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The Jungle Book #2
The Second Jungle Book
The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. First published in 1895, it features five stories about Mowgli and three unrelated stories, all but one set in India, most of which Kipling wrote while living in Vermont.
142 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1895
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3558 people want to read
About the author
Rudyard Kipling
7,227 books3,694 followersJoseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
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October 13, 2018
"I am by nature a dealer in words, and words are the most powerful drug known to humanity."
- Rudyard Kipling
What a feast for the mind and the eye. Vibrant and thoughtful, Kipling chose his words with intent to deliver this captivating and provocative piece, sequel to The Jungle Book, turning worldview from humans to animals of the jungle and we can all learn from it.
How Fear Came
The stream is shrunk – the pool is dry,
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;
And by one drouthy fear made still,
Forging thought of quest to kill.
Now ‘neath his dam the fawn may see,
The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he,
And the tall buck, unflinching, note
The fangs that tore his father’s throat.
The pools are shrunk – the streams are dry,
And we the playmates, though and I,
Till yonder cloud – Good Hunting! – loose
The rain that breaks our Water Truce.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1907 begins The Second Jungle Book with “The Law of the Jungle – which is by far the oldest law in the world – has arranged for almost every kind of accident that may befall the Jungle People, till now its code is as perfect as time and custom can make it.” He begins to explain how fear became in mythical ways and historically as the animals gather around the drought ridden land telling stories of the past. How did Sher Khan become the most feared predator of the land yet is cursed with the markings of the jungle as his ancestors betrayed a Truce between humans and animals long ago.
“When ye say to Tabaqui, ‘My brother!’ when ye call the Hyena to meat, Ye may cry the Full Truce with Jacala – the Belly that runs on four feet”
The Jungle Law, The Undertakers
Each animal in turn talks about their point of view of the story and the things they remember. The drought is a difficult one…for humans as for the animals. They talk about men that were cave dwellers to men that came on boats and ships. They have learned to fear the men and their weapons. The drought will lead humans to the same water holes as the animals. Their council is wise and they must seek solutions before turning into savage beasts.
Mowgli and our beloved animal friends Bagheera, Baloo and yes, even Kaa and Sher Khan are all aging. Kipling seemed to have a keen understanding of the process of appreciation for a life long lived as the animals so wisely speak of the things they have seen and done in their life, all the while needing to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. It is rather humbling how true and sincere these subtle nuances are expressed emphatically and gentle, yet they hit the mark precise and perfectly.
Kipling moves on, interspersing songs, quotes and poems into the fabric of the novel. Each of them are food for thought that leads the reader with new clues down a new path of life and Mowgli’s story with a few other random ones featured as well.
This particular edition had some old black and white prints, captioned with verse throughout the novel or at the beginning of chapters. For younger readers, there is a quiz and a glossary at the end of the book.
I thought this was really a rather humbling novel. I have a dog that is aging right now, and the full circle of life is so well demonstrated in this novel and it’s happening right in front of my eyes…making it bitter sweet in my case.
This novel has only 139 reviews on GR, which seems so underrated to me. I guess we all know the Jungle Book in one way or another from childhood or Disney movies and perhaps that is all most care to know. I myself included…until I just so picked up this book and what a surprise.
Reading up on Kipling’s life and his works I realized that I have misjudged anything I knew before about the Jungle Book or its origins. Which was very little I have to say. I am sadly ashamed to have never actually read the original Jungle book but mostly the children’s illustrated versions when I was a kid or just browsing bookcases and glancing through. This needs to be mended on my part and I am intending to read some other works from this brilliant mind whose prose and voice are full of wisdom and simply brilliant.
If you can set a stigma you may have of the popularized version of the Jungle Book aside and you want to read something classic that holds truth in the wisdom expressed through different kinds of living things and that makes you think, give this a try. No prior knowledge necessary. And after that, perhaps, try the first book. That’s what I am planning to do.
Enjoy
PS, I also have to admit that I saw parts of the newest movie of the Jungle Book the other day and loved it. Perhaps the best movie version I ever saw. It is part of what prompted me to just so pick this book up. Otherwise, I may never would have, but I am glad I did.
As always,
Happy Reading
Pics and quotes to the book can be found here:
https://scarlettreadzandrunz.com/midd...
- Rudyard Kipling
What a feast for the mind and the eye. Vibrant and thoughtful, Kipling chose his words with intent to deliver this captivating and provocative piece, sequel to The Jungle Book, turning worldview from humans to animals of the jungle and we can all learn from it.
How Fear Came
The stream is shrunk – the pool is dry,
And we be comrades, thou and I;
With fevered jowl and dusty flank
Each jostling each along the bank;
And by one drouthy fear made still,
Forging thought of quest to kill.
Now ‘neath his dam the fawn may see,
The lean Pack-wolf as cowed as he,
And the tall buck, unflinching, note
The fangs that tore his father’s throat.
The pools are shrunk – the streams are dry,
And we the playmates, though and I,
Till yonder cloud – Good Hunting! – loose
The rain that breaks our Water Truce.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1907 begins The Second Jungle Book with “The Law of the Jungle – which is by far the oldest law in the world – has arranged for almost every kind of accident that may befall the Jungle People, till now its code is as perfect as time and custom can make it.” He begins to explain how fear became in mythical ways and historically as the animals gather around the drought ridden land telling stories of the past. How did Sher Khan become the most feared predator of the land yet is cursed with the markings of the jungle as his ancestors betrayed a Truce between humans and animals long ago.
“When ye say to Tabaqui, ‘My brother!’ when ye call the Hyena to meat, Ye may cry the Full Truce with Jacala – the Belly that runs on four feet”
The Jungle Law, The Undertakers
Each animal in turn talks about their point of view of the story and the things they remember. The drought is a difficult one…for humans as for the animals. They talk about men that were cave dwellers to men that came on boats and ships. They have learned to fear the men and their weapons. The drought will lead humans to the same water holes as the animals. Their council is wise and they must seek solutions before turning into savage beasts.
Mowgli and our beloved animal friends Bagheera, Baloo and yes, even Kaa and Sher Khan are all aging. Kipling seemed to have a keen understanding of the process of appreciation for a life long lived as the animals so wisely speak of the things they have seen and done in their life, all the while needing to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. It is rather humbling how true and sincere these subtle nuances are expressed emphatically and gentle, yet they hit the mark precise and perfectly.
Kipling moves on, interspersing songs, quotes and poems into the fabric of the novel. Each of them are food for thought that leads the reader with new clues down a new path of life and Mowgli’s story with a few other random ones featured as well.
This particular edition had some old black and white prints, captioned with verse throughout the novel or at the beginning of chapters. For younger readers, there is a quiz and a glossary at the end of the book.
I thought this was really a rather humbling novel. I have a dog that is aging right now, and the full circle of life is so well demonstrated in this novel and it’s happening right in front of my eyes…making it bitter sweet in my case.
This novel has only 139 reviews on GR, which seems so underrated to me. I guess we all know the Jungle Book in one way or another from childhood or Disney movies and perhaps that is all most care to know. I myself included…until I just so picked up this book and what a surprise.
Reading up on Kipling’s life and his works I realized that I have misjudged anything I knew before about the Jungle Book or its origins. Which was very little I have to say. I am sadly ashamed to have never actually read the original Jungle book but mostly the children’s illustrated versions when I was a kid or just browsing bookcases and glancing through. This needs to be mended on my part and I am intending to read some other works from this brilliant mind whose prose and voice are full of wisdom and simply brilliant.
