Months after Shere Khan was defeated, Mowgli and the rest of the jungle's residents thought the jungle was finally safe with the tiger gone along with Kaa, the python, and King Louie of the Bandar-log. But, rumors grew up about a shadow of Shere Khan, and Kaa had actually survived her confrontation with Mowgli and his friends. Only King Louie was truly vanquished after the ancient ruins were crushed. The Badar-log had moved on since then.
When Mowgli turned 13, and Raksha and her mate, Rama, had finally had their last ever litter of wolf pups, something (or rather someone) old and new was soon fated to cross paths with Mowgli. Grey Brother was an adult wolf, now. Mowgli's wolf brother, who everyone believed would be eaten, finally made it to adulthood, against all odds.
Mowgli had decided to finally go and check out the man-village during the daylight hours, when they didn't need their precious red flower. Mowgli made absolutely sure to still approach the village with complete and total caution. That was the idea, until Mowgli got just near enough to the village without actually seeing it all. He went with Baloo and Bagheera, so they could chaperone him.
But, when they were close enough to the village to hear but not see it, Mowgli was suddenly drawn in by a mysterious, but beautiful singing of some kind. They all headed towards the village where the voice seemed to be coming from. They discovered the source of the voice soon enough. It turned out to be the singing of a strange creature from the village like nothing Mowgli had ever seen before. Mowgli got curious as to what it might've been.
"Hey, Bagheera, Baloo, what's that?" Mowgli asked, pointing to the strange, but alluringly beautiful creature he didn't recognize at all.
"This is the man-village, of course, Little Britches," Baloo told the boy. It was just a little fun the sloth bear was having with Mowgli, but the man-cub was not amused.
"I know we're near the man-village, Baloo. What I wanna know is what that new thing is, over there, singing," Mowgli said, a bit impatient with his sloth bear friend.
"Yeah, you're right, kid. I'm sorry, I was just messing with you, Little Britches. That thing right there is a woman-cub," said Baloo, finally getting serious enough to at least answer Mowgli's original question.
Mowgli was confused by what Baloo called the thing he pointed to. "What's a woman-cub?" Mowgli asked, more confused than informed. "I thought you were gonna give me a straight answer."
Baloo decided he would need Bagheera's help explaining what the sloth bear meant. "Baggie, I think I might need a bit of help explaining this to the kid. So, if you don't mind…" Bagheera knew what Baloo meant by the term he used, but the black panther supposed Mowgli took the bear's word for the creature singing by the river and its bridge as simply more joking around.
So, Bagheera spoke up and helped the poor sloth bear explain his word for the more than beautiful creature, singing from across the river. "Don't tell you've never heard the term used for man's mate, man-cub," he said to the boy who was raised by a wolf pack in the jungle.
Mowgli was still confused. "I won't have to say I've never heard it if you tell me what it is!" the man-cub whispered, though in yelling tone.
Bagheera shushed at Mowgli, reminding him he still had to approach the man-village with caution. "Man's mate is known by man, himself, as a woman, the female of his species," Bagheera explained Baloo's words further as clearly as the big cat could. "This creature singing by the edge of the man-village is a cub-like version of a woman. So, it stands to reason that she is, in fact, a woman-cub."
Mowgli was still slightly confused by this notion, but at least now, the term made a little more sense to him. "Oh, it's a man-cub like me, except a female," Mowgli said, finally putting the pieces of his brain puzzle together.