Shere Khan does us great honor, said Father Wolf, but his eyes were
very angry. What does Shere Khan need?
My quarry. A man s cub went this way, said Shere Khan. Its parents
have run off. Give it to me.
Shere Khan had jumped at a woodcutter s campfire, as Father Wolf had
said, and was furious from the pain of his burned feet. But Father Wolf
knew that the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to come in
by. Even where he was, Shere Khan s shoulders and forepaws were cramped
for want of room, as a man s would be if he tried to fight in a barrel.
The Wolves are a free people, said Father Wolf. They take orders from
the Head of the Pack, and not from any striped cattle-killer. The man s
cub is ours--to kill if we choose.
Ye choose and ye do not choose! What talk is this of choosing? By the
bull that I killed, am I to stand nosing into your dog s den for my fair
dues? It is I, Shere Khan, who speak!
The tiger s roar filled the cave with thunder. Mother Wolf shook herself
clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her eyes, like two green moons in
the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan.
And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answers. The man s cub is mine,
Lungri--mine to me! He shall not be killed. He shall live to run with
the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter of
little naked cubs--frog-eater--fish-killer--he shall hunt thee! Now get
hence, or by the Sambhur that I killed (I eat no starved cattle), back
thou goest to thy mother, burned beast of the jungle, lamer than ever
thou camest into the world! Go!
Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when he
won Mother Wolf in fair fight from five other wolves, when she ran in
the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment s sake. Shere Khan
might have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up against Mother
Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all the advantage of the
ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed out of the cave mouth
growling, and when he was clear he shouted:
6