Mowgli's Brothers (Campfire Story)

It was seven o'clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills of India when Father Wolf woke up from his day's rest. Mother Wolf lay beside him with their four cubs tumbling over her, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave.

Then, from far down the valley, came a sound every animal in the jungle knew. A dry, angry, whining snarl. SHERE KHAN.

'The fool,' said Father Wolf. 'Shere Khan the tiger is hunting where he has no business to hunt. And listen to him. He is hunting Man.'

The bushes rustled at the mouth of the cave. Father Wolf crouched to spring. But what came toddling in, holding onto a low branch, was not a tiger. It was a baby. A brown, naked little man's cub, who had just learned to walk. He looked up into Father Wolf's face and laughed.

'A man's cub!' said Mother Wolf. 'How little! And how bold!' The baby pushed his way in among the wolf cubs to get close to her warm side. 'Look,' she said softly. 'He is eating with the others. Was there ever a wolf who could boast of a man's cub among her children?'

Suddenly the moonlight was blocked out. Shere Khan had pushed his great square head and shoulders into the mouth of the cave. SHERE KHAN! 'A man's cub went this way,' he growled. 'Give it to me. It is mine.'

The cave was too narrow for the tiger to come in. Mother Wolf stood up, her eyes like two green moons in the darkness. 'The man's cub is mine, Lungri, you lame cattle-killer,' she said. 'He shall live to run with the Pack and to hunt with the Pack. And in the end, mark you, he shall hunt you! Now go!'

Shere Khan backed out, growling. SHERE KHAN. 'We will see what the Pack says about fostering man's cubs!' he snarled, and he was gone.

Mother Wolf looked down at the baby. 'I will call you Mowgli,' she said. 'Mowgli the Frog, because you have no fur. Lie still, little frog.'

Now, the Law of the Jungle says that when wolf cubs are old enough to stand, they must be brought before the Pack Council, so that every wolf will know them. The Council met on the night of the full moon at the Council Rock, a hilltop covered with stones. And on his great rock in the middle lay the leader of the whole Pack: AKELA, the great gray Lone Wolf, who had led the Pack by strength and cunning for many years.

One by one, the cubs were pushed into the moonlight, and AKELA called out the words the Council always spoke: 'Ye know the Law. Look well, O Wolves! Look well!'

When it was Mowgli's turn, he sat in the middle of the ring, laughing and playing with some pebbles in the moonlight. And from behind the rocks came a muffled roar. SHERE KHAN. 'The cub is mine! Give him to me! What have the Free People to do with a man's cub?'

Some of the young wolves began to mutter. 'What have the Free People to do with a man's cub?' The Law said that if anyone objected to a cub, two members of the Pack who were not his parents must speak for him. Who would speak for a man's cub?

Then a slow, deep voice rumbled from the edge of the circle. BALOO. It was Baloo, the sleepy brown bear, the only animal besides the wolves allowed at the Council, because he taught the wolf cubs the Law of the Jungle. 'I speak for the man's cub,' said BALOO. 'There is no harm in a man's cub. Let him run with the Pack. I myself will teach him the Law.'

'We need yet another,' said AKELA.

A shadow dropped into the circle. BAGHEERA. It was Bagheera the Black Panther, inky black all over, as cunning as a jackal, as bold as a wild buffalo, and as reckless as a wounded elephant. But his voice was as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree. 'O AKELA, and ye the Free People,' purred BAGHEERA, 'I have no right in your Council. But the Law says a cub's life may be bought at a price. I offer a fat bull, newly killed, not half a mile from here, if you will accept the man's cub.'

The young wolves were always hungry. 'What matter?' they cried. 'He will die in the winter rains. Let him run with the Pack. Where is the bull?' And they ran off down the hill to find it.

So Mowgli was accepted into the Seeonee Wolf Pack, for the price of a bull and on Baloo's good word. And AKELA said quietly, 'Men and their cubs are very wise. He may be a help in time.'

Mowgli grew up with the wolf cubs as his brothers. Baloo taught him the Law, and Bagheera taught him how to hunt and climb. But Shere Khan never forgot. Year after year, he made friends with the young wolves of the Pack, flattering them and feeding them scraps, and whispering, 'Why should a man's cub run with the Free People?'

At last the day came when AKELA grew old, and missed his kill. And at the next Council, the young wolves turned on him, and Shere Khan stood boldly at the Council Rock. 'The Lone Wolf has failed! Give me the man's cub!' SHERE KHAN!

But Bagheera had warned Mowgli what was coming, and Mowgli had gone down to the village of men and brought back the one thing every animal in the jungle feared: a little pot of glowing coals. The Red Flower. Fire.

Mowgli stood up in the circle with a burning branch in his hand. 'Listen, you!' he shouted. 'You will not hurt Akela. He has been a good leader to you, and he shall go free!' He swung the burning branch, and the young wolves fled howling. He caught Shere Khan by the fur of his chin and beat him with the burning branch until the tiger whimpered and ran.

Then Mowgli turned to the Pack, and something hurt inside him the way nothing had ever hurt before, and water ran down his face. 'What is it, Bagheera? Am I dying?'

'No, little brother,' said BAGHEERA. 'Those are only tears, such as men use. Now I know you are a man, and no longer a man's cub. Let them fall, Mowgli.'

Mowgli knew he must go and live among men for a while. But before he went, he hugged Mother Wolf and Father Wolf and his four brothers. 'Do not forget me,' he said.

'Never,' said his brothers. 'Come to the foot of the hill when you are a man, and we will talk to you. And we will come to the fields to play with you by night.'

And AKELA, the old Lone Wolf, lifted his head to the moon, and gave the long, deep howl of the Pack.

AKELA!

Storyteller tips: Akela's line "Look well, O Wolves! Look well!" comes from Kipling's own words; say it slowly and grandly. For Cub Scouts, finish with your Pack's Grand Howl: "A-ke-la! We'll do our best!"

Talk it over afterward: who spoke up for Mowgli when nobody else would? Who in your Pack is your Akela, your Baloo and your Bagheera?