Page 22

The Jungle book

Stealing fire

Mowgli did not wait to hear any more. He carried on running and left the sounds of hunt behind him while he ran into the fields where the villagers lived. "Bagheera spoke the truth," he said to himself as he hid by the window of a farmer's house. "Tomorrow we will find out what happens to Akela and to me." Then he put his face close to the window of the hut and watched the fireplace. In the night he saw the farmer's wife get up and put wood on the fire. The morning came and there was a white, cold mist. Then Mowgli saw the man's child pick up a wooden pot with the inside covered in earth. the child filled the pot with red-hot wood from the fire and put it under his blanket. then he went out to take care of the cows.

"Is that all?" said Mowgli. "If a child can do it, there is nothing to be scared of." So he went round the corner and met the boy, took the pot from him, and disappeared into the mist, leaving the boy frightened boy crying. "The fire is like me," said Mowgli. He blew air into the pot the way he had seen the farmer's wife blow. "It will die if I do not give it things to eat"; So he dropped small bits of wood and dried leaves onto the fire. He had gone half the way up the hill when he met Bagheera.

"Akela has missed his kill," said the panther. "The other wolves wanted to kill him last night, but they wanted you as well. They were looking for you."

Click Me!
Please go on - press the blue button.