The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by English author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–94. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six years of his childhood there. After about ten years in England, he went back to India and worked there for about six-and-a-half years. These stories were written when Kipling lived in Vermont.[1] There is evidence that it was written for his daughter Josephine, who died in 1899 aged six, after a rare first edition of the book with a poignant handwritten note by the author to his young daughter was discovered at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire in 2010.[2]

The tales in the book (and also those in The Second Jungle Book which followed in 1895, and which includes five further stories about Mowgli) are fables, using animals in an anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. The verses of The Law of the Jungle, for example, lay down rules for the safety of individuals, families and communities. Kipling put in them nearly everything he knew or "heard or dreamed about the Indian jungle."[3] Other readers have interpreted the work as allegories of the politics and society of the time.[4] The best-known of them are the three stories revolving around the adventures of an abandoned "man cub" Mowgli who is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. The most famous of the other stories are probably "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", the story of a heroic mongoose, and "Toomai of the Elephants", the tale of a young elephant-handler. As with much of Kipling's work, each of the stories is preceded by a piece of verse, and succeeded by another.

The Jungle Book, because of its moral tone, came to be used as a motivational book by the Cub Scouts, a junior element of the Scouting movement. This use of the book's universe was approved by Kipling after a direct petition of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, who had originally asked for the author's permission for the use of the Memory Game from Kim in his scheme to develop the morale and fitness of working-class youths in cities. Akela, the head wolf in The Jungle Book, has become a senior figure in the movement, the name being traditionally adopted by the leader of each Cub Scout pack.

Chapters

The complete book, having passed into the public domain, is on-line at Project Gutenberg's official website and elsewhere. Each of the even-numbered items below is an epigrammatic poem related to the previous story.

"Mowgli's Brothers": A boy is raised by wolves in the Indian Jungle with the help of Baloo the bear and Bagheera the black panther, and then has to fight the tiger Shere Khan. This story has also been published as a short book in its own right: Night-Song in the Jungle

"Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack"

"Kaa's Hunting": This story takes place before Mowgli fights Shere Khan. When Mowgli is abducted by monkeys, Baloo and Bagheera set out to rescue him with the aid of Chil the Kite and Kaa the python. Maxims of Baloo.

"Road Song of the Bandar-Log"

"Tiger! Tiger!": Mowgli returns to the human village and is adopted by Messua and her husband who believe him to be their long-lost son Nathoo. But he has trouble adjusting to human life, and Shere Khan still wants to kill him. The story's title is taken from the poem "The Tyger" by William Blake.

"Mowgli's Song"

"The White Seal": Kotick, a rare white-furred Northern fur seal, searches for a new home for his people, where they will not be hunted by humans. The "animal language" words and names in this story are a phonetic spelling of Russian spoken with an Aleut accent, for example the hero's name "Kotick" (Котик) is an affectionate diminutive of "cat" (Кот); also "Stareek!" (Старик!) means "old man!", "Ochen scoochnie" (said by Kotick) to mean "I am very lonesome" is the phonetic pronunciation of Очень скучный which actually means "very boring". Likewise, "holluschick" (plural -ie) is "холостяк", (pl. -и) which means "bachelor" and is used in the story for "unmarried" young adult seals.

"Lukannon"

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi": Rikki-Tikki the mongoose defends a human family living in India against a pair of cobras. This story has also been published as a short book.

"Darzee's Chaunt"

"Toomai of the Elephants": Toomai, a ten-year-old boy who helps to tend working elephants, is told that he will never be a full-fledged elephant-handler until he has seen the elephants dance. This story has also been published as a short book.

"Shiv and the Grasshopper"

"Her Majesty's Servants" (originally titled "Servants of the Queen"): On the night before a military parade a British soldier eavesdrops on a conversation between the camp animals.

"Parade-Song of the Camp Animals" parodies several well-known songs and poems, including Bonnie Dundee.

"Mowgli's Brothers" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. Chronologically it is the first story about Mowgli although it was written after "In the Rukh" in which Mowgli appears as an adult.

