picked up the tiger hide and called to Akela. “Help me herd them again, Akela,” he said.
When Mowgli and Akela returned to the village with the buffaloes, they saw lights. They heard a great racket of bells ringing and conches blowing. Mowgli was sure it was a celebration because he had killed Shere Khan. He went on proudly.
But then a stone whizzed by close to his face. And another. The villagers began shouting, “Sorcerer! Jungle demon! Go away!”
“They are like the pack, these brothers of yours,” said Akela. “I think they are throwing you out.”
“Wolf! Wolf's cub! Go away!” shouted the priest.
“Again?” said Mowgli. “Last time it was because I was a man. This time it's because I'm a wolf. Let's go, Akela.”
Suddenly Messua broke out of the crowd and ran toward Mowgli. “Oh, my son!” she cried. “They say you are a sorcerer who can turn into a beast at will. I don't believe them. I know you killed the tiger that caused Nathoo's death. But go away, or they will kill you.”
A stone hit Mowgli on the mouth. “Go back, Messua,” he said. “This is just one of the silly tales they tell under the big tree at dusk. At least I have paid for your son's life. Goodbye!”
Messua hurried back to the village.
“Now, once more, Akela,” Mowgli cried. “Bring the herd in.”
Akela yelled, and the buffaloes charged through the gate like a whirlwind. The crowd scattered.
“Goodbye, children of men!” Mowgli cried.
He turned and walked away, with Grey Brother and Akela at his heels.
Dawn was breaking when Mowgli and the two wolves made it home. They stopped at the cave first to see Mother Wolf.
“They have cast me out of the man pack, Mother,” Mowgli called into the cave. “But I have brought Shere Khan's hide, just like I promised I would.”
Mother Wolf came out of the cave with the cubs. She was getting old and walked stiffly, but her eyes lit up when she saw the skin. “I told him back then, when he crammed his head into this cave hunting you, that one day you would hunt him. Well done,” she said.
“Well done, Little Brother,” a deep voice said from the thicket. Bagheera came running toward Mowgli. “We were lonely without you.”
They all climbed up to Council Rock together. Mowgli spread the tiger's skin out on the ground where Akela used to sit. Akela lay down on it and howled his old gathering call. “Look well, wolves!”
The pack had not had a leader since Akela, but they answered the call out of habit. One by one they came. Some were lame from falling into traps or being shot. Many were mangy. And there were fewer wolves than when Akela led the pack. But still they all came and saw Shere Khan's hide stretched out on Council Rock.
“Look well, wolves,” Mowgli said. “Have I kept my word?”
“Yes,” the wolves bayed.
“Lead us again, Akela. Lead us, man cub,” one of the wolves begged. “We are sick of this lawlessness.”
“No,” Bagheera purred. “He can't trust you now. When you are fully fed and more comfortable, you could turn on him again. You fought for your freedom. Eat it, wolves.”
“Man pack and wolf pack have cast me out,” said Mowgli. “Now I will hunt alone in the jungle.”
“We will go with you,” said his four brother cubs.
So Mowgli and the four cubs went away to hunt on their own in the jungle.
As the years passed, Mowgli became a great leader in the jungle. He had many adventures. He journeyed with Kaa to meet a white cobra who guarded treasure deep underground beneath the Lost City. He saved the jungle from the red hunting dog. And he never forgot the animals who had always loved him best—his wolf family, Akela, and most of all, the brown bear Baloo and Bagheera the panther, his bravest and truest friends.
About the Author
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, in 1865, and when he was six years old, his parents took him to England. As an adult, he lived in India, England, South Africa, and even the United States. The Jungle Book, with its tales of Mowgli, Rikkitikki-tavi, and the white seal, was first published in 1894. Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. He died in 1936 and was buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey in London.
If you liked this thrilling adventure, you won't want to miss …
TREASURE ISLAND
by Robert Louis Stevenson
adapted by Lisa Norby
I scrambled onto the deck. Israel Hands lay nearby, alive but wounded.
“I am taking over the ship,” I told him.
Mr. Hands looked up at me. “Very well, Captain Hawkins,” he said. “I'll obey you. I have no choice.”
For a few minutes I was so busy that I almost forgot that Mr. Hands was just pretending to be badly hurt. But all of a sudden something made me turn around. He had sneaked up behind me! He pulled out the knife. Then he charged.
SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
BY JOHANN WYSS
ADAPTED BY DAISY ALBERTO
For many days our ship had been tossed at sea. The storm raged and raged. Above us, the seamen yelled frantically to each other.
My heart sank as I looked around the cabin at my family. My brave wife was trying to calm the children. Our four sons were filled with terror.
Suddenly I heard a cry. At the same time, the ship struck something! Water poured in on all sides.
“Lower the boats!” the captain shouted.
I rushed on deck. The last lifeboat was already pushing off!
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
adapted by Monica Kulling
The next day Tom and Huck walked back to the haunted house.
Inside was a dirt floor with weeds growing everywhere. The fireplace was crumbling. And cobwebs hung from the ceiling like curtains!
The boys climbed a rickety staircase to look upstairs. They peeked in a closet in the corner. But nothing was in it. As they turned to go back downstairs, Tom heard a noise.
The boys lay on the floor and peered through a knothole. Two men were entering the house!
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2008 by Diane Wright Landolf.
Illustrations copyright © 2008 by John Rowe.
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Random House and colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Visit us on the Web!
www.steppingstonesbooks.com
www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/teachers
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Landolf, Diane Wright.
The jungle book / by Rudyard Kipling ; adapted by Diane Wright Landolf ; illustrated by John Rowe. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Stepping Stone Book.”
Summary: Adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's “The Jungle Book,” focusing on stories that feature Mowgli, Baloo the bear, and Bagheera the panther.
eISBN 978-0-307-48668-4
PZ7.L2317345Ju 2008 [Fic]—dc22 2007021738
v3.0