It was in the early hours of the afternoon, when the sun shone bright on the Wainganga River. The crocodiles basked and Bagheera, the black panther, slept on top of one of the tree branches, while Ikki the porcupine foraged and Chil the kite passed by, observing the ground below. Chil caught sight of a troop of Bandar-log, the monkey people, running and hopping from one tree branch to the next, chattering all sorts of nonsense.

They rudely awoke the panther who angrily snarled and swiped at them. They stopped at a nearby tree, where they looked down to see a tiger resting outside his den with a jackal close by. It was Shere Khan, the top hunter of the Seeonee jungle; or so he should be. With him, slept Tabaqui who was despised by all the jungle people apart from Shere Khan. Chattering and laughing, they grabbed whatever nuts and fruits they could find hanging off the tree and flung them at him.

"Good hunting Lungri, the lame one!" The monkeys cried out as they threw a barrage of nuts, fruits and filth down to the ground. Tabaqui was the first to get up and quickly began to snap and bark at them, jumping around in a crazed manner.

"King of the crippled! Lord of scavengers! Bane of Frogs and Fish!" They cried out, screeching and laughing and still throwing whatever they could get their hands on at the tiger. Shere Khan quickly awoke to the feeling of nuts dropping on his head and roared at the monkeys. He lifted himself up barely by his front paws and slammed one down as his roaring persisted. The monkeys stopped and retreated back to the Cold Lair. Shere Khan calmed himself and then raised himself up fully; his bad leg giving him much discomfort.

"Master, are you alright?" Asked Tabaqui.

"Good hunting, Lungri. Curse you, mother." Shere Khan muttered to himself, limping towards the river to get a quick drink. A herd of Buffalo grazed on the other side of the river, not once cautious over the tiger's presence. They were more scared of the crocodiles and the panther, and would only be scared of any other tiger that did not have to endure a constant limp. They knew they could easily trample him and gore him with their horns, that his lame leg would hamper his speed and agility. Truly a weakling amongst the tiger people of the jungle.

"Do not let the monkeys get to you, Great One." Said Tabaqui, "Thou is greater than they shall ever be. The jackal continued on. His tone usually meant to be irritating and taunting to most, especially the wolves, but not to Shere Khan.

"Greater?" Shere Khan growled, swiftly turning his head to Tabaqui, who jumped upon seeing the tiger's angered glare. "Faugh! If I was truly great, I'd be able to keep up with the deer, bring down the mighty buffalo and be shown respect from even Hathi the elephant. Instead, all I can do is catch frogs and swipe fish from the water, but it hardly satisfies my hunger. I am pitied by the other hunters. Akela's pack, the bears, leopards and pythons all look down on me with sorrow. When they should look at me with fear and respect, for I can kill them with a swipe of my paw."

"Have my pheals not been much help to you, Master?" Tabaqui asked, "I'd call to you whenever I found game."

"Yes, but then those accursed monkey folk alert the deer and they go sprinting away. Oh how thankful I am to come into this world with a useless leg." Said Shere Khan.

"O' my mother, how she looked down on me for my predicament. When I first opened my eyes, all I could see was her hate-filled gaze. When I could finally hear, all I heard was her calling me Lungri, the lame one. My brothers and sisters all tormented me, all their legs worked fine and they'd master their hunting skills. I was forced to scavenge what remains of their catch like a jackal or hyena. They'd fight me till I could barely stand, not like it already hurts to stand." The tiger went on, lifting his bad leg for it grew uncomfortable leaving it on the jungle ground.

"Forget thy siblings and thy mother." Tabaqui barked.

"There's no more Lungri. Only Shere Khan, the Lord of Tigers. Thou are the master of the jungle, the Waingunga river belongs only to you. Not the crocs, or elephants or snakes."

"Can I ask thou of something, Tabaqui?" Shere Khan asked.

"What is it, O' Lord of Tigers?"

"If I am to understand, my friend. Thou are shunned and hated by the jungle because you travel to the village of man by night and feed on the waste they leave behind outside?"

"Yes, master." Tabaqui quickly responded, with no shame in his voice.

"The next time you go, I wish to come along." Said Shere Khan. "I am through with hunting fish and frogs." Tabaqui was shocked by what he heard from the lame tiger.