Plot summary[edit]

Father Wolf and Mother Wolf (Raksha), a pair of Indian wolves raising a family of cubs, are furious to learn that Shere Khan the lame tiger is hunting in their part of the jungle because he might kill men and bring human retribution upon the jungle. But when Father Wolf hears something approaching their den it turns out not to be the tiger but a naked baby. Mother Wolf decides to adopt the hairless "man-cub". Her determination is only strengthened by the arrival of Shere Khan who demands the

cub for his meal. The wolves drive off the tiger and Raksha names him Mowgli the Frog because of his hairlessness.

At the wolf pack's meeting at Council Rock Baloo the bear speaks for the man-cub and Bagheera the panther buys his life with a freshly killed bull. Baloo and Bagheera undertake the task of educating Mowgli as he grows. Meanwhile Shere Khan plans to take revenge on the wolf pack by persuading the younger wolves to depose their leader Akela.

When Mowgli is about 11 or 12 Bagheera tells him of Shere Khan's plan. Mowgli, being human, is the only creature in the jungle that does not fear fire, so he steals a pot of burning coals from a nearby village in order to use it against Shere Khan.

The young wolves prevent Akela from catching his prey, and at that night's meeting Shere Khan demands that Akela be killed and the man-cub given to him. Mowgli, despite being naked and unprotected, attacks Shere Khan with a burning branch and drives him and his allies away, but realises to his sorrow that he must now leave the pack and return to humanity. As he leaves he vows to return one day and lay Shere Khan's hide upon the Council Rock.

The story of Mowgli's return to humanity is told in "Tiger! Tiger!" and continued in "Letting in the Jungle".[2]

Animated Special[edit]

Main Article: Mowgli's Brothers (1976 TV Special)

In 1976 Mowgli's Brothers was adapted and directed as a half-hour television animated special of the same name by veteran animator Chuck Jones, with narration by Roddy McDowall. This could be seen as a bold move considering the success of Disney's Jungle Book.

Unlike Disney's version, Jones adhered to the original story, although Shere Khan becomes a white tiger and there is no reference to his lame leg. There is also a brief scene (taken from a notation in the short story and included to avoid depicting Mowgli's nudity) in which he steals some cloth and makes himself a loin cloth after seeing humans wearing clothes.

Jones also directed adaptations of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and "The White Seal".

The Jungle Book

Published in 1894.

This is a summary of the stories in The Jungle Book.For the convenience of Cubs and Leaders, many of the titles are links to a copy of that story.

To assist those working on their Silver  bomerang, stories that do not have Mowgli in them are marked with "**".

Mowgli's Brothers A boy is raised by wolves in the Indian Jungle with the help of Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther, and then has to fight the tiger Shere Khan. This story has also been published as a short book in its own right. Night-Song in the Jungle

Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack

a short poetic piece.

Kaa's Hunting This story takes place before Mowgli fights Shere Khan. When Mowgli is abducted by monkeys, Baloo and Bagheera set out to rescue him with the aid of Chil the Kite and Kaa the python. Maxims of Baloo.

Road Song of the Bandar-Log:

a Poetic song

Tiger! Tiger! Mowgli returns to the human village and is adopted by Messua and her husband who believe him to be their long-lost son Nathoo. But he has trouble adjusting to human life, and Shere Khan still wants to kill him. The story's title is taken from the poem "The Tyger" by William Blake.

Mowgli's Song Mowgli's joyous song at Council Rock after beating Shere Khan.

The White Seal ** Kotick, a rare white-furred seal, searches for a new home for his people, where they will not be hunted by humans.

Lukannon ** The song that the seals sing when they are heading back to their beaches in the summer.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi ** Rikki-Tikki the mongoose defends a human family living in India against a pair of cobras. This story has also been published as a short book.

Darzee's Chant ** A song/chant in honour of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

Toomai of the Elephants

** Toomai, a ten-year old boy who helps to tend working elephants, is told that he will never be a full-fledged elephant-handler until he has seen the elephants dance. This story has also been published as a short book.

Shiv and the Grasshopper

** The song that Toomai's mother sang to the baby.

Her Majesty's Servants

** On the night before a military parade a British soldier eavesdrops on a conversation between the camp animals. (originally titled "Servants of the Queen")

Parade-Song of theCamp Animals

** These verses are parodies of several well-known songs and poems of the time.

"Kaa's Hunting" is an 1893 short story by Rudyard Kipling featuring Mowgli. Chronologically the story falls between the first and second halves of Mowgli's Brothers, and is the second story in The Jungle Book (1894) where it is accompanied by the poem "Road Song of the Bandar-log".