If you can set a stigma you may have of the popularized version of the Jungle Book aside and you want to read something classic that holds truth in the wisdom expressed through different kinds of living things and that makes you think, give this a try. No prior knowledge necessary. And after that, perhaps, try the first book. That’s what I am planning to do.
Enjoy
PS, I also have to admit that I saw parts of the newest movie of the Jungle Book the other day and loved it. Perhaps the best movie version I ever saw. It is part of what prompted me to just so pick this book up. Otherwise, I may never would have, but I am glad I did.
As always,
Happy Reading
Pics and quotes to the book can be found here:
https://scarlettreadzandrunz.com/midd...
July 25, 2022
Pretty much more of the same. The Mowgli stories are the most interesting to me, though these are now more about Mowgli becoming a man and going back to his own people. How Fear Came is the exception and also has a really cool premise.
June 3, 2016
"The traitor Dark gives up each mark
Of stretched or hooded claw;
Then hear the Call: "Good rest to all
That keep the Jungle Law!"
― Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book
Sequels, especially YA sequels, seem destined to drop in quality. The first book sold well and was popular. There is a demand, I imagine, from fans and publishers to repeat a proven recipe. But the author's heart isn't in it. It sells, and usually sells well, but sucks.
This is not that sequel. Sting once bragged that he could "shit a pop song". I'm thinking Kipling could do the same with a short story. There just wasn't much drop in the quality and content from Jungle Book to the Second Jungle Book. So, in my mind, I don't even consider them to be separate works.
I liked Kipling threading his poems between the stories. I also enjoyed Kipling not strictly sticking with the Jungle. 'Quiquern' a story of an Inuit boy and his dog reminded me a lot of Jack London (White Fang and Call of the Wild were both published almost a decade after).
My favorite stories were:
"Letting in the Jungle"
"Red Dog"
"The Miracle of Purun Bhagat"
Of stretched or hooded claw;
Then hear the Call: "Good rest to all
That keep the Jungle Law!"
― Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book
Sequels, especially YA sequels, seem destined to drop in quality. The first book sold well and was popular. There is a demand, I imagine, from fans and publishers to repeat a proven recipe. But the author's heart isn't in it. It sells, and usually sells well, but sucks.
This is not that sequel. Sting once bragged that he could "shit a pop song". I'm thinking Kipling could do the same with a short story. There just wasn't much drop in the quality and content from Jungle Book to the Second Jungle Book. So, in my mind, I don't even consider them to be separate works.
I liked Kipling threading his poems between the stories. I also enjoyed Kipling not strictly sticking with the Jungle. 'Quiquern' a story of an Inuit boy and his dog reminded me a lot of Jack London (White Fang and Call of the Wild were both published almost a decade after).
My favorite stories were:
"Letting in the Jungle"
"Red Dog"
"The Miracle of Purun Bhagat"
April 30, 2018
A solid continuation to The Jungle Book, honestly I never thought I'd like this much a short-stories book, a solid 5!
May 29, 2025
I read The Jungle Book while in elementary school decades ago, and I recently re-read it. So the obvious next move was to read The Second Jungle Book, equal parts sequel and anthology of additional short stories. It was a joy to re-read “The King’s Ankus,” probably the best of the Mowgli stories — actually, one of the best short stories, full stop. The book is worth it for this short story alone! As it is now in the public domain, you can read it here: http://famous-and-forgotten-fiction.c...
I also enjoyed “Red Dog,” which I vaguely remembered from more than 50 years ago. New to me was touching “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat” and “Letting in the Jungle” (a suspenseful tale that takes place after Mowgli returns from his time among human villagers), both of which I enjoyed. I’m so glad for this re-read.
I also enjoyed “Red Dog,” which I vaguely remembered from more than 50 years ago. New to me was touching “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat” and “Letting in the Jungle” (a suspenseful tale that takes place after Mowgli returns from his time among human villagers), both of which I enjoyed. I’m so glad for this re-read.
April 21, 2017
Préstamo Biblioteca.
Este libro me gustó más que El libro de la selva Este libro se podría denominar como un libro de historias de la selva (al igual que el anterior, no todas suceden en la selva). En este libro tenemos la historia de Mowgli donde la dejamos en el primer libro y el autor decide ahondar en nuevas aventuras, nuevos personajes, todo esto en una linea de tiempo lineal. Las historias de Mowgli me encantan, sus aventuras y aunque me disgusta el cierre de esta historia y más como lo hizo el autor, creo que deberían leerse este tipo de historias a los niños.
Las otras historias (las que no giran en torno a Mowgli) como la de el Milagro de Purun Bhagat, en la que todo gira sobre un ser humano y su relación con la naturaleza y con encontrarse a sí mismo. Los enterradores donde un cocodrilo es el protagonista y cuenta una historia a un chacal y a un ave.
Por último la historia de Quiquern con esquimales y focas.
Este libro me gustó más que El libro de la selva Este libro se podría denominar como un libro de historias de la selva (al igual que el anterior, no todas suceden en la selva). En este libro tenemos la historia de Mowgli donde la dejamos en el primer libro y el autor decide ahondar en nuevas aventuras, nuevos personajes, todo esto en una linea de tiempo lineal. Las historias de Mowgli me encantan, sus aventuras y aunque me disgusta el cierre de esta historia y más como lo hizo el autor, creo que deberían leerse este tipo de historias a los niños.
Las otras historias (las que no giran en torno a Mowgli) como la de el Milagro de Purun Bhagat, en la que todo gira sobre un ser humano y su relación con la naturaleza y con encontrarse a sí mismo. Los enterradores donde un cocodrilo es el protagonista y cuenta una historia a un chacal y a un ave.
Por último la historia de Quiquern con esquimales y focas.
May 19, 2019
A reread after some 60 or more years! I read it and its predecessor because my book club read Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" this month, and I was interested to see how his tribute to Kipling had borrowed from the Mowgli stories. "The King's Ankus" is a very striking predecessor of the ancient tomb under the hill and The Sleer in Gaiman's book.
Kipling's language is reminiscent of the King James version of the Bible. It gives all the animals a dignity that is sadly lacking in most modern stories with anthropomorphic animals. They are not cute: they kill to eat, they fight among themselves and with other species, and there is death. I had not remembered how powerful the stories were, and I can see why Gaiman wished to celebrate them.
Kipling's language is reminiscent of the King James version of the Bible. It gives all the animals a dignity that is sadly lacking in most modern stories with anthropomorphic animals. They are not cute: they kill to eat, they fight among themselves and with other species, and there is death. I had not remembered how powerful the stories were, and I can see why Gaiman wished to celebrate them.
October 11, 2018
Well-written tales. Mowgli tales are my favorite, they're all good, tho,
Well-written tales. Mowgli tales are my favorite, they're all good, tho, Quiquern was the most difficult . Killing is in all the tales, but it was very vivid in that one.
Well-written tales. Mowgli tales are my favorite, they're all good, tho, Quiquern was the most difficult . Killing is in all the tales, but it was very vivid in that one.
