Читать книгу Stories from The Jungle Book / Книга Джунглей - Редьярд Киплинг - Страница 2

It was late afternoon. Father Wolf awoke from his sleep, yawned and stretched his legs. He pushed out his claws and looked at them. They were sharp and clean. It was time to go hunting for food. Mother Wolf sat watching her four cubs playing and rumbling around her.

Suddenly, her ears stood up and she stretched her neck. She could hear the leaves of a bush rustling.

She asked Father Wolf, “What is there?”

Father Wolf went to the mouth of the cave and looked out. From between the leaves, he could see a naked baby boy crawling towards the cave, laughing and shaking his curly head.

“Why, it’s a man-cub!” he exclaimed.

“A man-cub? Bring him here. I have never seen a man-cub before,” said Mother Wolf.

Father Wolf gently picked up the child by the neck with his teeth. This was the way he carried his own cubs. He put the child in front of her. There were no teeth marks on the child’s neck. The child did not struggle. He allowed Father Wolf to carry him. He was not afraid.

“He has no hair! He is naked!” exclaimed Mother Wolf. “Look at him. He is not afraid! He is pushing my cubs away to get my milk!”

Suddenly they heard Shere Khan’s growl outside the cave.

“What do you want?” asked Father Wolf.

“The man-cub,” Shere Khan answered. “I saw him crawl this way.”

“Go away. He is ours.”

“He is mine. Give him to me.”

Mother Wolf sprang up.

“The man-cub is mine. He will live with us,” she said. “He shall not be killed. One day he will hunt and kill you.”

Shere Khan knew she would not give him the man-cub, and the cave was too small for him to get into and take the cub away.

He turned to go, but growled before he went saying, “He will be mine one day.”

Mother Wolf looked at the child fondly.

“I’ll name him Mowgli. He is such a happy man-cub. Look at him playing with our cubs!”

Mowgli crawled up to her and lay down at her side. Mother Wolf smiled and put her paw over him.