Bagheera and Mowgli in an illustration from the Detmold twins' The Jungle Book (1908)

Story[edit]

The seven-year-old "man-cub" Mowgli, raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, is being tutored in the Law of the Jungle by Baloo the bear, but runs off in a temper when Baloo cuffs him for not paying attention. Bagheera the panther, who disapproves of Baloo's use of corporal punishment, persuades Mowgli to return and recite his lessons. These include the "Master Words" for various species that identify the speaker as a friend.[1]

A Russian stamp showing Mowgli and other characters from The Jungle Book as depicted in a Soviet-era animated film.

Bagheera is impressed with Mowgli's progress, but they are both horrified when the man-cub then reveals that he has been seeing the Bandar-log (Monkey-People) who have promised to make him their leader. Baloo and Bagheera insist that the Bandar-log are a boastful and ignorant race who have no leader and no laws, which is why they are shunned by the rest of the jungle.

Mowgli among the Bandar Log. Painting by John Charles Dollman.

Mowgli is suitably chastened, but soon afterward he is abducted by the Bandar-log who take him on a terrifying but exhilarating rush through the treetops. Seeing Chil the Kite flying above, Mowgli gives the kites' Master Word and tells Chil to find Baloo and Bagheera.

The bear and the panther are attempting to follow at ground level but cannot keep up. Realising that the monkeys' only fear is Kaa the python the two set off to find him. Bagheera cunningly goads the python into helping them by repeating (or inventing) some of the Bandar-log's insults against him.

At this point Chil finds them and tells them Mowgli has been taken to the Cold Lairs, an abandoned human city, and they set off to rescue him.

In the Cold Lairs Mowgli soon realises that Bagheera was right. The monkeys can never keep their mind on any one thing and only captured him as an amusing novelty. They soon become bored with him but refuse to let him go. When Kaa and Bagheera arrive the monkeys throw Mowgli into an abandoned summer house that has been taken over by cobras. Mowgli hastily uses the snakes' Master Word to prevent them from striking. When the bear and panther arrive, a furious battle ensues. Baloo and Bagheera are by far the more powerful fighters, but they are vastly outnumbered. Kaa is delayed by a large section of city walls but gets through, breaks down the wall of the summer house and frees Mowgli, who thanks him courteously. Then he scatters the crowd of monkeys fighting Baloo and Bagheera and performs his "hunger dance", hypnotising the Bandar-log so they cannot run away. Baloo and Bagheera are also hypnotised, but Mowgli, being human, is immune and snaps them out of their trances.

Baloo is all for letting the matter rest, but Bagheera is insistent that Mowgli must be punished for all the trouble he has caused. It is now Bagheera who advocates corporal punishment and Baloo who opposes it. But after half a dozen "love-taps" from Bagheera the score is settled and the three of them go home.

"Tiger! Tiger!" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. A direct sequel to "Mowgli's Brothers", it was published in magazines in 1893–94 before appearing as the third story in The Jungle Book (1894), following "Kaa's Hunting". The title is derived from William Blake's poem "The Tyger".

Story[edit]

After driving out the tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli leaves the wolf pack that has raised him and makes his way to a human village to be with his own (biological) kind. There he is adopted by a bereaved couple, Messua and her husband, who believe he is their long-lost son Nathoo. The village priest agrees to this because it will keep Messua's rich husband happy.

For three months Mowgli learns human language and customs such as wearing clothes, ploughing, money and caste divisions, few of which impress him. He is also disrespectful to the village elders when they tell fanciful tales of the jungle, since he has first-hand experience of what the jungle is

really like. This earns him the particular contempt of Buldeo, the village's chief hunter who claims that the tiger is the reincarnation of a lame money-lender. What is not fanciful is the 100-rupee reward for the tiger's skin.

During this period, Mowgli regularly sneaks out of the village to meet his wolf friend Grey Brother who brings him news of the jungle.

To keep Mowgli out of trouble the village elders decide to put him to work herding buffalo. One day while taking a break from this task he meets Grey Brother again. The wolf tells him that Shere Khan has returned and is planning to kill Mowgli.