August 31, 2022
This Folio edition like that of The Jungle Book, is gorgeous with some fantastic illustrations. It also contains some of my favorite Mowgli stories and like its prequel has both stories from Mowgli's world as well as independent stories involving animals. Other than classics such as 'How Fear Came,' 'Letting in the Jungle,' 'The King's Ankus,' and 'Red Dog' - some of these visually etched in my memory from childhood due to Classics Illustrated comics - it also contains 'The Miracle of Puran Bhagat,' 'The Undertakers,' 'Quiquern,' and 'The Spring Running.' Each story is succeeded by a poem on its central theme.
'How Fear Came' is perhaps the most reflective piece, and its preoccupation is once more the Law.
"Law was like the Giant Creeper, because it dropped across everyone's back and no-one could escape."
Though in the context of the Law of the Jungle and referring to when in a situation of extreme drought (Kipling's description of the advent of drought is masterful) a Water Truce is declared so that it is forbidden to kill at the drinking places, it is resonant with deeper meanings about the role of law in society in general. Interspersed with Kipling's particular humor it underlines the value and need to live by certain laws and then narrates a story from the earliest times when no Fear existed amongst the creatures of the jungle; and, how the First of Tigers killed a buck and thereby lost his position as a judge, introduced the smell of blood and the notion of killing and death to the jungle, and got his stripes as the trees and creepers marked him as the culprit. The Gray Ape proved an unworthy successor being foolish and senseless. After killing and shame, Fear then came to the jungle. It had no hair and walked on hind legs. He feared the animals and they were wary of him. The jungle deity Tha ordained that he was not to be harmed and shown mercy. The First of Tigers again disobeyed and killed the Hairless One and thereby taught Man to kill without mercy, in new and inventive ways, to the eternal anguish of animals. All the animals now feared him, except for one night in the year (at different times of the year) when he is fearful of them.
'The Miracle of Puran Bhagat' is about a westernized, astute, powerful and highly successful man of the world who turns ascetic and traces his journey to a remote refuge, his kindness to all, his affinity with animals and his ultimate sacrifice for those who had come to revere him deeply. The descriptions are lovely:
"Through three good months the valley was wrapped in cloud and soaking mist - steady, unrelenting downfall, breaking into thunder-shower after thunder-shower. Kali's shrine stood about the clouds, for the most part, and there was a whole month in which the Bhagat never caught glimpse of his village."
Exploring and seemingly reconciling the paradox of modernity and traditional spirituality this is an unexpected tale where rather than being skeptical Kipling appears to be valorizing the decision of Puran Bhagat to turn his back to the world, leaving its roar behind after all his successes, and seek an inward life which nevertheless manifested in largesse for all those around him.
In "Letting in the Jungle" Mowgli gets fully disenchanted with the cruelty of the Man-Pack that he scorns for killining not for food but for sport, and seeks to rescue as well as seek revenge for the persecution of the woman Messua and her husband who were kind to him. Though dark in its mood particularly entertaining are the scenes involving the terrifying of Buldeo the village hunter. Directed by Mowgli and led by the elephants a vast number and variety of herbivores and carnivores join forces and lay waste the village crop fields and grazing grounds, destroyed the grain stores, and forced the inhabitants through starvation and intimidation to abandon village, trampled by the elephants as they retreated through the rain. There is an interesting mention of Gonds - aboriginal tribals - whom the villagers ask if they have somehow angered their gods. The old gods. There is also the usual sense of racial superiority - "...when the Jungle moves only the white man can hope to turn it aside." The Gonds concluded that now only the wild gourd would grow where they had worshipped their God - "And the Karela, the bitter Karela/Shall cover it all." The metaphor here of nature striking back when humans become undeserving of occupying a space is a poignant one.
The Undertakers presents a wickedly humorous engagement between a mangy jackal, an adjutant-crane and a wily, huge and ancient crocodile Mugger of Mugger-Ghaut - all three hungry, conniving, false and looking for a kill and coming up with delightful puns, proverbs, veiled ridicule, repartee, flattery and cunning attempts at manipulation. There are interesting descriptions of places, people, terms, flora and fauna local and the usual extolling of English Law - it is eventually the white face as it is shown, that brings accountability, whether to man or beast.
'The King's Ankus' too lives in the mind for its brilliant depiction of death leaving its trail in murder after murder due to greed for a jeweled ankus that comes to embody death, and the menacing great white Cobra, sitting on a heap of bleached human bones, resolutely guarding the treasure in its subterranean vault below the deserted city of Cold Lairs. The story shows Mowgli growing in courage and strength and also teh close bond between him and Kaa and their constant banter.
'Quiquern' shifts the scene to the icy, desolate northern lands of the Inuit - at the back of everything in the world. Evocative in its description of the snowy landscape, Inuit living, customs, lore, and superstitions, and hunting for seals in sleighs pulled by dogs, it is a story of survival in the harshest of environments.
'Red Dog' is what has etched in my mind the image of the Indian wild, red dog or the Dhole of the Dekkan and its voracious hunting in merciless packs that the entire jungle fears. Mowlgi has to use great agility and ingenuity to save the jungle inhabitants from this bane and it is a particularly thrilling story full of action. Passages where Mowgli mocks and goads the Dhole and leads them into his trap are particularly entertaining.
'The Spring Running' is where Mowgli enters young adulthood. It has some beautiful descriptive passages that bring to life the Jungle and all that makes it dear to Mowgli. This is a story of pain and longing with Mowgli deciding where to live as he is good reasons to move on from the jungle but to also stay away from the habitations of men. Here are some lovely excerpts:
"They were lying out far up the side of a hill overlooking the Waingunga, and the morning mists hung below them in bands of white and green. As the sun rose it changed into bubbling seas of red gold, churned off, and let the low rays stripe the dried grass on which Mowgli and Bagheera were resting. It was the end of the cold weather, the leaves and the trees looked worn and faded, and there was a dry, ticking rustle everywhere when the wind blew. A little leaf tap-tap-tapped furiously against a twig, as a single leaf caught in a current will."
"In an Indian Jungle the seasons slide one into the other almost without division. There seem to be only two—the wet and the dry; but if you look closely below the torrents of rain and the clouds of char and dust you will find all four going round in their regular ring. Spring is the most wonderful, because she has not to cover a clean, bare field with new leaves and flowers, but to drive before her and to put away the hanging-on, over-surviving raffle of half-green things which the gentle winter has suffered to live, and to make the partly-dressed stale earth feel new and young once more. And this she does so well that there is no spring in the world like the Jungle spring.
There is one day when all things are tired, and the very smells, as they drift on the heavy air, are old and used. One cannot explain this, but it feels so. Then there is another day—to the eye nothing whatever has changed—when all the smells are new and delightful, and the whiskers of the Jungle People quiver to their roots, and the winter hair comes away from their sides in long, draggled locks. Then, perhaps, a little rain falls, and all the trees and the bushes and the bamboos and the mosses and the juicy-leaved plants wake with a noise of growing that you can almost hear, and under this noise runs, day and night, a deep hum. That is the noise of the spring—a vibrating boom which is neither bees, nor falling water, nor the wind in tree-tops, but the purring of the warm, happy world."
