Rudyard Kipling

One very warm evening in the Seeonee hills in Southern India, Father Wolf woke up from his day's rest.Next to him lay Mother Wolf, with their four cubs（幼獸）beside her.

“It's time to look for food,”said Father Wolf, and he stood up to leave the cave.

“Good luck,”said a voice.It is the jackal（豺）, Tabaqui, who eats everything and anything, even pieces of old clothes from the village.The wolves of India do not like him, because he runs around making trouble and telling bad stories about them.

“Shere Khan, the tiger, is coming to look for food here,”said Tabaqui.

“He can't,”cried Father Wolf.“By the Law of the Jungle he must tell us first,before he comes here to hunt.”

“Shere Khan has a bad leg, so he can kill only cows.In the village, the people near him are angry.That is why he is coming here—to start hunting in a new place.Listen, you can hear him now,”said Tabaqui.

“He is a stupid animal,”said Father Wolf, and he listened to the angry noise of a tiger who had not eaten.“No one will find anything to eat in the jungle now.”

“But Shere Khan is hunting man, not animal,tonight,”said Tabaqui.

The Law of the Jungle says that animals must not hunt man, because mankilling brings men with guns.Then everybody in the jungle is in danger.Father and Mother Wolf listened to Shere Khan in the jungle not far away.Then, suddenly, they heard a noise much nearer to them.

“It's a man.A man's cub.Look!”said Father Wolf.And there in front of them stood a baby who could just walk.He looked up at Father Wolf and laughed.

“Is that a man's cub?”asked Mother Wolf.“I have never seen one.Bring it here.”

The baby, small and with no clothes,pushed its way between the cubs to get near to Mother Wolf.“Look,”she said,“he is taking his meal with the others.”

“I have heard that this has happened before,”said Father Wolf,“but I have never seen it until now.Look at him.He is not afraid.”

Suddenly, it was dark, and Shere Khan was pushing his great head in through the mouth of the cave.“We are pleased that you visit us,Shere Khan,”said Father Wolf, but his eyes were angry.“What do you need?”

“I am hunting a man's cub,”said Shere Khan.“Its father and mother have run away.Give it to me.”

Father Wolf knew that Shere Khan could not get inside the cave because he was too big.“The man's cub belongs to us,”he said.“The Pack—the other wolves and I—will decide.If we want to kill him, we will kill him,not you.”

“The man's cub belongs to me! It is I,Shere Khan,who speaks!”And Shere Khan's roar filled the cave with noise.

“No!”came the angry voice of Mother Wolf.“The man's cub belongs to me! We will not kill him.He will live, to run with the other wolves, to be my son.Now go away,fish-killer,eater of cubs!Go!”

Shere Khan went.He knew that he could not fight Mother Wolf in the cave.“But I will have this man-cub one day, you thieves!”he shouted from the jungle.

“Do you really want to keep him,Mother?”said Father Wolf.

“Yes.He came here at night, alone and hungry, but he was not afraid.Yes, I will keep him.And I will call him Mowgli.”

Reading Check

1.List out the main characters mentioned in the text.

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2.What can we know about Tabaqui?

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3.Why did Shere Khan come to the jungle?

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4.What did Mother Wolf think of Mowgli?

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