For the next few weeks Grey Brother keeps watch on Shere Khan while Mowgli goes about his tasks in the village. Eventually he meets Mowgli again and tells him that Shere Khan is hiding in a nearby ravine in preparation to attack. Mowgli learns that Grey Brother obtained this information from Shere Khan's accomplice Tabaqui the jackal, before killing him.

With the aid of Akela, Mowgli and Grey Brother divide the buffalo herd in two and stampede them from opposite ends of the ravine, trampling the tiger between them.

Mowgli, who has promised to lay Shere Khan's skin on the wolf pack's Council Rock, sets about skinning the tiger. Buldeo has been told of the stampede by the other village boys, and soon arrives to chastise Mowgli. Buldeo demands that Mowgli hand the skin over to him for the reward. Mowgli refuses, and summons Akela to restrain him.

When Mowgli and Akela let him go the hunter returns to the village and tells the villagers Mowgli is a shapeshifting sorcerer. By the time the unsuspecting Mowgli returns with the buffalo, Buldeo has turned the entire village except Messua against him and they drive him away.

Confused and disgusted by their behaviour, Mowgli fulfils his promise to lay out Shere Khan's hide on Council Rock and dances upon it, singing of his emotional confusion. The pack offers to take Mowgli back, but he refuses to forgive them for casting him out earlier. Instead he decides that from now on he will hunt alone, except for his four wolf-brothers who refuse to be parted from him.

The story is continued in "Letting in the Jungle", collected in The Second Jungle Book.

Lukannon

This is the great deep-sea song that all the St. Paul seals sing when they are heading back to their beaches in the summer. It is a sort of very sad seal National Anthem.

I met my mates in the morning (and, oh, but I am old!)

Where roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell rolled;

I heard them lift the chorus that drowned the breakers’ song —

The Beaches of Lukannon — two million voices strong.

The song of pleasant stations beside the salt lagoons,

The song of blowing squadrons that shuffled down the dunes,

The song of midnight dances that churned the sea to flame —

The Beaches of Lukannon — before the sealers came!

I met my mates in the morning (I’ll never meet them more!);

They came and went in legions that darkened all the shore.

And o’er the foam-flecked offing as far as voice could reach

We hailed the landing-parties and we sang them up the beach.

The Beaches of Lukannon — the winter wheat so tall —

The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all!

The platforms of our playground, all shining smooth and worn!

The Beaches of Lukannon — the home where we were born!

I met my mates in the morning, a broken, scattered band.

Men shoot us in the water and club us on the land;

Men drive us to the Salt House like silly sheep and tame,

And still we sing Lukannon — before the sealers came.

Wheel down, wheel down to southward; oh, Gooverooska, go!

And tell the Deep-Sea Viceroys the story of our woe;

Ere, empty as the shark’s egg the tempest flings ashore,

The Beaches of Lukannon shall know their sons no more!

A homage to Rudyard Kipling

Stories of the hundreds of thousands of northern fur seals killed on St Paul Island for the fur trade deeply affected poet and author Rudyard Kipling. In his famous 1894 work The Jungle Book, he wrote a chapter, The White Seal, about a young seal searching for a home free from hunters and a poem, Lukannon, named after one of St Paul’s beaches (now spelt Lukanin). Better management of the fur harvest allowed the seal population to recover to its natural size of 2 million by the 1950s. Hunting for fur ended in the 1980s and today only a few hundred seals are taken each year during a subsistence hunt by the native Aleut community. However, the population has declined again by two-thirds due to a warming climate and increased fishing activity, factors that have reduced the food supply of the Bering Sea. This may pose a greater threat to the northern fur seal than the fur trade ever was. I first read Lukannon during a biological research expedition to St Paul Island and found the poem still resonant more than a century after it was published. Photos from the summer of 2009 are used for illustration.