"All green things seemed to have made a month’s growth since the morning. The branch that was yellow-leaved the day before dripped sap when Mowgli broke it. The mosses curled deep and warm over his feet, the young grass had no cutting edges, and all the voices of the Jungle boomed like one deep harpstring touched by the moon—the Moon of New Talk, who splashed her light full on rock and pool, slipped it between trunk and creeper, and sifted it through a million leaves. Forgetting his unhappiness, Mowgli sang aloud with pure delight as he settled into his stride. It was more like flying than anything else, for he had chosen the long downward slope that leads to the Northern Marshes through the heart of the main Jungle, where the springy ground deadened the fall of his feet. A man-taught man would have picked his way with many stumbles through the cheating moonlight, but Mowgli’s muscles, trained by years of experience, bore him up as though he were a feather."
"There were still, hot hollows surrounded by wet rocks where he could hardly breathe for the heavy scents of the night flowers and the bloom along the creeper buds; dark avenues where the moonlight lay in belts as regular as checkered marbles in a church aisle; thickets where the wet young growth stood breast-high about him and threw its arms round his waist; and hilltops crowned with broken rock, where he leaped from stone to stone above the lairs of the frightened little foxes."
I went back to The Second Jungle Book for the sheer beauty of many passages that describe the Central Indian Jungle, its denizens and its seasons. To get inspired. I was not disappointed.
'How Fear Came' is perhaps the most reflective piece, and its preoccupation is once more the Law.
"Law was like the Giant Creeper, because it dropped across everyone's back and no-one could escape."
Though in the context of the Law of the Jungle and referring to when in a situation of extreme drought (Kipling's description of the advent of drought is masterful) a Water Truce is declared so that it is forbidden to kill at the drinking places, it is resonant with deeper meanings about the role of law in society in general. Interspersed with Kipling's particular humor it underlines the value and need to live by certain laws and then narrates a story from the earliest times when no Fear existed amongst the creatures of the jungle; and, how the First of Tigers killed a buck and thereby lost his position as a judge, introduced the smell of blood and the notion of killing and death to the jungle, and got his stripes as the trees and creepers marked him as the culprit. The Gray Ape proved an unworthy successor being foolish and senseless. After killing and shame, Fear then came to the jungle. It had no hair and walked on hind legs. He feared the animals and they were wary of him. The jungle deity Tha ordained that he was not to be harmed and shown mercy. The First of Tigers again disobeyed and killed the Hairless One and thereby taught Man to kill without mercy, in new and inventive ways, to the eternal anguish of animals. All the animals now feared him, except for one night in the year (at different times of the year) when he is fearful of them.
'The Miracle of Puran Bhagat' is about a westernized, astute, powerful and highly successful man of the world who turns ascetic and traces his journey to a remote refuge, his kindness to all, his affinity with animals and his ultimate sacrifice for those who had come to revere him deeply. The descriptions are lovely:
"Through three good months the valley was wrapped in cloud and soaking mist - steady, unrelenting downfall, breaking into thunder-shower after thunder-shower. Kali's shrine stood about the clouds, for the most part, and there was a whole month in which the Bhagat never caught glimpse of his village."
Exploring and seemingly reconciling the paradox of modernity and traditional spirituality this is an unexpected tale where rather than being skeptical Kipling appears to be valorizing the decision of Puran Bhagat to turn his back to the world, leaving its roar behind after all his successes, and seek an inward life which nevertheless manifested in largesse for all those around him.
In "Letting in the Jungle" Mowgli gets fully disenchanted with the cruelty of the Man-Pack that he scorns for killining not for food but for sport, and seeks to rescue as well as seek revenge for the persecution of the woman Messua and her husband who were kind to him. Though dark in its mood particularly entertaining are the scenes involving the terrifying of Buldeo the village hunter. Directed by Mowgli and led by the elephants a vast number and variety of herbivores and carnivores join forces and lay waste the village crop fields and grazing grounds, destroyed the grain stores, and forced the inhabitants through starvation and intimidation to abandon village, trampled by the elephants as they retreated through the rain. There is an interesting mention of Gonds - aboriginal tribals - whom the villagers ask if they have somehow angered their gods. The old gods. There is also the usual sense of racial superiority - "...when the Jungle moves only the white man can hope to turn it aside." The Gonds concluded that now only the wild gourd would grow where they had worshipped their God - "And the Karela, the bitter Karela/Shall cover it all." The metaphor here of nature striking back when humans become undeserving of occupying a space is a poignant one.
The Undertakers presents a wickedly humorous engagement between a mangy jackal, an adjutant-crane and a wily, huge and ancient crocodile Mugger of Mugger-Ghaut - all three hungry, conniving, false and looking for a kill and coming up with delightful puns, proverbs, veiled ridicule, repartee, flattery and cunning attempts at manipulation. There are interesting descriptions of places, people, terms, flora and fauna local and the usual extolling of English Law - it is eventually the white face as it is shown, that brings accountability, whether to man or beast.
'The King's Ankus' too lives in the mind for its brilliant depiction of death leaving its trail in murder after murder due to greed for a jeweled ankus that comes to embody death, and the menacing great white Cobra, sitting on a heap of bleached human bones, resolutely guarding the treasure in its subterranean vault below the deserted city of Cold Lairs. The story shows Mowgli growing in courage and strength and also teh close bond between him and Kaa and their constant banter.
'Quiquern' shifts the scene to the icy, desolate northern lands of the Inuit - at the back of everything in the world. Evocative in its description of the snowy landscape, Inuit living, customs, lore, and superstitions, and hunting for seals in sleighs pulled by dogs, it is a story of survival in the harshest of environments.
'Red Dog' is what has etched in my mind the image of the Indian wild, red dog or the Dhole of the Dekkan and its voracious hunting in merciless packs that the entire jungle fears. Mowlgi has to use great agility and ingenuity to save the jungle inhabitants from this bane and it is a particularly thrilling story full of action. Passages where Mowgli mocks and goads the Dhole and leads them into his trap are particularly entertaining.
'The Spring Running' is where Mowgli enters young adulthood. It has some beautiful descriptive passages that bring to life the Jungle and all that makes it dear to Mowgli. This is a story of pain and longing with Mowgli deciding where to live as he is good reasons to move on from the jungle but to also stay away from the habitations of men. Here are some lovely excerpts:
"They were lying out far up the side of a hill overlooking the Waingunga, and the morning mists hung below them in bands of white and green. As the sun rose it changed into bubbling seas of red gold, churned off, and let the low rays stripe the dried grass on which Mowgli and Bagheera were resting. It was the end of the cold weather, the leaves and the trees looked worn and faded, and there was a dry, ticking rustle everywhere when the wind blew. A little leaf tap-tap-tapped furiously against a twig, as a single leaf caught in a current will."
"In an Indian Jungle the seasons slide one into the other almost without division. There seem to be only two—the wet and the dry; but if you look closely below the torrents of rain and the clouds of char and dust you will find all four going round in their regular ring. Spring is the most wonderful, because she has not to cover a clean, bare field with new leaves and flowers, but to drive before her and to put away the hanging-on, over-surviving raffle of half-green things which the gentle winter has suffered to live, and to make the partly-dressed stale earth feel new and young once more. And this she does so well that there is no spring in the world like the Jungle spring.
There is one day when all things are tired, and the very smells, as they drift on the heavy air, are old and used. One cannot explain this, but it feels so. Then there is another day—to the eye nothing whatever has changed—when all the smells are new and delightful, and the whiskers of the Jungle People quiver to their roots, and the winter hair comes away from their sides in long, draggled locks. Then, perhaps, a little rain falls, and all the trees and the bushes and the bamboos and the mosses and the juicy-leaved plants wake with a noise of growing that you can almost hear, and under this noise runs, day and night, a deep hum. That is the noise of the spring—a vibrating boom which is neither bees, nor falling water, nor the wind in tree-tops, but the purring of the warm, happy world."
