Take the boy into thy house, my sister, and forget not to honor the
priest who sees so far into the lives of men.
By the Bull that bought me, said Mowgli to himself, but all this
talking is like another looking-over by the Pack! Well, if I am a man, a
man I must become.
The crowd parted as the woman beckoned Mowgli to her hut, where there
was a red lacquered bedstead, a great earthen grain chest with funny
raised patterns on it, half a dozen copper cooking pots, an image of a
Hindu god in a little alcove, and on the wall a real looking glass, such
as they sell at the country fairs.
She gave him a long drink of milk and some bread, and then she laid her
hand on his head and looked into his eyes; for she thought perhaps that
he might be her real son come back from the jungle where the tiger had
taken him. So she said, Nathoo, O Nathoo! Mowgli did not show that he
knew the name. Dost thou not remember the day when I gave thee thy new
shoes? She touched his foot, and it was almost as hard as horn. No,
she said sorrowfully, those feet have never worn shoes, but thou art
very like my Nathoo, and thou shalt be my son.
Mowgli was uneasy, because he had never been under a roof before. But as
he looked at the thatch, he saw that he could tear it out any time if he
wanted to get away, and that the window had no fastenings. What is the
good of a man, he said to himself at last, if he does not understand
man s talk? Now I am as silly and dumb as a man would be with us in the
jungle. I must speak their talk.
It was not for fun that he had learned while he was with the wolves to
imitate the challenge of bucks in the jungle and the grunt of the little
wild pig. So, as soon as Messua pronounced a word Mowgli would imitate
it almost perfectly, and before dark he had learned the names of many
things in the hut.
There was a difficulty at bedtime, because Mowgli would not sleep under
anything that looked so like a panther trap as that hut, and when they
shut the door he went through the window. Give him his will, said
Messua s husband. Remember he can never till now have slept on a bed.
If he is indeed sent in the place of our son he will not run away.
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