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The Third Jungle Book
One hundred years ago, Rudyard Kipling travelled to India as a young journalist and wrote the fabulous stories of the Jungle Books about Mowgli, the jungle boy raised by a wolf pack, and his friends, Bagheera, the black panther, and Baloo, the bear. Kipling’s original stories ended before Mowgli became of age, and generations of readers have wondered what happened to Mowgli as he grew up. The Third Jungle Book is Mowgli’s continuing story. Pamela Jekel completes the stories Kipling began, with Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, the python, and Hathi, the elephant, and introduces new adversaries and allies, such as Gargadan, the irascible rhino who runs the veldt like a drill sergeant; Hama, the wily and powerful King Cobra, and Shere Safid, the Ghost Tiger, son of Shere Khan. These new characters join the much-beloved familiar characters to accompany the jungle boy into manhood when he becomes Warden of the Forest with a son of his own.
286 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 19, 2012
A Woman's Touch,
This book has been described in these terms: "has a remarkable ring of authenticity", "succeeded in capturing the rhythm and tone of the original stories so well that Kipling himself would have approved", "Kipling's voice is heard again", "a literary miracle", "pure Kipling thought and phrasing", "unerringly recaptures all of the magic", "recaptures the spirit and tone of Kipling's original works". To which I would agree but add one caveat, if you mixed up both sets of stories and handed them to people who knew nothing about Mowgli and nothing about Kipling, most of them could easily and unerringly separate the Kipling stories from the Jekel stories on being told one thing:...
some stories were written by a man and some stories, by a woman.
That is because Pamela Jekel remarkably and relentlessly insisted on writing her stories from the quintessential stereotypical woman's POV, while Kipling arguably wrote his from the quintessential stereotypical man's POV. It is truly astonishing just how distinct the differences are, yet precisely as the (female to a man... something's wrong with that) blurb writers claim, the channeling of Kipling is uncanny.
Ms. Jekel has just chosen to channel Rudyard Kipling as if he was a woman. A few examples should suffice, made easier by the fact that in several of her stories, Ms. Jekel appears to be duplicating the basic problem posed in a Kipling story but having Mowgli deal with it differently, in accordance with Woman's Wisdom rather than Man's.
I think it is fair to say that Man's first instinct in response to a crisis is violence, especially if he's writing fiction and doesn't have to worry about the outcome while Woman's first instinct is to counsel caution and careful thought before acting. Thus, two of Kipling's best Mowgli stories (in the opinion of this man) are "Kaa's Hunting" and "Red Dog", the former piling the bodies of gray monkeys up in hecatombs as Bagheera and Baloo fight for their very lives and to save Mowgli, the latter having Mowgli recklessly, proudly, even joyfully lead the Seeonee wolf pack to a terrible victory in war over a 200 strong pack of Dekkan Red Dogs or Dholes five times their number that is exterminated to the very last dhole at the cost of nearly 30 wolves. In contrast in her version of "Kaa's Hunting", "The Porcupine and the Poison People", Ms. Jekel has Mowgli talk his way out of death until Bagheera and Baloo can snatch him to safety by telling stories ala Scheherazade that entrance the Poison People into immobility. In her version of "Red Dog", "In the Cave of Badur", Mowgli considers and discards several plans for dealing with a tribe of poison-arrow wielding humans (Gonds) before coming up with one that eliminates the problem at the cost of only 4 wolf and 2 human lives. (It is such a good story that one hates to ruin it by pointing out that vampire bats are exclusive to Central and South America.)
Of course there is an obvious exception to this known in both jungle and town: nothing, absolutely NOTHING approaches the ferocity of females defending their children. Even Kipling acknowledges this in the relative ferocity expressed by Mother Wolf versus Father Wolf, in Shere Khan's choice to take his chances with the bulls rather than with the cows in "Tiger! Tiger!", and in the poem "The Female of the Species". Ms. Jekel on the other hand gives us three different examples of a mother's ferocity in three different tales: otter, elephant and human.
Traditionally women have been the champions of education, for their sons at least even when their societies have denied education to them and their daughters. In Kipling's tales Mowgli's instructions in the Law of the Jungle are used generally as catalysts for adventures or tales, not necessarily related to the lesson being taught, but in five separate stories Ms. Jekel explicitly sends Mowgli out on five separate school field trips to learn something specific about the Law, which quest for specific knowledge triggers the story.
There are other more minor examples. Corporal punishment: both authors detail its infliction on Mowgli by Bagheera and Baloo, but Kipling's beatings are much harsher and more bruising than Jekel's. Ms. Jekel presents us with the novelty (less common but certainly not unheard of) of a female lead elephant herd. As the ones who do the final selecting from the available candidates (except when they are forced or treated as chattel), I think it is fair to say that Woman has always had the better grasp of what is going on in wooing than Man who (foolishly) assumes he is in charge; thus, in her version of "The Spring Running", "Bagheera and the Spring Hunt" Ms. Jekel has Mowgli come to an understanding (thanks to an apparently interested village girl) of what is going on that he will have inexplicably forgotten by the time of the chronologically later Kipling story. Finally, the shy young maiden Mowgli woos in Kipling's "In the Rukh" is clearly wearing the pants in the family by the time of Jekel's chronologically later "Master of the Jungle".