"But master, fish and frogs are most appetizing for thou then what I dine on in the village–"

"I do not intend to dine like one of the Gidur-log (Jackal people), Tabaqui!" Shere Khan roared, scaring the dish-licking dog. He stared him down with his piercing golden eyes, creeping up towards him–albeit clumsily–and snarling while Tabaqui continued to back away, not once breaking eye contact with Shere Khan.

"There's meat in that village, befitting of a beast as proud and dangerous as me." Shere Khan snarled. He was referring to man's livestock, their goats and pigs, and also their fat cattle which, in truth, he could never stop looking at. Covered by the bushes and trees, he would watch the children of man take the cattle out to the field to graze and then back to the safety of the village. Shere Khan would often watch them tending to their herds, taking them to and fro at the exact same spots. He thought of how fattening they were and how, without a doubt, stupid they were. To be herded by men, and trapped by fences. They'd have nowhere to run, so easy to kill. Sometimes, he wants to know what man tastes like.

"But master, what of the law?" Asked Tabaqui.

"The law? The law! What good is following the law of the jungle if it will leave you to die starving, saddened and alone?"

"I care not for what Baloo and Hathi teach of the law. If I must hunt the men's cattle, then so be it." Shere Khan cried out to Tabaqui.

"Tread carefully, Khan." A soft voice spoke from the trees. Shere Khan and Tabaqui looked up to see Bagheera lying on the branch from which the monkeys threw the nuts and fruits.

"If thou dares to hunt the bulls and goats of man, or man himself. They shall bring their guns and the Red Flower to the jungle and not only thou will suffer, but the whole jungle will as well." Said Bagheera.

"Does thou think that I care, panther?" Shere Khan asked. "For too long, I have allowed myself to suffer because of the jungle's laws! My frog hunting days are done!"

"You are better off hunting frogs and fish. The jungle may be cruel, but man can be far more cruel." Bagheera raised himself up and leaped from one branch to the next, slinking down from another tree and vanishing into the undergrowth.

When night had finally come, Shere Khan journeyed to the village with Tabaqui, ignoring Bagheera's sound advice. The jackal was anxious, worried that his master would be found and shot. However, he tried to put himself at ease by thinking about how filling those cattle would be.

"I'm friends with the dogs in this village." Said Tabaqui, "I'll distract them while you can go steal cattle for thyself." Shere Khan sneaked his way towards the fence; to his delight, the cattle were not alerted to his presence, as if they had never encountered a tiger nearby before.

"How lucky I am, tonight." Shere Khan whispered to himself, he looked around the fence to see which would be best to pick off. Perhaps it would be too soon to try and wrangle the bulls, or even the cows. But maybe one of their calves would suffice. He crept a bit closer, seeing a calf that was far from its mother and close to one of the openings of the fence. Swiftly, he grabbed hold of the calf's throat. What a feeling, he thought to himself as his teeth sunk in deeper and the frightened calf struggled. After it finally dropped dead, he dragged it out and slinked away back to the jungle.

Shere Khan had felt uncomfortable, limping fast back to his den in the Waingunga river, carrying possibly his biggest catch; but his satisfaction was far stronger. He arrived at his turf and went inside his den, still carrying the calf in his bloody maw. Tabaqui arrived shortly after and witnessed the tiger gorging on his catch. The look of pride and happiness on his face, as he defiled the law of the jungle and killed within the man village. Shere Khan had quickly finished his meal and left the scraps to be eaten by Tabaqui while he layed, full and very much pleased.

In the coming weeks, Shere Khan would continue hunting man's livestock and word would quickly spread throughout the jungle. All who pitied him, began to despise him. They all dreaded the day that man would come to the jungle and destroy it whilst they hunted the tiger.

One day at the brink of dusk; Shere Khan was resting outside his den, whilst a hyena fed on the leftovers of a domesticated buffalo he had taken from the village. Shere Khan and the hyena both looked up to see Chil flying around, constantly whistling. The hyena immediately ran off and Kaa the python, who had been resting on a nearby rock at the Waingunga, slithered off into the river and swam away. Suddenly Tabaqui rushed to him, more frightened than usual.

"Speak, Tabaqui!" Shere Khan said.

