The Law of the Jungle
‘We be of one blood, ye and I’
Baden-Powell used the Jungle Book, written by Rudyard Kipling, as the symbolic framework for the Cub Scout section. The Jungle Book is a wonderful story about what education really is.
This section will look at how Baloo teaches Mowgli the Laws of the Jungle;
ALL that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was turned out of the Seeonee Wolf- Pack, or revenged himself on Shere Khan the tiger. It was in the days when Baloo was teaching him the Law of the Jungle. The big, serious, old brown bear was delighted to have so quick a pupil, for the young wolves will only learn as much of the Law of the Jungle as applies to their own pack and tribe, and run away as soon as they can repeat the Hunting Verse:—‘Feet that make no noise; eyes that can see in the dark; ears that can hear the winds in their lairs, and sharp white teeth, all these things are the marks of our brothers except Tabaqui the Jackal and the Hyaena whom we hate.’ But Mowgli, as a man-cub, had to learn a great deal more than this. Sometimes Bagheera, the Black Panther, would come lounging through the Jungle to see how his pet was getting on, and would purr with his head against a tree while Mowgli recited the day’s lesson to Baloo. The boy could climb almost as well as he could swim, and swim almost as well as he could run; so Baloo, the Teacher of the Law, taught him the Wood and Water Laws; how to tell a rotten branch from a sound one; how to speak politely to the wild bees when he came upon a hive of them fifty feet above ground; what to say to Mang the Bat when he disturbed him in the branches at midday; and how to warn the water-snakes in the pools before he splashed down among them. None of the Jungle-People like being disturbed, and all are very ready to fly at an intruder. Then, too, Mowgli was taught the Stranger’s Hunting Call, which must be repeated aloud till it is answered, whenever one of the Jungle-People hunts outside his own grounds. It means, translated: ‘Give me leave to hunt here because I am hungry’; and the answer is: ‘Hunt then for food, but not for pleasure.’
All this will show you how much Mowgli had to learn by heart, and he grew very tired of saying the same thing over a hundred times; but, as Baloo said to Bagheera, one day when Mowgli had been cuffed and run off in a temper: ‘A Mancub is a Man-cub, and he must learn all the Law of the Jungle.’
‘But think how small he is,’ said the Black Panther, who would have spoiled Mowgli if he had had his own way. ‘How can his little head carry all thy long talk?’
‘Is there anything in the jungle too little to be killed? No. That is why I teach him these things, and that is why I hit him, very softly, when he forgets.’
‘Softly! What dost thou know of softness, old Iron-feet?’ Bagheera grunted. ‘His face is all bruised to-day by thy—softness. Ugh!’
‘Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than that he should come to harm through ignorance,’ Baloo answered very earnestly. ‘I am now teaching him the Master-Words of the jungle that shall protect him with the birds and the Snake-People, and all that hunt on four feet, except his own pack. He can now claim protection, if he will only remember the words, from all in the Jungle. Is not that worth a little beating?’
‘Well, look to it then that thou dost not kill the Man-cub. He is no tree-trunk to sharpen thy blunt claws upon. But what are those MasterWords? I am more likely to give help than to ask it’ Bagheera stretched out one paw and admired the steel-blue, ripping-chisel talons at the end of it—‘still I should like to know.’
‘I will call Mowgli and he shall say them—if he will. Come, Little Brother!’ …
— Kaa’s Hunting
Rudyard Kipling
Read all of Kaa’s Hunting at the WhiteWolf web site.
In the Jungle Books, Kipling instills the idea of “The Law of the Jungle” being Nature’s laws, which those who live in the Jungle break at their peril. Kipling deliberatly left most of the Law undefined. The longest section of the laws he presented are contained in the following poem (The Law of the Jungle), a selection of that part of the Law relating to wolves as the wolf-cubs and Mowgli were taught by Baloo the bear.
The Law of the Jungle
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.
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 are grown,
Remember the Wolf is a Hunter–go forth and get food of thine own.Keep peace with the Lords of the Jungle–the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.
And trouble not Hathi 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 is home
Not even the Head Wolf may enter, not even the Council may come.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 crop, and your 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 the 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 gripe and his paw,
In all that the Law leaveth open, the word of your Head Wolf is Law.Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they;
But the head and hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is–Obey!— Rudyard Kipling
Compare the structured Seeonee Pack with that of the Bander-log who are ‘lawless’.
References:
Rudyard Kipling (1894) “The Jungle Book“
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