"I went to the ploughed lands. I am ready. Look!" Mowgli held up the fire-pot.

"Good! Now, I have seen men push a dry branch into the Red Flower, and soon the Red Flower grew at the end of the branch. Are you not afraid of it?"

"No. Why should I be scared? I remember now - if it is not a dream - once, before I was a Wolf, I lay beside the Red Flower, and it was warm and pleasant." All that day Mowgli sat in the cave looking after his fire and pushing dry branches into it to see how they looked. He found a branch that satisfied him, and he kept it. In the evening when Tabaqui came to the cave and told him rudely that he was wanted at the Council Rock. Mowgli laughed till Tabaqui ran away. Then Mowgli went to the Council, still laughing.

Akela the Lone Wolf lay by the side of his rock as a sign that the leadership of the Pack was open, and Shere Khan with his following walked about being flattered by wolves who were a bit scared of them. Bagheera lay close to Mowgli, and the fire pot was between Mowgli's knees. When they were all gathered together, Shere Khan began to speak - a thing he would never have dared to do when Akela was still strong.