About this tale
Mowgli, a human child raised by wolves, learns the Law of the Jungle, courage, and loyalty from Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa. In his struggle with the tiger Shere Khan, he finds his own path between the worlds of people and animals, remaining a child of both and their faithful brother.
Narrated by Storylandia Classics Cast
Full recording: 8:36
The night was quiet and sticky with mist, and the moon peered through the leaves of the green Indian jungle. The mist drifted among the trees and crept into the thicket, where every bush seemed to whisper an old song—the same one that the water murmurs in its deep channel, and that the birds chirp, hidden among the leaves. On just such a night, a pack of wolves was returning from the hunt. At the front walked Akela—an ancient, dignified wolf, silver about the muzzle, with eyes that pierced the darkness. He was the leader of the Free People of the jungle, keeper of the Law, which allows no one to be harmed without good reason.
At the threshold of their den, among the tall, swaying grasses, something strange lurked that night. It was a scent, barely there—not the scent of an animal, not a dangerous one, but rather lost and curious. Mother Wolf, watchful and wise, picked it out at once from among the other smells of the jungle: a trace she had never before caught among the wolf cubs. It was the scent of a human child! She found the child curled up among the roots of a tree, completely naked, with big dark eyes—he did not cry, he was not afraid, he only looked boldly at the fierce muzzles of the wolves…