"Man is coming to the jungle, they're hunting you." Said Tabaqui, rapidly panting. "The dogs…they told me that the village's hunters will go hunting for the tiger that kills their cattle. They found thy tracks leading to the Waingunga!"

"Let them come, I do not fear them."

"Madness! Madness, I tell you! Thou maybe can handle the fat bollocks, Lord of the Tigers, but thou cannot fight against man when they're armed with their guns, their knives and the red flower!" Tabaqui barked.

"Watch thy tone with me, Tabaqui!" Shere Khan snarled back at him. "Man, might have their trinkets and their red flower, but they don't know the jungle like you and I."

"Travel to the river for me they shall, and into my teeth they shall go."

"Killing men? Master, we've both traveled to their village and stolen their bullock but to kill Man?" Tabaqui asked.

"Do not dare to lecture me on the law, scavenger." Shere Khan said. "Hast thou not heard the legends of my ancestor? He would first brought murder to the jungle, earning their stripes and then killing Man. It shall be my right to kill them as it was his." Shere Khan went on, proudly roaring so that all the Jungle people may hear him and so that man would be alerted to his presence. Tabaqui stood by, yet was curious as to how this hunt would end. His crippled master did have a point, he thought to himself. It is a tiger's right to hunt man, more so than the other beasts of the jungle. But all the other tiger people have tried to stray from the legacy their ancestor, the First of the Tigers, had left behind. They have tried to earn back the respect of the Jungle people by hunting the wild buffalo and buck like all the others.

"What has the blood of bollocks done to thy mind, master?" Tabaqui muttered to himself. Shere Khan began to limp away from the river, Tabaqui quickly followed suit for he too heard the rustling of the bushes and could smell the stench of a man. One of the village's hunters had come out to the clearing; he looked down to see the uneven footprints of Shere Khan, and the small tracks of Tabaqui going the same direction.

"That darn jackal who comes to the village at night." The hunter said to himself, "the tiger follows him and proceeds to kill our cattle."

"What good are those dogs if they don't drive the vermin away?"

Chil continued to follow the man and watch from afar, he continued to screech and whistle and all the nearby kites and vultures that would hear him would pass on his information for all the jungle to hear.

"Man has entered the Waingunga, all great crocodiles from the river flee! Stay clear of him and off the lame tiger!" Chil cried out.

"Beware O' Hathi the Silent! The Great rhino herds! All noble hunters, beware!" Chil continued on. The wolves rushed back to their dens, and the hyenas and badgers scurried off into their burrows. Bagheera observed and listened from the trees, as did the other leopards. Even the long-toothed clouded leopards took shelter up in the trees. The hunter continued wandering the jungle, unaware that Shere Khan was hiding in the bushes, following him. Only Chil noticed as he had been following the hunter all this time, and saw Shere Khan closeby. Shere Khan had to play it smart, the man was armed with a rifle and holding a flaming torch. He dare not risk getting shot and burned by the red flower. The man stopped in his tracks and the tiger followed suit, silent and still as ever, waiting for the right opportunity to tackle him.

When at last his back was turned, Shere Khan creeped up and leaped at the hunter; biting down on his throat. It didn't take long for the man to die from one powerful bite to his neck. His body laid stiff and void of life, with Shere Khan standing over him triumphantly, intoxicated by the taste of man's blood. Chil saw this heinous crime occur and to his horror had to cry out the tragic news.

"The hunter is no more! Shere Khan has killed Man! Shere Khan has broken the law of the jungle!" Chil said and the whole jungle went silent from the shock and fear. No one has broken such a law since the day the first tiger got his stripes. Shere Khan, the lame tiger, who could only catch frogs and fish and never the large buffalo, has killed man.

Since that incident, Shere Khan would never stop killing men. When he did not have a craving for their cattle, he'd kill a man, or even their children and disappear back to the Waingunga with his prey. All the animals in the jungle grew fearful that man would destroy their beautiful home in retaliation, and none but the jackals and the hyenas could tolerate Shere Khan's presence any longer. Bagheera, who tried his best to persuade Shere Khan from breaking the jungle's laws, waits for the day that he would be killed and all the people could be at peace once more.

Since then when they would see Shere Khan limping closeby with Tabaqui tagging along, they knew an unlawful killing would occur. "Indeed we are thankful for Shere Khan." is what they would think to themselves.