The complete Jungle Book, having passed into the public domain, is on-line at Project Gutenberg's official website.
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The Jungle Book |
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Published in 1894.
This is a summary of the stories in The Jungle Book.
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Mowgli's Brothers |
A boy is raised by wolves in the Indian Jungle with the help of Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther, and then has to fight the tiger Shere Khan. This story has also been published as a short book in its own right. Night-Song in the Jungle
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Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack |
a short poetic piece.
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Kaa's Hunting | This story takes place before Mowgli fights Shere Khan. When Mowgli is abducted by monkeys, Baloo and Bagheera set out to rescue him with the aid of Chil the Kite and Kaa the python. Maxims of Baloo. | |
Road Song of the Bandar-Log: |
a Poetic song | |
Tiger! Tiger! | Mowgli returns to the human village and is adopted by Messua and her husband who believe him to be their long-lost son Nathoo. But he has trouble adjusting to human life, and Shere Khan still wants to kill him. The story's title is taken from the poem "The Tyger" by William Blake. | |
Mowgli's Song | Mowgli's joyous song at Council Rock after beating Shere Khan. | |
The White Seal | ** | Kotick, a rare white-furred seal, searches for a new home for his people, where they will not be hunted by humans. |
Lukannon | ** | The song that the seals sing when they are heading back to their beaches in the summer. |
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi | ** | Rikki-Tikki the mongoose defends a human family living in India against a pair of cobras. This story has also been published as a short book. |
Darzee's Chant | ** | A song/chant in honour of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. |
Toomai of the Elephants | ** | Toomai, a ten-year old boy who helps to tend working elephants, is told that he will never be a full-fledged elephant-handler until he has seen the elephants dance. This story has also been published as a short book. |
Shiv and the Grasshopper | ** | The song that Toomai's mother sang to the baby. |
Her Majesty's Servants | ** | On the night before a military parade a British soldier eavesdrops on a conversation between the camp animals. (originally titled "Servants of the Queen") |
Parade-Song of the Camp Animals |
** | These verses are parodies of several well-known songs and poems of the time. |
The Second Jungle BookPublished in 1895. (also at Project Gutenberg's official website) |
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How Fear Came | During a drought, Mowgli and the animals gather at a shrunken river for a 'water truce', during which Hathi the elephant tells the story of how the first tiger got his stripes. This story can be seen as a forerunner of the Just So Stories. | |
Law of the Jungle | A poem covering a few of the laws of the jungle that apply to the wolves, written in Baloo's sing-song style. | |
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat |
** | An influential Indian politician abandons his worldly goods to become an ascetic holy man. Later he must save a village from a landslide with the help of the local animals. |
Letting In the Jungle | Mowgli has been driven out of the human village for witchcraft, and the superstitious villagers are preparing to kill his adopted parents Messua and her (unnamed) husband. Mowgli rescues them and then prepares to take revenge. | |
The Undertakers | ** | A crocodile, a jackal and an adjutant crane, three of the most unpleasant characters on the river, spend an afternoon bickering with each other until some Englishmen arrive to settle some unfinished business with the crocodile. |
The King's Ankus | Mowgli discovers a jewelled object which he later discards carelessly, not realising that men will kill each other to possess it. Note: some editions inadvertently omit the final part of this story, in which Mowgli returns the treasure to its hiding-place to prevent further killings. | |
Quiquern | ** | A young Inuit hunter and his sled dog set out across the arctic ice on a desperate hunt for food to save their tribe from starvation, guided by the mysterious animal-spirit Quiquern. But Quiquern may not be what it seems.... |
Red Dog | Mowgli's wolfpack is threatened by a pack of rampaging dhole. Mowgli asks Kaa the python to help him formulate a plan to defeat them. | |
The Spring Running | Mowgli, now almost seventeen years old, is growing restless for reasons he cannot understand. On an aimless run through the jungle he stumbles across the village where his adopted mother Messua is now living with her two-year old son, and is torn between staying with her and returning to the jungle. | |
The Third Jungle Book This is a collection of stories about Mowgli and the jungle animals, written by Pamela Jekel & published in 1992.
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