Jungle Book by Diane Wright Landolf & John Rowe

Author:Diane Wright Landolf & John Rowe [Landolf, Diane Wright & Rowe, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307486684
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2008-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

In the middle of the night, a woman got up and fed the fire with black lumps. In the morning, a child picked up a clay pot and filled it with red-hot charcoal. The child carried the pot outside when he went to milk the cows.

“Is that all?” said Mowgli. “If a cub can do it, I can do it.” He walked boldly around the hut. He came face to face with the child and quickly took the pot from the boy's hand.

Then Mowgli disappeared into the mist.

When he was hidden again in the jungle, Mowgli stopped and looked at the pot of fire. He blew on it like he had seen the woman in the hut do. “This thing will die if I do not give it things to eat,” he said to himself. He fed it some twigs and dried bark.

Soon, Mowgli met Bagheera, who had come in search of him. The morning dew shone like moonstones on his black fur.

“Akela has missed,” Bagheera said.

Mowgli, of course, had already guessed this, but it was different to hear it was true.

“They would have killed Akela at Council Rock last night,” Bagheera went on, “but they were looking for you.”

“I was by the man huts. I am ready with the Red Flower. See?” Mowgli said. He held up the fire pot.

Bagheera backed up a step. “Good,” he said. “Aren't you afraid?”

Mowgli shook his head and said, “Why should I be afraid? I think I even remember that before I was a wolf, I used to lie in front of the Red Flower. It was nice and warm.”

“Well, I have seen men put a dry branch into a pot like that, and the Red Flower bloomed at the end of it,” said Bagheera.

Mowgli went home to the cave. All day, he practiced putting branches into the coals. He tried many different kinds of wood until he found the one that worked best.

In the evening, Tabaqui came and told him that he was wanted at the council. Mowgli laughed in his face, to show he was not afraid. And when he came to Council Rock, he was still laughing.

Instead of sitting on top of the rock, Akela lay next to it. This was a sign that the leadership was open. Shere Khan walked among the wolves.

Mowgli sat down with the fire pot hidden snugly between his knees. Bagheera lay next to him.

When Akela was in his prime, Shere Khan would never have dared talk at the council. Now he spoke freely.

“He has no right to speak here,” Bagheera growled softly to Mowgli. “Say something.”

Mowgli jumped up. “Does Shere Khan lead the pack?” he asked. “The leadership of the pack is up to the pack to decide.”

All the wolves began talking and shouting at once. “Quiet, man's cub!” said many of the younger ones. But the older ones said Mowgli had kept their law and had the right to talk.

Finally the oldest of the wolves said, “Let Akela speak!”

Akela looked tired. He knew that he would most likely not live through the night.

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