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is a short story in The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling about the adventures of a valiant young mongoose.[1]

The story is notable for its frightening and serious tone. It has often been anthologized, and has been published more than once as a short book in its own right. The story was adapted as an animated short in 1965 and as a live-action feature film in the Soviet Union in 1975. The same year, animator Chuck Jones adapted the story for an animated TV special in the United States.[2]

Contents [hide]

1 Plot summary

2 In music

3 References

4 External links

Plot summary[edit]

The story follows the experiences of a young mongoose named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (for his chattering vocalizations) after he was adopted into a British family residing in a bungalow in India, as a pet and as protection against venomous snakes. After becoming acquainted with some of the other creatures inhabiting the garden, Rikki is warned of two cobras Nag and Nagaina, who are angered by the family's presence on the territory which they had previously dominated. Nag enters the house's bathroom before dawn but is attacked by Rikki. The struggle that ensues awakens the human family and the father kills Nag with both barrels of a shotgun.

Nagaina, grieving, attempts revenge against Rikki's human family, cornering them as they take breakfast on an outdoor veranda. While Nagaina has been distracted by the wife of a bird named Darzee, Rikki has destroyed the cobra's unhatched brood of eggs except for one. He now carries it to where Nagaina is threatening to bite the child Teddy while his parents watch helplessly. Nagaina, enraged, recovers her egg, but, pursued by Rikki-Tikki to the cobra's underground nest where an unseen final battle takes place. Rikki emerges triumphant from the hole declaring Nagaina dead. His subsequent role is to protect the family by keeping the garden free from any future intrusion by snakes.

"Toomai of the Elephants" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling about a young elephant-handler. It was first published in St Nicholas Magazine (December 1893) and reprinted in the collection of Kipling short stories, The Jungle Book (1894).[1]

Chapter 6 "Toomai of the Elephants" Summary

"Toomai of the Elephants" introduces Kala Nag, whose name means black snake, a 47 year-old elephant. He has worked for the Indian government loyally for years, in war, construction and traveling all over the British Empire. He is afraid of nothing, has seen much over the years, and is well-loved and well-cared for by his masters. His driver is Big Toomai, the grandson of his original driver. Little Toomai, Big Toomai's eldest son, is ten years-old and is learning from his father how to handle the elephant. He has known the elephant all of his life. They have lived with him and other elephants and drivers all over the region, from military barracks to their present wandering camp. Little Toomai likes to ride atop Kala Nag, and the wise old elephant keeps his eye on the boy, keeping...

Theme 

The great god Shiv gives all living creatures, kings, beggars, rich men, poor men, tigers, kites, wolves, their share of food and toil and fate. His wife, Parbati , thinking to jest with him, hides a little grasshopper in her breast. But when she plucks it forth, it is eating a leaf. All-seeing, Shix has given it its portion. 

Notes on the Text

[Title] 

Shiv (The spelling varies) A Hindu deity appearing in many guises, here in his reproductive or renovating capacity; The Benevolent is one of his many names. See � �our notes to The Bridge-Builders"�  (The Days Work).�  Also Brewer's Dictionary of

Phrase and Fable, under Siva, and� �  Hinduism, by K. M. Sen, Pelican 1962. 

Grasshopper an insect of the Order Orthoptera, which includes locusts and crickets. 

[Verse 1] 

Guddee Throne. More correctly gaddi. 

Mahadeo Maha = 'great', deo = 'god'. One of the many names of Lord of the Dance,� � Shiv, Shiva, or Siva. 

Thorn the Indian babul, also called kikar. The thorny mimosa of the Acacia group of shrubs and trees. It has both leaves and thorns. The thorns are large, ivory-white, sharp needle-like spikes. 

fodder for the kine hay and grass for the cattle 

[Verse 2] 

Wheat grain of the genus Triticum which produces corn to be ground into flour for bread, cakes etc. 

Millet the general name for many cereal grasses including Panecum miliaceum, grown for food. In India and elsewhere. 

carrion the dead and putrid flesh of any animal, eaten with relish by many scavenging birds, like vultures, kites and crows. 

Kite in this context one of several birds of prey, family Accipitridae. A kite called Chil appears in The Jungle Book  sometimes also known as Rann.�  

Parbati The wife of Siva, more correctly Parvati. 

The Preserver Siva. An inaccuracy on Kiplings part, though of little consequence �as Hinduism is protean, taking many forms. Strictly speaking the Hindu Trinity consists of Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver) and Siva (Destroyer, as well as Re-creator.) 