That a woman could write Mowgli stories from a woman's perspective hardly surprises; that she could write them as well as these are written from that perspective perhaps deserves some extra thought. I think Ms. Jekel's secret is that she does not write with a sneer and a scowl; she does not suggest that Woman's Wisdom is superior to Man's, merely equal to it and as worthy of consideration by Wise Man as Man's Wisdom is worthy of consideration by Wise Woman. Turns out two heads ARE better than one! Who knew?
Besides Ms. Jekel, I mean.
What follows is my attempt to place Ms. Jekel's stories (capitalized) in chronological order with Rudyard Kipling's as published in All The Mowgli Stories:
Mowgli's Brothers, Part 1 (Mowgli's origin)
FIRE IN THE JUNGLE (School field trip and possible untold Kipling tale)
WHERE THE ELEPHANTS DANCE (School field trip)
Kaa's Hunting (Contrary to movies, Mowgli makes a great friend; 2nd best story)
How Fear Came (Arguably a prototype for the Just So stories)
THE PORCUPINE AND THE POISON PEOPLE (School field trip and Ms. Jekel's version of Kaa's Hunting)
GARGADAN, THE GREAT RHINO (School field trip)
IN THE CAVE OF BADUR (Ms. Jekel's version of Red Dog)
Mowgli's Brothers, Part 2 (Mowgli is cast out of the Seeonee wolf pack)
"Tiger! Tiger!" (Mowgli and Shere Khan finally have it out)
Letting in the Jungle (Villagers attack his adoptive human mother; Mowgli responds)
The King's Ankus (Jungle detective work reveals a tale of man's greed)
Red Dog (Mowgli vows to help the Seeonee wolf pack fight off red dogs; best story)
BAGHEERA AND THE SPRING HUNT (Ms. Jekel's version of The Spring Running)
THE MAD ELEPHANT OF MANDLA (Untold Kipling tale and female lead elephant herd)
JACALA, TYRANT OF THE MARSH (School field trip, untold Kipling tale, and a mother otter fights for her kits)
THE GHOST TIGER (Mother elephants fight for their calves and Ms. Jekel's version of Mowgli's Brothers, Part 2 and "Tiger! Tiger!")
The Spring Running (Mowgli casts himself out; unsatisfying end to Mowgli's saga)
In the Rukh (Mowgli finds his place; satisfying end to Mowgli's saga)
MASTER OF THE JUNGLE (Mowgli's wife fights for their son)
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3PNM7YB...
This book has been described in these terms: "has a remarkable ring of authenticity", "succeeded in capturing the rhythm and tone of the original stories so well that Kipling himself would have approved", "Kipling's voice is heard again", "a literary miracle", "pure Kipling thought and phrasing", "unerringly recaptures all of the magic", "recaptures the spirit and tone of Kipling's original works". To which I would agree but add one caveat, if you mixed up both sets of stories and handed them to people who knew nothing about Mowgli and nothing about Kipling, most of them could easily and unerringly separate the Kipling stories from the Jekel stories on being told one thing:...
some stories were written by a man and some stories, by a woman.
That is because Pamela Jekel remarkably and relentlessly insisted on writing her stories from the quintessential stereotypical woman's POV, while Kipling arguably wrote his from the quintessential stereotypical man's POV. It is truly astonishing just how distinct the differences are, yet precisely as the (female to a man... something's wrong with that) blurb writers claim, the channeling of Kipling is uncanny.
Ms. Jekel has just chosen to channel Rudyard Kipling as if he was a woman. A few examples should suffice, made easier by the fact that in several of her stories, Ms. Jekel appears to be duplicating the basic problem posed in a Kipling story but having Mowgli deal with it differently, in accordance with Woman's Wisdom rather than Man's.
I think it is fair to say that Man's first instinct in response to a crisis is violence, especially if he's writing fiction and doesn't have to worry about the outcome while Woman's first instinct is to counsel caution and careful thought before acting. Thus, two of Kipling's best Mowgli stories (in the opinion of this man) are "Kaa's Hunting" and "Red Dog", the former piling the bodies of gray monkeys up in hecatombs as Bagheera and Baloo fight for their very lives and to save Mowgli, the latter having Mowgli recklessly, proudly, even joyfully lead the Seeonee wolf pack to a terrible victory in war over a 200 strong pack of Dekkan Red Dogs or Dholes five times their number that is exterminated to the very last dhole at the cost of nearly 30 wolves. In contrast in her version of "Kaa's Hunting", "The Porcupine and the Poison People", Ms. Jekel has Mowgli talk his way out of death until Bagheera and Baloo can snatch him to safety by telling stories ala Scheherazade that entrance the Poison People into immobility. In her version of "Red Dog", "In the Cave of Badur", Mowgli considers and discards several plans for dealing with a tribe of poison-arrow wielding humans (Gonds) before coming up with one that eliminates the problem at the cost of only 4 wolf and 2 human lives. (It is such a good story that one hates to ruin it by pointing out that vampire bats are exclusive to Central and South America.)
