Page 110 - Viva Real English 4 : Ebook

‘The fool!’ said Father Wolf. ‘To begin a night’s work with that noise! Does he think

that our buck are like his fat Wainganga bullocks?’

‘H’sh. It is neither bullock nor buck he hunts tonight,’ said Mother Wolf. ‘It is
Man.’

The whine had changed to a humming purr that came from every direction. It was
the noise that bewilders woodcutters and gypsies sleeping in the open, and makes

them run sometimes into the very mouth of the tiger.

‘Man!’ said Father Wolf, showing all his white teeth. ‘Faugh! Are there not enough
beetles and frogs in the tanks that he must eat Man!’

The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids
every beast to eat Man. A Man can be killed only to show children how to kill. If you
kill a Man, sooner or later, men on elephants will arrive, with guns, and hundreds
of men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers.
The beasts say that man-eaters become mangy, and lose their teeth.

The purr grew louder, and ended in the full-throated ‘Aaarh!’ of the tiger.

Then there was a howl from Shere Khan. ‘He has missed,’ said Mother Wolf. ‘What
is it?’

Father Wolf ran out a few paces and heard Shere Khan muttering and mumbling
wildly as he tumbled about in the scrub.

‘The fool has jumped at a woodcutter’s campfire, and has burned his feet,’ said
Father Wolf with a grunt. ‘Tabaqui is with him.’

‘Something is coming uphill,’ said Mother Wolf, twitching one ear. ‘Get ready.’

The bushes rustled a little in the thicket, and Father Wolf dropped with
his haunches under him, ready for his leap. ‘Man!’ he snapped. ‘A man’s cub.
Look!’

bewilders : confuses mumbling : speaking quietly and
gypsies : people who travel around unclearly
and do not have fixed homes grunt : a short low sound made by an

forbids : does not allow animal
mangy : having a skin disease twitching : moving suddenly

muttering : speaking quietly to haunches : top of the back legs and
oneself buttocks
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