"All green things seemed to have made a month’s growth since the morning. The branch that was yellow-leaved the day before dripped sap when Mowgli broke it. The mosses curled deep and warm over his feet, the young grass had no cutting edges, and all the voices of the Jungle boomed like one deep harpstring touched by the moon—the Moon of New Talk, who splashed her light full on rock and pool, slipped it between trunk and creeper, and sifted it through a million leaves. Forgetting his unhappiness, Mowgli sang aloud with pure delight as he settled into his stride. It was more like flying than anything else, for he had chosen the long downward slope that leads to the Northern Marshes through the heart of the main Jungle, where the springy ground deadened the fall of his feet. A man-taught man would have picked his way with many stumbles through the cheating moonlight, but Mowgli’s muscles, trained by years of experience, bore him up as though he were a feather."
"There were still, hot hollows surrounded by wet rocks where he could hardly breathe for the heavy scents of the night flowers and the bloom along the creeper buds; dark avenues where the moonlight lay in belts as regular as checkered marbles in a church aisle; thickets where the wet young growth stood breast-high about him and threw its arms round his waist; and hilltops crowned with broken rock, where he leaped from stone to stone above the lairs of the frightened little foxes."
I went back to The Second Jungle Book for the sheer beauty of many passages that describe the Central Indian Jungle, its denizens and its seasons. To get inspired. I was not disappointed.
August 1, 2021
2.5 stars, rounding down to 2 because these just were not nearly the caliber that the First Jungle Book stories were. Kipling gets way too verbose for no reason in most of these stories, in addition to forgetting what plot is. If you are a fan of the Mowgli stories in the first collection, it's worth checking out the ones in here, but the non-Mowgli ones are barely worth it (Quiquern is the only recommended one).
How Fear Came: 2 stars. Sloggy and forgettable, but a good origin story of sorts.
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat: 1 star. SO BORING.
Letting in the Jungle: 2 stars. I think? I have forgotten all but the last bit.
The Undertakers: 2 stars. Such a fun concept, with excellent poetic justice at the very end, but horrendously dull and soaked in proverbs.
The King's Ankus: 3.5 stars. FINALLY A GOOD ONE. WITH PLOT.
Quiquern: 3.5 stars. Kipling's infamous sloggy starts dampen this one, but it gains its sled-legs midway through!
Red Dog: 4 stars. It only took this long to get to a PROPERLY GOOD STORY.
The Spring Running: 3 stars. In which Mowgli does not understand mating season after 17 years in the jungle. A good final story.
How Fear Came: 2 stars. Sloggy and forgettable, but a good origin story of sorts.
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat: 1 star. SO BORING.
Letting in the Jungle: 2 stars. I think? I have forgotten all but the last bit.
The Undertakers: 2 stars. Such a fun concept, with excellent poetic justice at the very end, but horrendously dull and soaked in proverbs.
The King's Ankus: 3.5 stars. FINALLY A GOOD ONE. WITH PLOT.
Quiquern: 3.5 stars. Kipling's infamous sloggy starts dampen this one, but it gains its sled-legs midway through!
Red Dog: 4 stars. It only took this long to get to a PROPERLY GOOD STORY.
The Spring Running: 3 stars. In which Mowgli does not understand mating season after 17 years in the jungle. A good final story.
Read
October 10, 2018This review is just for the audible from Trout Lake Media, read by Peter Batchelor, published 8/92016 (ASIN B01JWOHBVA).
The book is incomplete, it's missing two tales -
"The Spring Running" (a Mowgli tale)
"The Outsong" (poem)
The book is incomplete, it's missing two tales -
"The Spring Running" (a Mowgli tale)
"The Outsong" (poem)
July 8, 2024
I really liked reading about Mowgli! But I think that Kipling could write just one book about Mowgli and separate book with short stories. Because in the first book there are 4 short stories and in the second book there are 3 short stories (they are all nice, but so liked the most about “The Miracle of Purum Bhagat) - the story about famous politician, who retires, abandones everything and becomes sanyasi (wondering saint, who lives on whatever people offer him). It is so deep! And living in India, and knowing well all the places that Kipling describes there.. It is so familiar to me! And also seeing different saints in India. And Hymalayas- my top favorite place!!!
All the stories were amazing!
I wish they were also in cartoon (that I watched when I was a child). Because they are with a deep meaning. But even in my age it was lovely to read them.
All the stories were amazing!
I wish they were also in cartoon (that I watched when I was a child). Because they are with a deep meaning. But even in my age it was lovely to read them.
September 12, 2021
El segundo libro de la Selva contiene nuevas historias y cuentos donde todo gira en torno a los animales y lo salvaje. Tiene el mismo estilo que su anterior, relatos cortos y entretenidos, haciendo referencias a tradiciones o cultos ancestrales, y con canciones en la apertura o cierres de las historias.
Pero este segundo volumen creo que tiene un tono ligeramente más adulto que el anterior. Tenemos varias historias en las que Mowgli vuelve a ser el protagonista, y otras tantas que nada tienen que ver, con un tono más serio (y menos entretenidas) al menos para mí. Volviendo a las historias de Mowgli, encontramos que su personaje ha madurado. Se hace más insolente y temerario, pero también empieza a darse cuenta por sí mismo de su relación con la selva y demás habitantes. Habrá momentos emocionantes, despedidas duras y un cierre acorde a la obra.
Una lectura muy disfrutable y recomendada.
Pero este segundo volumen creo que tiene un tono ligeramente más adulto que el anterior. Tenemos varias historias en las que Mowgli vuelve a ser el protagonista, y otras tantas que nada tienen que ver, con un tono más serio (y menos entretenidas) al menos para mí. Volviendo a las historias de Mowgli, encontramos que su personaje ha madurado. Se hace más insolente y temerario, pero también empieza a darse cuenta por sí mismo de su relación con la selva y demás habitantes. Habrá momentos emocionantes, despedidas duras y un cierre acorde a la obra.
Una lectura muy disfrutable y recomendada.
September 30, 2025
Nie pogardziła bym większą ilością opowiadań o eskimosach - fajna odskocznia od tej ciągłej dżungli
btw chil to mój idol 🦅
btw chil to mój idol 🦅
November 28, 2019
I never thought I’d say this for as long as I live, but here it comes: Disney was better!
But seriously now: Everyone knows beforehand what both “The Jungle Book” and “The Second Jungle Book” are about. So did I. And while I was aware that I wouldn’t be head over heels with admiration, I didn’t expect this encounter to be so anticlimactic.
This was just one of those situations where two people (or a person and a short story collection) are simply in no way suitable for each other. I am not the right sort of reader for this to begin with. I was never one for wildlife whatsoever, the only animals that I was ever interested in (an am) are dinosaurs. I have no use for that whole Jungle Law, Animal Council sort of thing. I never liked classic fairy tales with their black and white structure, or the concept of a hero who has no common sense, gets in over his head, and eventually a force majeure gets the shit done. So I am really, really not the one to judge about a human boy calling the shots among stern wild animals.
