——Maxims of BalooAll that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was turned out of the Seeonee Wolf Pack, or revenged himself on Shere Khan the tiger. It was in the days when Baloo was teaching him the Law of the Jungle. The big, serious, old brown bear was delighted to have so quick a pupil, for the young wolves will only learn as much of the Law of the Jungle as applies to their own pack and tribe, and run away as soon as they can repeat the Hunting Verse –“Feet that make no noise; eyes that can see in the dark; ears that can hear the winds in their lairs, and sharp white teeth,all these things are the marks of our brothers except Tabaqui the Jackal andthe Hyaena whom we hate.” But Mowgli, as a man-cub, had to learn agreat deal more than this. Sometimes Bagheera the Black Panther wouldcome lounging through the jungle to see how his pet was getting on, andwould purr with his head against a tree while Mowgli recited the day"slesson to Baloo. The boy could climb almost as well as he could swim,and swim almost as well as he could run. So Baloo, the Teacher of theLaw, taught him the Wood and Water Laws: how to tell a rotten branchfrom a sound one; how to speak politely to the wild bees when he cameupon a hive of them fifty feet above ground; what to say to Mang the Batwhen he disturbed him in the branches at midday; and how to warn thewater-snakes in the pools before he splashed down among them. Noneof the Jungle People like being disturbed, and all are very ready to fly at anintruder.Then, too, Mowgli was taught the Strangers" Hunting Call, whichmust be repeated aloud till it is answered, whenever one of the Jungle-People hunts outside his own grounds. It means, translated, “Give meleave to hunt here because I am hungry.” And the answer is, “Huntthen for food, but not for pleasure.”
All this will show you how much Mowgli had to learn by heart,andhe grew very tired of saying the same thing over a hundred times. But, asBaloo said to Bagheera, one day when Mowgli had been cuffed and run offin a temper, “A man"s cub is a man"s cub, and he must learn all the Law ofthe Jungle.”
“But think how small he is,” said the Black Panther, who wouldhave spoiled Mowgli if he had had his own way. “How can his littlehead carry all your long talk？”
“Is there anything in the jungle too little to be killed？ No.That iswhy I teach him these things, and that is why I hit him,very softly, when he forgets.”
“Softly！ What dost you know of softness, old Iron-feet？”
Bagheera grunted. “His face is all bruised today by your ——softness.Ugh.”
“Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who lovehim than that he should come to harm through ignorance,” Balooanswered very earnestly.“I am now teaching him the Master Words of theJungle that shall protect him with the birds and the Snake People, and allthat hunt on four feet, except his own pack. He can now claim protection,if he will only remember the words, from all in the jungle. Is not thatworth a little beating？”
“Well, look to it then that you dost not kill the man-cub.He is notree trunk to sharpen your blunt claws upon. But what are those MasterWords？ I am more likely to give help than to ask it”——Bagheerastretched out one paw and admired the steel-blue,ripping-chisel talons atthe end of it——“still I should like to know.”
“I will call Mowgli and he shall say them——if he will Come,Little Brother！”
“My head is ringing like a bee tree,” said a sullen little voice overtheir heads, and Mowgli slid down a tree trunk very angry and indignant,adding as he reached the ground: “I come for Bagheera and not for you,fat old Baloo！”
“That is all one to me,” said Baloo, though he was hurt andgrieved. “Tell Bagheera, then, the Master Words of the Jungle that Ihave taught you this day.”
“Master Words for which people？” said Mowgli, delighted toshow off. “The jungle has many tongues.I know them all.”
“A little you knowest, but not much..See, O Bagheera, theynever thank their teacher. Not one small wolfling has ever come back to thank old Baloo for his teachings. Say the word for the Hunting-People, then——great scholar.”
“We be of one blood, you and I,” said Mowgli, giving the words the Bear accent which all the Hunting People use.
“Good. Now for the birds.”
Mowgli repeated, with the Kite"s whistle at the end of the sentence.
“Now for the Snake-People,” said Bagheera.
The answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss, and Mowgli kicked up his feet behind, clapped his hands together to applaud himself, and jumped on to Bagheera"s back, where he sat sideways,drumming with his heels on the glossy skin and making the worst faces he could think of at Baloo.
“There——there！ That was worth a little bruise,” said the brown bear tenderly. “Some day you wilt remember me.” Then he turned aside to tell Bagheera how he had begged the Master Words from Hathi the Wild Elephant, who knows all about these things, and how Hathi had taken Mowgli down to a pool to get the Snake Word from a water-snake, because Baloo could not pronounce it, and how Mowgli was now reasonably safe against all accidents in the jungle, because neither snake, bird, nor beast would hurt him.
“No one then is to be feared.” Baloo wound up, patting his big furry stomach with pride.
“Except his own tribe,” said Bagheera, under his breath; and then aloud to Mowgli, “Have a care for my ribs, Little Brother！ What is all this dancing up and down？”
Mowgli had been trying to make himself heard by pulling at Bagheera"s shoulder fur and kicking hard. When the two listened to him he was shouting at the top of his voice, “And so I shall have a tribe of my own, and lead them through the branches all day long.”
“What is this new folly, little dreamer of dreams？” said Bagheera.
“Yes, and throw branches and dirt at old Baloo,” Mowgli wenton. “They have promised me this. Ah！”
“Whoof！” Baloo"s big paw scooped Mowgli off Bagheera"sback,and as the boy lay between the big fore-paws he could see the Bearwas angry.
“Mowgli,” said Baloo, “you hast been talking with the Bandar-log——the Monkey People.”
Mowgli looked at Bagheera to see if the Panther was angry too, andBagheera"s eyes were as hard as jade stones.
“You hast been with the Monkey People——the gray apes——thepeople without a law——the eaters of everything. That is great shame.”
