Мауглі = Mowgli. Редьярд Кіплінг

his dead branch into the fire till the twigs lit and crackled, and whirled it above his head among the cowering wolves.

      ‘Thou art the master,’ said Bagheera, in an undertone. ‘Save Akela from the death. He was ever thy friend.’

      Akela, the grim old wolf who had never asked for mercy in his life, gave one piteous look at Mowgli as the boy stood all naked, his long black hair tossing over his shoulders in the light of the blazing branch that made the shadows jump and quiver.

      ‘Good!’ said Mowgli, staring round slowly. ‘I see that ye are dogs. I go from you to my own people – if they be my own people. The Jungle is shut to me, and I must forget your talk and your companionship; but I will be more merciful than ye are. Because I was all but your brother in blood, I promise that when I am a man among men I will not betray ye to men as ye have betrayed me.’ He kicked the fire with his foot, and the sparks flew up. ‘There shall be no war between any of us and the Pack. But here is a debt to pay before I go.’ He strode forward to where Shere Khan sat blinking stupidly at the flames, and caught him by the tuft on his chin. Bagheera followed in case of accidents. ‘Up, dog!’ Mowgli cried. ‘Up, when a man speaks, or I will set that coat ablaze!’

      Shere Khan’s ears lay flat back on his head, and he shut his eyes, for the blazing branch was very near.

      ‘This cattle-killer said he would kill me in the Council because he had not killed me when I was a cub. Thus and thus, then, do we beat dogs when we are men. Stir a whisker, Lungri, and I ram the Red Flower down thy gullet!’ He beat Shere Khan over the head with the branch, and the tiger whimpered and whined in an agony of fear.

      ‘Pah! Singed Jungle-cat – go now! But remember when next I come to the Council Rock, as a man should come, it will be with Shere Khan’s hide on my head. For the rest, Akela goes free to live as he pleases. Ye will not kill him, because that is not my will. Nor do I think that ye will sit here any longer, lolling out your tongues as though ye were somebodies, instead of dogs whom I drive out – thus! Go!’ The fire was burning furiously at the end of the branch, and Mowgli struck right and left round the circle, and the wolves ran howling with the sparks burning their fur. At last there were only Akela, Bagheera, and perhaps ten wolves that had taken Mowgli’s part. Then something began to hurt Mowgli inside him, as he had never been hurt in his life before, and he caught his breath and sobbed, and the tears ran down his face.

      ‘What is it? What is it?’ he said. ‘I do not wish to leave the Jungle, and I do not know what this is. Am I dying, Bagheera?’

      ‘No, Little Brother. Those are only tears such as men use,’ said Bagheera. ‘Now I know thou art a man, and a man’s cub no longer. The Jungle is shut indeed to thee henceforward. Let them fall, Mowgli. They are only tears.’ So Mowgli sat and cried as though his heart would break; and he had never cried in all his life before.

      ‘Now,’ he said, ‘I will go to men. But first I must say farewell to my mother.’ and he went to the cave where she lived with Father Wolf, and he cried on her coat, while the four cubs howled miserably.

      ‘Ye will not forget me?’ said Mowgli.

      ‘Never while we can follow a trail,’ said the cubs. ‘Come to the foot of the hill when thou art a man, and we will talk to thee; and we will come into the crop-lands to play with thee by night.’

      ‘Come soon!’ said Father Wolf. ‘Oh, wise little frog, come again soon; for we be old, thy mother and I.’

      ‘Come soon,’ said Mother Wolf, ‘little naked son of mine; for, listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs.’

      ‘I will surely come,’ said Mowgli; ‘and when I come it will be to lay out Shere Khan’s hide upon the Council Rock. Do not forget me! Tell them in the Jungle never to forget me!’

      The dawn was beginning to break when Mowgli went down the hillside alone, to meet those mysterious things that are called men.

Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack

      As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled

      Once, twice and again!

      And a doe leaped up, and a doe leaped up

      From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup.

      This I, scouting alone, beheld,

      Once, twice and again!

      As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled

      Once, twice and again!

      And a wolf stole back, and a wolf stole back

      To carry the word to the waiting pack,

      And we sought and we found and we bayed on his track

      Once, twice and again!

      As the dawn was breaking the Wolf Pack yelled

      Once, twice and again!

      Feet in the Jungle that leave no mark!

      Eyes that can see in the dark – the dark!

      Tongue – give tongue to it! Hark! Oh, hark!

      Once, twice and again!

      Брати Мауглі

      Ніч несе на крилах вечірній птах,

      Кажан вилітає з пітьми.

      А людей у полоні тримає страх,

      Бо вільні до ранку ми.

      Наша влада – з вечора до світання,

      Коли Зграя в лісі панує.

      Чуєш поклик? Доброго полювання

      Всім, хто Закон шанує!

Нічна пісня Джунглів

      Надвечір жаркого дня в Сіонійських горах батько-Вовк прокинувся після свого денного спочинку, почухався, позіхнув і струсонув обважнілими лапами, щоб розігнати дрімоту. Мати-Вовчиця спала, поклавши свою велику сіру голову на чотирьох вовченят, а вони вовтузилися і тихенько скиглили, і місяць заглядав у печеру, де жила вовча родина.

      – Еге! – сказав батько-Вовк. – Час іти на полювання.

      Він хотів було податися з гори у видолинок, аж раптом низькоросла тінь з кошлатим хвостом кинулася на поріг і занила:

      – Хай тобі щастить, о Володарю Вовків! Щастя і міцних білих зубів твоїм славним діткам. Нехай вони не забувають, що в цім світі є голодні!

      То був шакал, підлий Табакі, – усі вовки Індії зневажають Табакі за те, що він усюди нишпорить, збурює ворожнечу, розносить плітки і збирає покидь на сільському смітнику. І  все ж таки вони бояться