[Verse 3] 

dole in this context a charitable allowance of money or food etc. Is this Kiplings �clever choice of word? Worship of Shiva is accompanied by bell-ringing and the beating of a drum, the Indian dhole.

"Her Majesty's Servants"

Publication 

Appeared in Harper's Weekly on 3rd March 1894, and the Pall Mall Magazine March 1894. Collected in The Jungle Book, 1894, with the title "Servants of the Queen" in the First Engliah Edition and early reprints, but as "Her Majesty's Servants" in the First American Edition. "Her Majesty's Servants" was used in most - but not all - printings of the Standard Edition. 

The Story 

In Rawalpindi the Viceroy of India is due to receive a visit from the Amir of Afghanistan, and the story is set in a crowded camp full of men and their animals. The baggage camels are nervous creatures, and tend to stampede, and one wet night the narrator's tent is knocked over, and he has to take shelter under a gun. Various animals are nearby, mules, a camel, a cavalry charger, a pair of gun bullocks, and an elephant, all part of the army, and all disturbed by the stampede. 

They talk together about their work, and about being afraid. The screw-gun mule talks of the need to keep one's head and do one's duty in the most precipitous places. The troop horse speaks of trusting one's rider and holding one's position among a lot of hairy enemies with knives. The baggage camels explain how they sit down to form a square so that the soldiers can fire across their backs. The bullocks talk of dragging the big guns into battle when the elephants refuse to go on, and quietly grazing while the guns are firing. The elephant, the most intelligent and powerful of them all, explains that after a time he can go no further, because he can 'see inside

his head' what might happen. But when he trumpets all are afraid. And all fear blood. 

That afternoon at the big parade all the animals are there, and all are doing their duty. The Afghans are mightily impressed by the discipline on display. A native officer explains to an Afghan chief that it is based on the fact that all the animals and men alike obey their orders, which come down the chain of authority from the Queen herself. 

Background 

In March/April 1885 Kipling was covering the encounter between the Viceroy of India, representing the Queen Empress, and the Amir of Afghanistan. There was at that time a long-lasting fear of an expanding Russia with designs on India, and hence of that country gaining too much influence over Afghanistan, which lay between the two Empires. This was, of course, the background to 'The Great Game' of spying and counter espionage, one of the themes of Kim. A formal meeting had been arranged at Rawalpindi between the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, and the Amir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman, which was designed by the British to impress the Afghans and establish relations of mutual respect. 

Kipling was reporting on the proceedings for the Civil and Military Gazette. He sent back to Lahore some seventeen articles, on the wait for the Amir and his large retinue, on the events surrounding of the Durbar, the formal meeting, the military review, and the closure of the camp. The wait was very prolonged, the weather almost always wet, for a time nothing much happened, and in the articles there is more than a touch of making bricks without straw. But Kipling adopted a light tone throughout, so that they make quite good reading; several are included in Kipling in India edited by Thomas Pinney where the review with which this story ends is described in great detail in the piece dated April 6th (p.90). The complete series was reprinted in Kipling and Afghanistan by Neil K Moran, where that article can be found on p. 161. 

Critical comments 

W W Robson (p. xxix) in his introduction to the Oxford World Classics edition, sees this story as enjoyable but slight:

The world of the pack-animals, with the human narrator hearing everything, lacks the secrecy and magic of the jungle. The story is memorable only for the finale,

which in its context amounts to a mighty peroration on Kipling's great theme of obedience-without which you cannot run an empire, conduct an orchestra, control the traffic, perform a surgical operation, etc., etc. Politics apart, this is the verbal music to which the reader, coming to it as the epilogue of the first Jungle Book, cannot but thrill. 

"But are the beasts as wise as the men?" said the chief.

"They obey, as the men do. Mule, horse, elephant, or bullock, he obeys his driver, and the driver his sergeant, and the sergeant his lieutenant, and the lieutenant his captain, and the captain his major, and the major his colonel, and the colonel his brigadier commanding three regiments, and the brigadier his general, who obeys the Viceroy, who is the servant of the Empress. Thus it is done."

"Would it were so in Afghanistan!" said the chief; "for there we obey only our own wills."

"And for that reason," said the native officer, twirling his moustache, "your Amir whom you do not obey must come here and take orders from our Viceroy."