But it takes two to tango. I blame Kipling for the inconceivable lack of structure, and for making any sort of suspension of disbelief impossible to hold up, even in a fantasy children’s story. The grand farewell in the Mowgli stories, for example, is at the very beginning, giving the reader no chance to get to know the characters or to establish any connection with them. What is the emotional impact of the depicted events? Who are those characters? Why should they matter to me? We’ll never know. Other key plot elements, specifically two essential climax points, are watered down and go by without notice. Mowgli’s entire life in the jungle, with and among the animals, is a mess, skipping years and years back and forth, and making every episode contradictory in itself. A thing as simple as a chronological order would have worked wonders in this case. The characters are gridlocked in their positions as the chosen one, the evil one, the wise one, never showing any sign of development, growth or personality. The simplified, black-and-white world of fairy tales is easier to excuse because of their cautionary nature: Don’t be as stupid as Red Riding Hood or Snow White or whoever. But that moral of the story is missing here. Mowgli is actually the culprit for many things that have gone wrong. I can live with flat stereotypes, but that a bratty, reckless, dumb, spoiled rotten human child, with no resources whatsoever, should be the beloved, feared and respected grandmaster of the animal kingdom – that is just too much. I’m too old for this shit.
Even the stories not revolving around Mowgli, roughly half of every volume, fluctuate between those as bland as a wasteland, and some really decent tales, like one sombre and introspective story (unfortunately with quite a lack of common sense in its outcome), or a surprisingly good, old-school tale of bravery.
Regardless of butchering a lot of other great stories, Disney was smart enough to take the few plot elements here and connect them into a loose, yet acceptable whole. And to top it off with the best Disney song of all time (“I Wanna Be Like You”).
I was expecting a by-the-book adventure. But maybe this is instead quite a good collection of bedtime stories for children. You can bore them to death with it, and have some peace and quiet.
But seriously now: Everyone knows beforehand what both “The Jungle Book” and “The Second Jungle Book” are about. So did I. And while I was aware that I wouldn’t be head over heels with admiration, I didn’t expect this encounter to be so anticlimactic.
This was just one of those situations where two people (or a person and a short story collection) are simply in no way suitable for each other. I am not the right sort of reader for this to begin with. I was never one for wildlife whatsoever, the only animals that I was ever interested in (an am) are dinosaurs. I have no use for that whole Jungle Law, Animal Council sort of thing. I never liked classic fairy tales with their black and white structure, or the concept of a hero who has no common sense, gets in over his head, and eventually a force majeure gets the shit done. So I am really, really not the one to judge about a human boy calling the shots among stern wild animals.
But it takes two to tango. I blame Kipling for the inconceivable lack of structure, and for making any sort of suspension of disbelief impossible to hold up, even in a fantasy children’s story. The grand farewell in the Mowgli stories, for example, is at the very beginning, giving the reader no chance to get to know the characters or to establish any connection with them. What is the emotional impact of the depicted events? Who are those characters? Why should they matter to me? We’ll never know. Other key plot elements, specifically two essential climax points, are watered down and go by without notice. Mowgli’s entire life in the jungle, with and among the animals, is a mess, skipping years and years back and forth, and making every episode contradictory in itself. A thing as simple as a chronological order would have worked wonders in this case. The characters are gridlocked in their positions as the chosen one, the evil one, the wise one, never showing any sign of development, growth or personality. The simplified, black-and-white world of fairy tales is easier to excuse because of their cautionary nature: Don’t be as stupid as Red Riding Hood or Snow White or whoever. But that moral of the story is missing here. Mowgli is actually the culprit for many things that have gone wrong. I can live with flat stereotypes, but that a bratty, reckless, dumb, spoiled rotten human child, with no resources whatsoever, should be the beloved, feared and respected grandmaster of the animal kingdom – that is just too much. I’m too old for this shit.
Even the stories not revolving around Mowgli, roughly half of every volume, fluctuate between those as bland as a wasteland, and some really decent tales, like one sombre and introspective story (unfortunately with quite a lack of common sense in its outcome), or a surprisingly good, old-school tale of bravery.
Regardless of butchering a lot of other great stories, Disney was smart enough to take the few plot elements here and connect them into a loose, yet acceptable whole. And to top it off with the best Disney song of all time (“I Wanna Be Like You”).
I was expecting a by-the-book adventure. But maybe this is instead quite a good collection of bedtime stories for children. You can bore them to death with it, and have some peace and quiet.
July 4, 2020
Just like the first book, the second jungle book is also an anthology of short stories, most of them about Mowgli. Here we see how
the animals of the jungle have grown, especially Mowgli who is shown to have matured greatly. He is now the Master of the
Jungle and asserts dominion over the animals through the use of his wit and strength (which has grown admirably since the
previous book). The other short stories are just as interesting and I'd like to make mention of 'The Miracle of Purun Bhagat' which
I thoroughly enjoyed owing to its eponymous protagonist; a man who shuns all his material posessions and titles in search of nirvana.
Kipling has beautifully described his journey through the hills of northern India and his interaction with animals of the wild and
the villagers of a tiny town. The story ends on a sad note as Purun Bhagat sacrifices his life to warn the villagers who fed him as
he meditated for many years, of a catastrophic hillslide; an event that came to his notice only because of the loving animals of the
jungle who he had grown so fond of. The poem at the beginning- The Dirge of the Langurs, beautifully sums up the essence of the
story.
Kipling's style of writing is, as again, highly evocative. The liberal use of adjectives and metaphors makes even the most mundane
of actions and descriptions sound interesting. Not didactic, yet touching stories set in the jungle often with animals interacting with
other animals and man, they often highlight Mowgli's dexterity in navigating the forest and the myriad creatures that inhabit it, and
his bond with a few of his closest animal friends. There are certain rare moments in the book where Mowgli, having being hurt by
evil actions, feels a great sadness and is unable to comprehend the intense pain in his heart. It is an emotion he has never felt
before and, unable to control the tears flowing down his cheeks, he wonders what this feeling is that other animals don't seem to
feel. His innocence is captivating.
the animals of the jungle have grown, especially Mowgli who is shown to have matured greatly. He is now the Master of the
Jungle and asserts dominion over the animals through the use of his wit and strength (which has grown admirably since the
previous book). The other short stories are just as interesting and I'd like to make mention of 'The Miracle of Purun Bhagat' which
I thoroughly enjoyed owing to its eponymous protagonist; a man who shuns all his material posessions and titles in search of nirvana.
Kipling has beautifully described his journey through the hills of northern India and his interaction with animals of the wild and
the villagers of a tiny town. The story ends on a sad note as Purun Bhagat sacrifices his life to warn the villagers who fed him as
he meditated for many years, of a catastrophic hillslide; an event that came to his notice only because of the loving animals of the
jungle who he had grown so fond of. The poem at the beginning- The Dirge of the Langurs, beautifully sums up the essence of the
story.
Kipling's style of writing is, as again, highly evocative. The liberal use of adjectives and metaphors makes even the most mundane
of actions and descriptions sound interesting. Not didactic, yet touching stories set in the jungle often with animals interacting with
other animals and man, they often highlight Mowgli's dexterity in navigating the forest and the myriad creatures that inhabit it, and
his bond with a few of his closest animal friends. There are certain rare moments in the book where Mowgli, having being hurt by
evil actions, feels a great sadness and is unable to comprehend the intense pain in his heart. It is an emotion he has never felt
before and, unable to control the tears flowing down his cheeks, he wonders what this feeling is that other animals don't seem to
feel. His innocence is captivating.
