The Jungle Book(My Version): Chapter 1
By: jungleboy69
Chapter 1: The Man-Cub
Thissss issss the hour of peace...
The hour of waiting...
The hour of dawn...
I am the eyessss of the jungle...
I have ssssseen the past life of the jungle...
I have ssssseen darknesssss and chaossss spread through the jungle...
Along, I have witnessssed the coming of... Man...
The jungles of India were as ancient as the Earth itself; its seasons came and went, the leaves turned from green to brown and back to green again. The changing shape of the moon shone its light down from the night sky.
There were old temples crumbled and cracked with age, remnants of great cities now deserted and their walls covered with vines and creepers. Never has there been a single temple built in the heart of the jungle, until the arrival of Man.
"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
A piercing cry broke the silence of the jungle. Shouts and screams were heard along with the sound of gunfire and horses whinnying in fear. British Soldiers dressed in red uniform and wielding long rifles were firing at something while other men were running away in fear.
One British soldier turned to his wife, a lovely Hindu woman who was clutching hold on a little baby in her arms. "Save yourselves!" He called. "Take our son and run!" "What about you?!" His Hindu wife asked.
"Forget about me!" He ordered. "GO NOW!" The terrified woman had no choice but to turn and run, the sounds of gunfire echoing behind her. She clutched onto her baby tightly to her, not even daring to look back.
"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHH!"
The sound of her husband screaming made her blood run cold, and tears well up in her eyes. She couldn't mourn yet, she had to escape with her son. Suddenly, she tripped and fell to her hands and knees, while still clutching hold to her baby.
"GGGGGRRROOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!"
Savage roars and growls were heard. Desperately, the woman crawled to the side of a tree where a fallen, huge old tree branch lay next to it. She carefully placed her baby inside a hole in the branch before removing a golden locket around her neck, placing it around her son's neck.
"Be safe, my son..." She whispered. "May the gods protect you." She kissed her baby on the forehead before turning around to run and hide in some bushes. Suddenly, a huge creature with dark orange skin and black stripes jumped out in front of her, startling the poor woman that she fell backwards.
The woman looked up in terror at the savage beast with blood dripping from its jaws and its sharp, white teeth while its yellow eyes gleaming at her with a soul of darkness and vengeance. It crawled towards her, teasing her, torturing her as her life was slowly slipping away.
The poor woman could only scream as the beast lunged at her with a roar, and her cries echoed one final time into the jungle.
I have sssseeen the Tiger, Khan
Killing Man...
Breaking the Jungle's most sssssacred Law...
(Some time later...)
The sky was lit up by the glow of the setting sun and its light shone on a brown-furred Indian Wolf, arousing him from his sleep. The Wolf yawned and stretched his legs and paws. He sniffed the cool night air before he stood up.
He turned and entered his den to find his mate, a tan-furred she-wolf and his four cubs tussling and play-fighting. The She-Wolf looked and smiled at her mate. "Vihaan..." She murmured as her mate approached her, nuzzling her affectionately.
"Our cubs are growing strong." She added. "Indeed, they are, Raksha." Vihaan added. "It makes my heart swell with pride, knowing that one day, they will join with me and the pack on the hunt." The wolves chuckled as they watched the cubs playing with one another.
"GGGGGGRRRRRROOOOOAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
A loud roar echoed throughout the jungle, causing the Wolf family to freeze and the parents to look over at the direction of the roar. "What is it?" Raksha asked. Vihaan stepped outside, his ears pricked up. The roar sounded once more and there was no denying who it belonged to.
"Khan..." Vihaan snarled, no hiding his distate for the Tiger. Raksha joined her mate outside. "Shere Khan..." She added. "What is that lame butcher doing her in the Wolves' Domain?" "What else..." Her mate replied. "He has come to kill man's cattle."
"GGGGGGRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
The Tiger's roar filled the air once more. "Pathetic..." Vihaan grumbled. "How can anyone begin a night's hunt with that noise?" Raksha listened quietly as the Tiger roared and snarled. "No..." She whispered. "Khan is not hunting cattle tonight...He is hunting Man..."
"Man?!" Vihaan snarled. "Aren't the beetles and jungle frogs good enough for him?!" "Of all the jungle creatures in the world, why must he eat Man?!" He demanded. According to the Law of the Jungle, hunting Man is forbidden as it will bring more men into the jungle, seeking revenge.
*Rustle...*
The sound of something rustling caught their attention. The two wolves heard something walking through the undergrowth before them. "Something is coming this way..." Raksha whispered. Vihaan growled and crouched low, ready to spring at whatever who try to harm his family.
Raksha sniffed the air and caught a strange scent. "Vihaan, wait!" She called. Vihaan flinched and turned to his mate in shock. "Raksha, what is it?" He asked. "It's...It's not a tiger..." Raksha replied. "It's..."
Suddenly, she gasped. "My love, look!" Vihaan turned to the direction his mate was looking and gasped in shock. Crawling towards them on its hands and knees, was a baby. A naked light-skinned baby boy with blue eyes, covered in blood and wearing a strange golden chain around its neck.
"It's...a man-cub!" Vihaan gasped. The baby looked at the two wolves staring at him and smiled. Gurgling, it waved one of its chubby hands and laughed. Raksha, for some strange reason, approached the baby, sniffing it gently.
The baby cooed, reaching out to touch the She-Wolf's nose. Raksha growled softly but the baby was not frightened a bit. The baby giggled, stroking the She-Wolf's nose gently. Raksha was surprised but chuckled at this strange and unusual creature.
Vihaan joined his mate too, approaching the man-cub with curiosity. "Is it hurt?" He asked gently. Raksha lowered her head and gently licked the dark-red blood on the baby's belly. Once it was clean, they could see no scars, cuts or wounds on the child.
