THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE1 RUDYARD KIPLING Rudyard Kipling (1865- ), one of the most brilliant writers of the nineteenth century, was born in India. He began writing stories and poems when quite young for the Military Gazette in India. His stories of life in India, his Jungle Books, and his poem the Recessional have won for him world-wide reputation. See also: Halleck's New English Literature, pp. 568-576, 586. Canby's The Short Story in English. a JUST to give you an idea of the immense variety of the Jungle Law, I have translated into verse (Baloo 2 always recited them in a sort of singsong) a few of the laws that apply to the wolves. There are, of course, hundreds and hundreds more, but these will do for specimens of the simpler rulings. Now this is the Law of the Jungle as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. 1 From The Second Jungle Book. Used by special arrangement with Rudyard Kipling and the Century Company. 2 The brown bear who taught the wolf cubs the Law of the Jungle. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk the Law runneth forward and back For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. Wash daily from nose tip to tail tip; drink deeply, but never too deep; And remember the night is for hunting, and forget not the day is for sleep. The Jackal may follow the Tiger, but, Cub, when thy whiskers Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle - the Tiger, the Panther, the Bear; And trouble not Hathi1 the Silent, and mock not the Boar in his lair. When Pack meets with Pack in the Jungle, and neither will go from the trail, Lie down till the leaders have spoken - it may be fair words shall prevail. When ye fight with a Wolf of the Pack, ye must fight him alone and afar, Lest others take part in the quarrel, and the Pack be diminished by war. The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him his home, Not even the Head Wolf may enter, not even the Council may come. 1 The wild elephant. The Lair of the Wolf is his refuge, but where he has digged it too plain, The Council shall send him a message, and so he shall change it again. If ye kill before midnight, be silent, and wake not the woods with your bay, Lest ye frighten the deer from the crops, and the brothers go empty away. Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need, and ye can; But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill Man. If ye plunder his Kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride; Pack-Right is the right of the meanest; so leave him the head and the hide. The Kill of the Pack is the meat of the Pack. Ye must eat where it lies; And no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies. The Kill of the Wolf is the meat of the Wolf. He may do what he will, But, till he has given permission, the Pack may not eat of that Kill. Cub-Right is the right of the Yearling. From all of his Pack he may claim Full-gorge when the killer has eaten; and none may refuse him the same. Lair-Right is the right of the Mother. From all of her year she may claim One haunch of each kill for her litter, and none may deny her the same. Cave-Right is the right of the Father - to hunt by himself for his own: He is freed of all calls to the Pack; he is judged by the Council alone. Because of his age and his cunning, because of his grip and his paw, In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of the Head Wolf is Law. Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they; But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is Obey! STUDY HINTS What constitutes good citizenship among wolves? Among men? What are the individual rights of the wolf? The pack rights? How does the pack protect its young? Does this affect its own existence? Upon what foundation do the laws of the jungle rest? The laws of man? SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS Gunga Din. Rudyard Kipling. Oonts! Rudyard Kipling. The Overland Mail. Rudyard Kipling. Tommy. Rudyard Kipling. The Ballad of East and West. Rudyard Kipling. Recessional. Rudyard Kipling. The Jungle Books. Rudyard Kipling. GULLIVER'S FIRST DINNER AT BROBDINGNAG JONATHAN SWIFT Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), a clergyman and great eighteenthcentury prose writer, was born of English parents in Dublin. Gulliver's Travels (1726), his best-known book, is interesting to young and old, for the hero has remarkable experiences, especially in Lilliput, where the men are six inches tall, and in Brobdingnag, where they grow to a height of sixty feet. See also: Halleck's New English Literature, pp. 276-284, 302. Leslie Stephen's Swift. Thackeray's English Humorists (Swift). It was about twelve at noon, and a servant brought in dinner. It was only one substantial dish of meat (fit for the plain condition of an husband man) in a dish of about four and twenty feet diameter. The com : pany were the farmer and his wife, three children, and an old grandmother when they were sat down, the farmer placed me at some distance from him on the table, which was thirty feet high from the floor. I was in a terrible fright, and kept as far as I could from the edge for fear of falling. The wife minced a bit of meat, then crumbled some bread on a trencher, and placed it before me. took out my knife and fork, and fell to eat, which gave them I made her a low bow, |