"Come into the cave, and look," but there is no food here." said Father Wolf. He was not happy to see Tabaqui, but he was polite.

Tabaqui said "I am a poor person, and not important. For me, a bone with no meat is enough. We are jackals. We eat food when we can find it. We do not look for the best food." He went quickly to the back of the cave. He found an old bone there. He was happy to find the bone, and he started to eat it. "Thank you very much for this good meal," he said, licking his lips. "Your children are very beautiful! And they have such large eyes! And they are so young too! But now I remember, they are the children of kings."

Now, Tabaqui knew well that it is very unlucky as to say nice things about children while they are there. It pleased him to make Mother and Father Wolf uncomfortable. Tabaqui sat still, pleased with the trouble that he had caused. Then he remembered something else that would upset the wolves: "Shere Khan, the Big One, has changed the place where he hunts. He will hunt in these hills for the next month. He told me." Shere Khan was the tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty miles away.