Shere Khan required help. There were hunters in the jungle and he was trapped.
The deforestation of the jungle meant there were isolated patches and he was stuck in one.
Shere Khan was no longer the imperious tiger of old. He was ancient, a fossil.
The older animals still steered clear of him because his reputation still preceded him.
The younger ones saw him, however, more as a figure of fun.
Baghchen felt the whisper more than heard it. "I need your assistance", it said.
"Please bring Mowgli to me". Baghchen was not afraid but still it was disturbing that Shere Kahn would want her help and, more importantly, that of the 'man cub'.
Baghchen could speak to Mowgli, she'd learnt that from her father. She would do it because she knew her father would have.
Mowgli was now a man – his jungle adventures a lifetime away. But even now he occasionally felt the draw of the jungle. It was on one such trip that he met Baghchen. He knew she wanted him to follow her. He trusted her now as much as he had her father.
Mowgli looked at Shere Kahn – he still felt fear but also compassion. They had all come a long way. The world had changed.
Mowgli also knew of the hunters. He'd tried to dissuade them from coming but he knew that other villagers would have told of the tiger trapped in the small jungle glade.
He had a plan that meant he, in turn, would need help from the elephants.
Mowgli's elephant friend was now leader of a group of bachelor elephants.
When Mowgli appeared from the brush, his eyes only confirmed what he had smelt with his trunk, Mowgli was not alone –he had companions: a tiger and a panther.
All trusted Mowgli – they would do what was required.
Mowgli got Shere Kahn to roll in the grey mud. Mowgli attached to Shere Khan's ears large leaves he had previously rolled in the mud. He then tied his tail undrr his body. When the elephants set off across the open ground, Shere Khan was mostly hidden between their bodies. With the dust being kicked up, Mowgli was hoping that to the casual observer, Shere Kahn would look like a small, slightly emaciated, baby elephant.
The plan was working, then disaster. A brief rainstorm meant the dry mud was now wet. Shere Khan was now a dull brown and worse his stripes were starting to show.
The hunter started. Instinct took over. The rifle slowly rose to his shoulder.
But Shere Khan now had friends. Kaa, who slyly had been following events from a distance, was on the branch of a tree above the hunter and so was able to swing a coil of his body at the hunter . The hunter staggered but then swung his rifle dragging Kaa from the tree. The hunter raised his rifle butt to strike but suddenly a young panther was snarling at his feet. Kaa took this chance of swiping the rifle from the hunter's grasp. The hunter recoiled and ran back to the safety of his vehicle.
When catching his breath, the hunter tried to assimilate what he'd seen – surely not. It could not have been the sight of a boy and a tiger hugging at the edge of the jungle before separating to go their own separate ways.