"Parade Song of the Camp Animals" 

Publication history 

This poem is linked to the tale "Her Majesty's Servants" in The Jungle Book (May 1894). ORG (Volume 8, p. 5354) lists it as Verse No. 626. It is collected in:

Songs from Books 1912 Inclusive Verse 1919 Definitive Verse 1940

The Sussex Edition, vols xxii and xxiv The Burwash Edition, vols xi and xxvii The Works of Rudyard Kipling, Wordsworth Poetry Library, 1994

See David Alan Richards   p. 80 for further details of publication, and Brian Mattinson's table for  musical settings  

Theme 

This is a good example of a literary device which Kipling makes much use of, prose and verse which complement each other, displayed to great advantage in Just So Stories, The Jungle Books, Actions and Reactions, and elsewhere. Here we have the animals discussing their lives with the narrator and then singing what would now be called their theme-songs. 

Background 

In the notes on "Her Majesty's Servants" we explain how in March/April 1885 Kipling was covering the meeting between the Viceroy of India, representing the Queen Empress, and the Amir of Afghanistan, Abhdur Rahman (c. 1842-1901) [See The Life of Abdur Rahman, Emir of Afghanistan, by Abdur Rahman and Mahomed Khan, Murray, 1900.] 

His two reports, both entitled To Meet the Ameer appeared in tne� �  Civil and Military Gazette of 31 March and 1 April, 1885.and are collected in Kiplings India: �Uncollected Sketches, 1884-1888, edited by Thomas Pinney. They are by-lined 'from our Special Correspondent, Rawul Pindi' (the spelling varies). Rawalpindi (modern spelling) was then an important military station on the North-West Frontier. It is now the capital city of Pakistan.

Charles Allen   writes (p. 184):

It was an unforgettable spectacle that Ruddy was to revisit in the short story Servants of the Queen� � (collected as Her Majestys Servants. Ed)� � �  and the accompanying poem Parade-Song of the Camp Animals, published in� �  The Jungle Book. But his abiding memory was of the marching feet. In the three weeks leading up to the review he had despatched eleven lengthy articles to the paper, written in extremely trying conditions, so that by the time he came to write his two-column special on the review he was exhausted almost to the point of collapse. Phantasm of �hundreds of thousands of legs all moving together have stopped my sleep

altogether � he wrote in his diary that same night Tuesday 7 April....

The phantasm stayed with him. It inspired the beat of marching feet which gives Danny Deever"�  its relentless pace, and it was reanimated many years later in the mesmeric tramp-tramp-tramp to his poem Boots.� �Perhaps also the moving legs seen in the story In the Presence�  in A Diversity of Creatues. 

Notes on the Text

ELEPHANTS OF THE GUN-TEAMS 

As explained in the story, the elephants haul the guns until the intelligent creatures realise that they are too near the firing-line, and so retire, while the more phlegmatic bullocks take over. 

Their theme song echoes the (anonymous) marching song The British Grenadier:� �

Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules,Of Hector and Lysander, and such great names as these;But of all the worlds great heroes, theres none that can compare� �With a tow, row, row, row, row, row,

For the British Grenadier.The rousing tune of this song fits Kiplings words to the first two verses, Elephants � �of the Gun-teams and Gun-Bullocks. "The British Grenadier" was originally a � � �marching song for the grenadier units of the British and Commonwealth militaries, the tune of which dates from the 17th century. It is the Regimental Quick March of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Grenadier Guards, the Honourable Artillery Company and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

See the note by Lt-Col Roger Ayers, RA. on Heavy Batteries in India. 

Alexander Alexander the Great (366-323 B.C.) King of Macedonia and conqueror ofamong other territoriesAsia Minor (what is now Turkey), Egypt, the Persian � �Empire, Afghanistan, and much of the Punjab. One of the greatest generals of

ancient times. 

It is interesting to note that the army of Kiplings day in India and up to just before �the 1914 War used the same transport-animals as Alexander the Great in the Fourth Century B.C. and Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, in the Second. 

Hercules the legendary Greek hero and son of Zeus 

ten-foot team (over three metres) a good height for an elephant. 

