Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
The Jungle Book
The story of Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves
Also in: Knjiga o džungli (Slovenian) · Kniha džunglí (Slovak)
Deep in the jungle, where the trees stand tall as towers, a wolf family lived in a warm den. One evening a little human cub crawled in — bare, smiling, and not one bit afraid. Mother Wolf Raksha sniffed him, nudged him in among her own cubs and said: "He stays with us. His name will be Mowgli."
1
The wolves gathered at the Council Rock. "The man-cub is mine!" snarled Shere Khan the tiger from the darkness. But Baloo the bear said: "I will teach him." And Bagheera the black panther added: "I will pay for him." Old Akela the leader nodded — and Mowgli became a wolf among wolves.
2
Mowgli grew up with the wolf cubs. He rolled in the grass with them, chased butterflies and learned to swim in the cold river. He could walk so quietly that not even a mouse heard him, and climb higher than all his wolf brothers. But best of all, he loved riding on Bagheera's soft black back.
3
Baloo taught him the Law of the Jungle. "Repeat after me, Mowgli: the jungle is your home, and everyone in it is your family." Mowgli repeated it — though sometimes he burst out laughing, and Baloo tickled him with his great big paw. "Whoever knows the right words," said Baloo, "has nothing but friends in the jungle."
4
One day the monkeys snatched him. "You will be our king!" they shrieked, carrying him along the treetops, branch swinging after branch. They took him far, far away — to an old crumbling city in the middle of the jungle, where nobody lived any more.
5
His friends came to the rescue: Baloo, Bagheera and Kaa the great python. Kaa swayed into her slow dance, and the monkeys froze on the spot. Baloo scattered the last of them, and Bagheera carried Mowgli home. "Without friends I would be lost," said Mowgli, and hugged Baloo.
6
By the river one day, Bagheera said quietly: "Mowgli, one day you will go back to the people." — "Never!" laughed Mowgli. "The jungle is my home." But Bagheera knew: Shere Khan was closer every day, and something restless was burning in the young wolves' eyes.
7
Akela grew old, and his leap was no longer sure. Shere Khan whispered to the young wolves: "Why does a man-cub lead you? Give him to me!" Some of the wolves began to look at Mowgli sideways. "It is time to get ready," said Bagheera.
8
"Go to the village of the people," Bagheera told him, "and bring back the Red Flower. Everyone in the jungle fears fire — even Shere Khan." Mowgli ran through the night to the village. Through a window he saw a red-and-gold flower dancing in a clay pot: fire.
9
When everyone was asleep, Mowgli quietly took the pot of embers and kept feeding it dry twigs so the Red Flower would not go out. All day long he guarded it like the greatest treasure. "Now I am afraid of no one," he said to himself.
10
At the Council Rock, Shere Khan roared: "The cub is mine!" Then Mowgli stood up with a burning branch in his hand. Sparks flew into the sky. "Go!" he said in a firm voice. "And never come back!" Shere Khan pressed himself flat to the ground and fled into the dark.
11
That night Mowgli cried for the first time in his life. "What is this running down my cheeks?" — "Tears," said Bagheera. "It is time for you to go to the people for a while, Mowgli. But the jungle will not forget you." Mowgli hugged each of his friends and walked down the path toward the village.
12
In the village Mowgli learned to wear clothes and herd buffalo. But one day Shere Khan came back! With his grey wolf brother, Mowgli drove the great buffalo herd into a narrow ravine — it thundered like a falling mountain. Shere Khan had nowhere to go. That was the end of him.
13
Mowgli returned to the jungle, where Baloo, Bagheera and his wolf brothers were waiting. From then on he lived between both worlds: by day he knew the ways of people, by night the songs of the jungle. And whenever he called from the high rock, the whole jungle answered: "Welcome home, Mowgli!"
14The End