August 4, 2020
This book was very steady and a little dry at times. The style felt different then from the first book. It was nice to have some Mowgli stories that I am not familiar with.
The short stories seemed a little bit more random this time and aimed at someone older. I think that children younger would easily lose interest in some of them.
The first chapter had lot of information and old style story telling. I liked it, but it was difficult to get through that one. I definitely have my favourites out of the short stories. The crocodile chapter reminded me of a really slow version of the Giraffe, the Pelli and me and the Enormous Crocodile. I did guess how it was going to end.
I enjoyed the husky one very much. That had a good ending. It made me smile.
But I definitely enjoyed and liked the last chapters best (they did have there sad moments).
I have been in the jungle book so long, I think I will miss Mowgli, Grey brother and their friends. I am happy but also sad with how it ends :)
If you fancy a challenge and an old classic, then I would recommend this. It was certainly not what I was expecting when I started.
The short stories seemed a little bit more random this time and aimed at someone older. I think that children younger would easily lose interest in some of them.
The first chapter had lot of information and old style story telling. I liked it, but it was difficult to get through that one. I definitely have my favourites out of the short stories. The crocodile chapter reminded me of a really slow version of the Giraffe, the Pelli and me and the Enormous Crocodile. I did guess how it was going to end.
I enjoyed the husky one very much. That had a good ending. It made me smile.
But I definitely enjoyed and liked the last chapters best (they did have there sad moments).
I have been in the jungle book so long, I think I will miss Mowgli, Grey brother and their friends. I am happy but also sad with how it ends :)
If you fancy a challenge and an old classic, then I would recommend this. It was certainly not what I was expecting when I started.
September 11, 2016
Just as with The Jungle Book. Rudyard Kipling's Second Jungle Book is a mixed bag of stories, with the best being the tales of Mowgli. When he saw that I was reading SJB, a fraternity brother and fellow Goodreads member commented that "The King's Anku" read like a proto-Conan story, and I must say that story does have a heavy Robert E. Howard flavor to it, and obviously shows the influence Kipling had on Howard's writing. But Kipling's influence goes beyond REH; all the Mowgli stories are very much like an Indian version of Tarzan--and I think it interesting that Kipling, who accepted without question the supremacy of White Anglo-Saxon culture, made his hero a native of India (while Edgar Rice Burroughs made his hero an Englishman).
A final note: Anyone who has read and enjoyed Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book should check out Gaiman's original inspiration and source material, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book.
A final note: Anyone who has read and enjoyed Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book should check out Gaiman's original inspiration and source material, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book.
May 7, 2018
On the trail that thou must tread
To the thresholds if our dread,
Where the Flower blossoms red;
Through the nights when thou shalt lie
Prisoned from our Mother-sky,
Hearing us, thy loves, go by;
In the dawns when this shalt wake
To the toil thou candy not break,
Heartsick for the Jungle’s sake:
*Wood and Water, Wind and Tree,
Wisdom, Strenght, and Courtesy,
Jungle-Favour go with thee!*
The Second Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
To the thresholds if our dread,
Where the Flower blossoms red;
Through the nights when thou shalt lie
Prisoned from our Mother-sky,
Hearing us, thy loves, go by;
In the dawns when this shalt wake
To the toil thou candy not break,
Heartsick for the Jungle’s sake:
*Wood and Water, Wind and Tree,
Wisdom, Strenght, and Courtesy,
Jungle-Favour go with thee!*
The Second Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
July 6, 2018
Ultimately and overall a wonderful set of works. The second set of The Jungle Book, far better than the first, however, this is marked down, as, unlike Kim and The Man who would be King, which are one book respectively, Kipling chose to do a selection of short stories which, I feel diminishes these works.
July 22, 2017
Again, I prefer the non-Mowgli stories. I'm afraid I've outgrown the Master of the Jungle (ha!). Reading it this time, I got the feeling that by the last story Kipling had too.
April 21, 2021
I feel bad but I just could not follow this book
August 12, 2020
Niedokończone. Nawet jeśli zignorować prokolonialny wydźwięk (trudne, ale możliwe), to jest to dla mnie absolutnie nieciekawa i nudna lektura.
August 23, 2025
(1895) Written in Vermont, like the first volume the year before. Still great, still Kipling, but still a big step down from the first one, which was both more entertaining and better written. The latter stories, however, recaptured the magic and rescued the book for me.
The collection is interspersed with poems and gory songs. Kipling had a great understanding of the animal world, especially of the role dominance plays, and the mercurial, unmeaning violence never far from the surface. I’m pretty amazed he could so accurately describe rarely observed lands and wildlife, from the jungle to the tundra, without watching nature documentaries. The authors from this period were such whizzes. Like The Jungle Book, the first editions had illustrations by Kipling’s father. Tarzan is a total rip-off of Mowgli, incidentally, as Kipling himself knew.
____
“How Fear Came.”
A just-so story.
____
“The Miracle of Purun Bhagat.”
A forerunner to the lama in Kim.
____
“Letting in the Jungle.”
The forest is turned into a sort of haunted house to scare away the villagers.
____
“The Undertakers.”
Has a cool, Night-of-the-Living-Dead ending, where the perspective shifts and you watch from a distance as one of the main characters is shot.
____
“The King’s Ankus.”
An ankus is a kind of dagger used by elephant-riders as a goad. It functions here much like the rajah’s diamond in the Stevenson story: we follow the priceless object as it leads to a string of murders. I liked the scene with the white cobra in the underground vault full of treasure.
____
“Quiquern.”
“From time to time a greenish wave of the Northern Lights would roll across the hollow of the high heavens, flick like a flag, and disappear; or a meteor would crackle from darkness to darkness, trailing a shower of sparks behind.”
Inuit survival story. The warped sounds of the ice breaking up are eerie, and the flight from the floe is epic in scale, terrifying and sublime. Poe would’ve been proud.
“…the sleigh and the two that pulled it crawled like things in a nightmare—a nightmare of the end of the world at the end of the world.”
____
“Red Dog.”
“But the buck lived."
"How?"
"Because he came first.”
Now the animals’ hard-earned territory is threatened by a vast pack of wild dogs. How do you defeat the fiercest foe you’ve ever faced? By finding the fiercest foe of all and weaponizing it. So Mowgli and Kaa travel to the haunt of the bees, the real kings of the jungle. It’s a very mythic idea: Perseus using Medusa’s head as a weapon (as in Ovid) or Heracles dipping arrows in Hydra’s blood, or even Bellerophon taming Pegasus. It’s an idea reused again and again by pulp writers shortly after (see Dunsany, Howard, or Clark Ashton Smith).
The language during the epic battle at the end gets really Lord of the Rings-y. I bet Tolkien was a fan of this story. Seems to be the favorite on Goodreads too.
____
“The Spring Running.”
“They cast thee out once, with bad talk. They cut thy mouth with stones. They sent Buldeo to slay thee. They would have thrown thee into the Red Flower. Thou, and not I, hast said that they are evil and senseless.”
The theme running through all these stories, Mowgli’s innocence and Man’s corruption (for example only he could handle the ankus with impunity), comes to a head when mating season arrives and our jungle boy, now a jungle man, feels a strange discontent.
The final scene, where the only animals to show up to Mowgli’s meeting are the original characters, is heartwarming. Who knew saying goodbye to a python could be so sad.