Forty-Pounder a big gun firing a projectile weighing 40 pounds (18 kilos.) 

train in this context a column of animals carrying or drawing loads.

GUN-BULLOCKS

Their theme song echoes the second verse of The British Grenadier:� �

Those heroes of antiquity ne'er saw a cannon ballOr knew the force of powder to slay their foes withal.But our brave boys do know it, and banish all their fears. Sing tow, row, row, row, row, row,

For the British Grenadier.twenty yoke forty oxen harnessed, in pairs, to a wagon or gun etc., each pair wearing a wooden beam carved to fit their necks

CAVALRY HORSES 

As line 4 implies, this song goes to the tune of Sir Walter Scotts poem, Bonnie � �Dundee (1825):�

To the Lords of Convention twas Claverse who spoke:� �Ere the Kings crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke;� �So let each cavalier who loves honour and me

Come follow the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,Come saddle your horses and call up your men;Come open the West Port and let me gang free,And its room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee.�

"Bonnie Dundee" has been used as a regimental march by several Scottish regiments in the British Army. 

brand The regimental number was normally branded on a front hoof. See "The Rout of the White Hussars", in Plain Tales from the Hills (p. 236, line 19):

The Farrier-Sergeant said that he knew the Drum-Horse's feet as well as he knew his own: But he was silenced when he saw the regimental number burnedt in on the poor, stiff upturned near fore...But clearly some cavalry horses at least were also branded on the withers, the ridge between a horse's shoulder-bones. 

Lancers as the name implies, light cavalry armed with the lance a long spear.�  

Hussars another type of light cavalry, armed with the sword. See "The Rout of the White Hussars" in Plain Tales from the Hills and "The Man who Was" (Lifes �Handicap). 

Dragoons Originally mounted infantry, but by the 19th century, light cavalry, armed with the sword. 

Stables� � the period allotted to grooming, mucking out and feeding cavalry horses and the trumpet-call that calls for it to begin. 

Water� � the trumpet-call for the horses to go to the drinking-troughs. see�  "The Rout of the White Hussars" (Plain Tales from the Hills p. 238 lione 16 onwards). 

break in this context to train a young horse or mule, and accustom it to human company and to obey commands. 

handle here meaning to groom and generally look after. the animal.

SCREW-GUN MULES 

This goes to the old tune of The Lincolnshire Poacher, which dates from the 1770s:� �

When I was bound apprentice in famous LincolnshireFull well I served my master for nigh on seven yearsTill I took up to poaching as you shall quickly hearOh, 'tis my delight on a shiny night in the season of the year.

As me and my companions were setting of a snare'Twas then we spied the gamekeeper, for him we did not careFor we can wrestle and fight, my boys and jump out anywhere, Oh, 'tis my delight on a shiny night in the season of the year."The Lincolnshire Poacher" was the regimental quick march of the 10th Regiment of Foot and its successors the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment and the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, who are known as "the Poachers". Kiplings last line,�  And �its our delight on a mountain height, with a leg or two to spare!� � is a direct echo of the fourth line of the song. 

Screw-guns were small guns that could be dismantled and the components carried on pack-animals which could travel in rough and mountainous country with no roads. See the notes by Roger Ayers on Screw-Guns� �. 

pick our road the sure-footed creatures can read the path much better than a man.� �  

pack a load it is essential that the load on the back of a pack-animal is balanced and well-secured.

COMMISSARIAT CAMELS

Commissariat the Department of the army that supplies provisions, ammunition etc. 

See the note by Roger Ayers on The Drums of the Fore and Aft� � (Wee Willie Winkie p. 348, line 8), and "Her Majesty's Servants" (The Jumg;e Book p. 258 line 27). 

hair-trombone a trombone is a brass wind-instrument, the notes are selected by moving a slide to and fro. 

see notes on Oonts� � by Roger Ayers and the notes by Lisa Lewis on How the Camel �Got his Hump �, in Just So Stories. 

ALL THE BEASTS TOGETHER

yoke the shaped wooden collar for oxen and other animals also figuratively a badge� of servitude. 

goad a sharp implement for driving animals This elephant-goad (ankus) is illustrated by Lockwood Kipling in Chapter IX of his Beast and Man in India. See also The Kings Ankus� � � in The Second Jungle Book