An 1894
book by Rudyard Kipling containing three stories about Mowgli and four other animal stories including Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the tale of a heroic mongoose.
Followed in 1895 by The Second Jungle
Book which contains five more stories about Mowgli and three others.
In 1992 American author Pamela Jekel wrote The Third Jungle
Book which has ten
new stories about Mowgli.
The Mowgli stories by Kipling have been adapted for film and TV several times as The Jungle
Book. The most famous is Disney's 1967 cartoon version, but it basically ignores Kipling's story and chucks in a load of songs.
Excerpt from "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" in The Jungle
Book:
Then he jumped. The head was lying a little clear of the
water jar, under the curve of it; and, as his teeth met, Rikki braced his back against the bulge of the red earthenware to hold down the head. This gave him just one second’s purchase, and he made the most of it. Then he was battered to and fro as a rat is shaken by a
dog--to and fro on the floor, up and down, and around in great circles, but his eyes were red and he held on as the body
cart-
whipped over the floor, upsetting the tin dipper and the soap
dish and the flesh brush, and banged against the tin side of the bath. As he held he closed his jaws tighter and tighter, for he was sure he would be banged to
death, and, for the honour of his family, he preferred to be found with his teeth locked. He was
dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him. A
hot wind knocked him senseless and red fire singed his fur. The big man had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a shotgun into Nag just behind the hood.
Rikki-tikki held on with his eyes shut, for now he was quite sure he was dead. But the head did not move, and the big man picked him up and said, “It’s the mongoose again, Alice. The little
chap has saved our lives now.”