The collection is interspersed with poems and gory songs. Kipling had a great understanding of the animal world, especially of the role dominance plays, and the mercurial, unmeaning violence never far from the surface. I’m pretty amazed he could so accurately describe rarely observed lands and wildlife, from the jungle to the tundra, without watching nature documentaries. The authors from this period were such whizzes. Like The Jungle Book, the first editions had illustrations by Kipling’s father. Tarzan is a total rip-off of Mowgli, incidentally, as Kipling himself knew.
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“How Fear Came.”
A just-so story.
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“The Miracle of Purun Bhagat.”
A forerunner to the lama in Kim.
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“Letting in the Jungle.”
The forest is turned into a sort of haunted house to scare away the villagers.
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“The Undertakers.”
Has a cool, Night-of-the-Living-Dead ending, where the perspective shifts and you watch from a distance as one of the main characters is shot.
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“The King’s Ankus.”
An ankus is a kind of dagger used by elephant-riders as a goad. It functions here much like the rajah’s diamond in the Stevenson story: we follow the priceless object as it leads to a string of murders. I liked the scene with the white cobra in the underground vault full of treasure.
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“Quiquern.”
“From time to time a greenish wave of the Northern Lights would roll across the hollow of the high heavens, flick like a flag, and disappear; or a meteor would crackle from darkness to darkness, trailing a shower of sparks behind.”
Inuit survival story. The warped sounds of the ice breaking up are eerie, and the flight from the floe is epic in scale, terrifying and sublime. Poe would’ve been proud.
“…the sleigh and the two that pulled it crawled like things in a nightmare—a nightmare of the end of the world at the end of the world.”
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“Red Dog.”
“But the buck lived."
"How?"
"Because he came first.”
Now the animals’ hard-earned territory is threatened by a vast pack of wild dogs. How do you defeat the fiercest foe you’ve ever faced? By finding the fiercest foe of all and weaponizing it. So Mowgli and Kaa travel to the haunt of the bees, the real kings of the jungle. It’s a very mythic idea: Perseus using Medusa’s head as a weapon (as in Ovid) or Heracles dipping arrows in Hydra’s blood, or even Bellerophon taming Pegasus. It’s an idea reused again and again by pulp writers shortly after (see Dunsany, Howard, or Clark Ashton Smith).
The language during the epic battle at the end gets really Lord of the Rings-y. I bet Tolkien was a fan of this story. Seems to be the favorite on Goodreads too.
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“The Spring Running.”
“They cast thee out once, with bad talk. They cut thy mouth with stones. They sent Buldeo to slay thee. They would have thrown thee into the Red Flower. Thou, and not I, hast said that they are evil and senseless.”
The theme running through all these stories, Mowgli’s innocence and Man’s corruption (for example only he could handle the ankus with impunity), comes to a head when mating season arrives and our jungle boy, now a jungle man, feels a strange discontent.
The final scene, where the only animals to show up to Mowgli’s meeting are the original characters, is heartwarming. Who knew saying goodbye to a python could be so sad.
December 4, 2023
If you only know the movie versions of The Jungle Book or a passing knowledge of it, you probably think it’s all about the boy Mowgli and the other animals like Baloo the bear etc. And that’s partially true.
But in the first book only 3 of the 7 stories are about him. There are also totally unrelated stories in it with the only connection that they’re set in India and involve animals. With book 2, only 3 are unrelated and the other 6 are about Mowgli.
The Mowgli stories basically come after the first book, with the last one where he’s around 18 years old.
This was a slow read for me, mostly because I was constantly looking up things I’ve never heard of like what a Himalayan black bear looks like.
I read the first book 3 years ago and can highly recommend it. There’s not a bad story in the bunch.
This second book is just ok. It’s kind of like the B-sides - yeah that’s showing my age.
One odd thing is how many thous and thees and hasts there are, but it doesn’t seem consistent between one story and the next.
But in the first book only 3 of the 7 stories are about him. There are also totally unrelated stories in it with the only connection that they’re set in India and involve animals. With book 2, only 3 are unrelated and the other 6 are about Mowgli.
The Mowgli stories basically come after the first book, with the last one where he’s around 18 years old.
This was a slow read for me, mostly because I was constantly looking up things I’ve never heard of like what a Himalayan black bear looks like.
I read the first book 3 years ago and can highly recommend it. There’s not a bad story in the bunch.
This second book is just ok. It’s kind of like the B-sides - yeah that’s showing my age.
One odd thing is how many thous and thees and hasts there are, but it doesn’t seem consistent between one story and the next.
April 7, 2021
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book was originally published in two volumes that were interspersed with stories unrelated to the adventures of Mowgli and the jungle. Kipling later reorganized them to put all of the Mowgli stories together and move the ancillary stories such as the White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi to a separate volume. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the books are still sold in their original format, which leads to confusion.
The quality of the stories, with integrated poetry in every chapter, is exceptional. As one might expect, the Disney version was not entirely consistent with the original. Above all, the characters in the original version are all much more fully developed and noble than their over-simplified Disney counterparts. Most of the animals, including Kaa the snake, are friends with and advisors of Mowgli.
In its reorganized form, the book would be a four star story, but in its rather disjointed and confusing original form, it is only three.
The quality of the stories, with integrated poetry in every chapter, is exceptional. As one might expect, the Disney version was not entirely consistent with the original. Above all, the characters in the original version are all much more fully developed and noble than their over-simplified Disney counterparts. Most of the animals, including Kaa the snake, are friends with and advisors of Mowgli.
In its reorganized form, the book would be a four star story, but in its rather disjointed and confusing original form, it is only three.
August 11, 2021
I just finished "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. These were two really fun sets of short stories! I really enjoyed the Mowgli stories the most (with Bagheera, Baloo, Kaa, Sher Khan and the rest), but there were some other great adventures as well like "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi". Highly recommended! Here's a quote, "And what is a man that he should not run with his brothers? I was born in the jungle; I have obeyed the Law of the Jungle; and there is no wolf of ours from whose paws I have not pulled a thorn. Surely they are my brothers!”
August 1, 2021
3 stars overall, and that only because the later stories managed to raise the average. Definitely a lackluster sequel, though I enjoyed a couple of the extra Mowgli stories.
How Fear Came: 3 stars
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat: 2 stars
Letting in the Jungle: 2.5 stars
The Undertakers: 2.5 stars
The King’s Ankus: 4 stars
Quiquern: 3 stars
Red Dog: 4 stars
The Spring Running: 3 stars
How Fear Came: 3 stars
The Miracle of Purun Bhagat: 2 stars
Letting in the Jungle: 2.5 stars
The Undertakers: 2.5 stars
The King’s Ankus: 4 stars
Quiquern: 3 stars
Red Dog: 4 stars
The Spring Running: 3 stars
October 11, 2025
Mowgli is growing up here, he has a lot to say and loves to declare himself master of the jungle. He will trick 200 dholes (red dogs) into a blood bath of stinging, drowning and stabbing, and knife a water buffalo just for fun. All too human.
I didn't care for the Inuit story or the jackal, crocodile and crane one. Rounding down, instead of up.
I didn't care for the Inuit story or the jackal, crocodile and crane one. Rounding down, instead of up.
March 5, 2024
It’s remarkable how the movies and books are nothing alike. They just took the characters from the books and decided to completely change who they are. I prefer the short story format and characters of the book honestly.
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