"I never seen a man-cub before." Vihaan spoke out. "It looks so...hairless." The baby then reached for Raksha's paw and hugged it. The She-Wolf laughed. "Look at him, he doesn't fear us." She pointed out.
"W-What do we do with it?" Vihaan asked. Before Raksha could answer, a trembling step came rushing down from the green bushes of the jungle. Vihaan and Raksha turned to the source, growling.
Instead, a scraggly striped hyena emerged from the bushes, its mouth and chin covered with blood and files swarming around its head. It was Tabaqui, the Dish Licker. "Evening, Raksha." Tabaqui snickered. "Vihaan, it's a lovely night, isn't it?"
"What is it that you want, Tabaqui?" Vihaan snarled. The four cubs who had been watching the whole scene, retreated back into the cave. "What's that I smell?" Tabaqui asked, sniffing. "Fresh kill?"
"If it's bones or scraps you want, look else where." Raksha snapped. "We've got enough mouths to feed." Tabaqui looked into the den to see the four cubs huddled together. "I mean no harm, Raksha." The Hyena snickered, lowering his head. "I just came to bring you news about Shere Khan."
Vihaan growled. "We are aware your master has moved into our domain." He snapped. "But, we will not have you here." "Go back to your village rubbish heaps." He added. "There's plenty of scraps for you there."
Abruptly, a giggling sound was heard and the man-cub crawled from behind Raksha. Tabaqui's eyes widened in delight when he saw the man-cub and he snickered louder. Just before he was about to ask about the man-cub, a roar sounded out.
"GGGGGGRRRROOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"Your master calls. You best move quickly." Raksha snarled. "He sounds ill-tempered tonight." "That he does, that he does..." Tabaqui snickered, before he eyed at the man-cub. "And with good reason."
With that, the Hyena rushed off, leaving behind a trail of dust. "I found the man-cub!" He shrieked with glee. "I found the man-cub!" The two wolves watched him leave while the man-cub crawled into the cave, after the wolf cubs.
The wolf cubs were sniffing around the baby boy, one in particular, a whitish-gray cub with black streaks on its face was sniffing at his face. The man-cub giggled and reached out with his chubby hands.
Raksha and Vihaan couldn't help but smile when their four cubs began to play with the baby. "Look how friendly he is to the cubs." Raksha giggled. "He's so small, yet he is not afraid." Vihaan added. "I could easily kill him with a swat of my paw."
Suddenly, a scrapping sound was heard outside the cave like the scrapping of a blade and a low growling sound was heard. Raksha and Vihaan tensed. "It's him..." Vihaan snarled. Sure enough, the burnt-orange coated, black-striped scarred face of Shere Khan, his amber eyes glowing like molten-fire, poked his head into the cave.
The two wolves turned to face the Tiger. "You do us great honor with your uninvited visit." Vihaan snarled, not bothering to hide his distate. "What do you want?" "My quarry..." Shere Khan spoke in a deep bestial baritone voice. "I came for the man-cub. Hand him over!"
Shere-Khan swiped at the wolves with his lame paw. "If you want him, come in and take him yourself!" Vihaan taunted, knowing the cave was too narrow for the Tiger to enter. Raksha stood in front of her cubs and the man-cub defensively and the two wolves snarled in defiance.
"I want the man-cub!" Shere Khan roared, filling the cave with thunder. "He is mine!" "This is our domain, Tiger." Vihaan snarled back. "We only obey Akela, our leader and not a striped cattle butcher like you!" "The man-cub is a part of my family!" He declared. "We will decide what happens to it!"
"His parents are gone..." The Tiger snarled. "He has no family. It is my right!" His lips curled into a bloodthirsty grin. "Unless you want one of your cubs to become my dinner." The wolf-cubs backed away deeper into the cave, whining loudly.
"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN MY CUBS!" Raksha roared, leaping in front of the Tiger. "I, Raksha, the Demon defy you!" She yelled. "The man-cub is mine. Mine to me. He will not be killed." "He will learn to run and hunt with the pack as my own child!" She declared. "And when he grows up, Lungri, he will the one who hunts you!"
The Tiger growled at the threat. Even Vihaan and Tabaqui were shocked by Raksha's ferocity. "We'll see what your pack will say about this, you dog-tailed thieves!" Shere-Khan snarled. "You'll poison the jungle, keeping that man-cub!" With that, Shere Khan slowly walked away, with Tabaqui close behind, giggling.
Raksha sighed and laid back down with her cubs, including the human baby and began to nurse them. "You know, part of what Shere Khan says is true." Vihaan pointed out. "We have to show the man-cub to the pack and it won't be easy." "Do you really want to keep him?" He asked.
Raksha nodded firmly. "Of course I do." She replied. "This poor child came to us, alone and hungry but he was not afraid. I love him as any mother would love her child." "One day, he will hunt Shere Khan." she added. "Just as that Tiger hunted him."
Vihaan looked worried. "What will the pack say?" He asked. According to the Law of the Jungle, the Pack protected young cubs until they were old enough to join the hunt but the Pack was unlikely to protect a man-cub. "We'll deal with that later." Raksha replied firmly before licking the man-cub's head.
Vihaan nodded. "Very well, my love." He complied. "But first, we should give the man-cub a name." He added as the human baby jumped after drinking and he burped. "He sounds and hops just like a little frog." Raksha laughed a bit. "Wait...a little frog...Mowgli. That's what we'll name him." She added in delight and Vihaan simply licked Mowgli's cheek.
"All right then, 'Mowgli' it is." Vihaan replied. "Welcome to the pack, Mowgli...our naked Little Frog. You'll make a fine wolf someday." He added with a fatherly tone of voice. Mowgli laughed innocently; he knew nothing about the adventures he would have in the Jungle. Would the pack accept him?