Now we must wait for ten or eleven whole years. In those years Mowgli had a wonderful life with the wolves. We can't tell you all about it, because this would fill very many books. Mowgli grew up with the cubs, but of course, the cubs were grown-up wolves while Mowgli was still a very young child.

And Father Wolf taught him his business, which was the meaning of things in the jungle. Mowgli understood every sound in the grass in the warm night wind, every sound of the owls above his head, every noise of a bat in a tree, and every splash of a little fish jumping in the water. He understood these things just as much as a business man understands the work in his office. When Mowgli was not learning, he sat out in the sun and slept, and ate and went to sleep again.

When he felt dirty or hot he swam in the river. Baloo told him that honey and nuts were just as good to eat as meat, so he climbed trees to get honey. Bagheera showed Mowgli how to climb. Sometimes Bagheera lay on a branch and called, "Come along, Little Brother." At first Mowgli was afraid to climb very high, but later he went through the branches almost as easily as a monkey.