Of course there is an obvious exception to this known in both jungle and town: nothing, absolutely NOTHING approaches the ferocity of females defending their children. Even Kipling acknowledges this in the relative ferocity expressed by Mother Wolf versus Father Wolf, in Shere Khan's choice to take his chances with the bulls rather than with the cows in "Tiger! Tiger!", and in the poem "The Female of the Species". Ms. Jekel on the other hand gives us three different examples of a mother's ferocity in three different tales: otter, elephant and human.
Traditionally women have been the champions of education, for their sons at least even when their societies have denied education to them and their daughters. In Kipling's tales Mowgli's instructions in the Law of the Jungle are used generally as catalysts for adventures or tales, not necessarily related to the lesson being taught, but in five separate stories Ms. Jekel explicitly sends Mowgli out on five separate school field trips to learn something specific about the Law, which quest for specific knowledge triggers the story.
There are other more minor examples. Corporal punishment: both authors detail its infliction on Mowgli by Bagheera and Baloo, but Kipling's beatings are much harsher and more bruising than Jekel's. Ms. Jekel presents us with the novelty (less common but certainly not unheard of) of a female lead elephant herd. As the ones who do the final selecting from the available candidates (except when they are forced or treated as chattel), I think it is fair to say that Woman has always had the better grasp of what is going on in wooing than Man who (foolishly) assumes he is in charge; thus, in her version of "The Spring Running", "Bagheera and the Spring Hunt" Ms. Jekel has Mowgli come to an understanding (thanks to an apparently interested village girl) of what is going on that he will have inexplicably forgotten by the time of the chronologically later Kipling story. Finally, the shy young maiden Mowgli woos in Kipling's "In the Rukh" is clearly wearing the pants in the family by the time of Jekel's chronologically later "Master of the Jungle".
That a woman could write Mowgli stories from a woman's perspective hardly surprises; that she could write them as well as these are written from that perspective perhaps deserves some extra thought. I think Ms. Jekel's secret is that she does not write with a sneer and a scowl; she does not suggest that Woman's Wisdom is superior to Man's, merely equal to it and as worthy of consideration by Wise Man as Man's Wisdom is worthy of consideration by Wise Woman. Turns out two heads ARE better than one! Who knew?
Besides Ms. Jekel, I mean.
What follows is my attempt to place Ms. Jekel's stories (capitalized) in chronological order with Rudyard Kipling's as published in All The Mowgli Stories:
Mowgli's Brothers, Part 1 (Mowgli's origin)
FIRE IN THE JUNGLE (School field trip and possible untold Kipling tale)
WHERE THE ELEPHANTS DANCE (School field trip)
Kaa's Hunting (Contrary to movies, Mowgli makes a great friend; 2nd best story)
How Fear Came (Arguably a prototype for the Just So stories)
THE PORCUPINE AND THE POISON PEOPLE (School field trip and Ms. Jekel's version of Kaa's Hunting)
GARGADAN, THE GREAT RHINO (School field trip)
IN THE CAVE OF BADUR (Ms. Jekel's version of Red Dog)
Mowgli's Brothers, Part 2 (Mowgli is cast out of the Seeonee wolf pack)
"Tiger! Tiger!" (Mowgli and Shere Khan finally have it out)
Letting in the Jungle (Villagers attack his adoptive human mother; Mowgli responds)
The King's Ankus (Jungle detective work reveals a tale of man's greed)
Red Dog (Mowgli vows to help the Seeonee wolf pack fight off red dogs; best story)
BAGHEERA AND THE SPRING HUNT (Ms. Jekel's version of The Spring Running)
THE MAD ELEPHANT OF MANDLA (Untold Kipling tale and female lead elephant herd)
JACALA, TYRANT OF THE MARSH (School field trip, untold Kipling tale, and a mother otter fights for her kits)
THE GHOST TIGER (Mother elephants fight for their calves and Ms. Jekel's version of Mowgli's Brothers, Part 2 and "Tiger! Tiger!")
The Spring Running (Mowgli casts himself out; unsatisfying end to Mowgli's saga)
In the Rukh (Mowgli finds his place; satisfying end to Mowgli's saga)
MASTER OF THE JUNGLE (Mowgli's wife fights for their son)
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3PNM7YB...
February 11, 2024
Pamela Jekel has paid beautiful homage to Rudyard Kipling’s’Jungle Book’ stories with this continuation.
She expertly captures Kipling’s tone, mood and writing style. I found myself slowing down my reading pace so that I could savour each story with relish.
Her final story, ‘Master of the Jungle’, brings the Mowgli stories back full circle to his first tale ‘In the Rukh’, and leads to a devastating, emotional and bittersweet finale.
She expertly captures Kipling’s tone, mood and writing style. I found myself slowing down my reading pace so that I could savour each story with relish.
Her final story, ‘Master of the Jungle’, brings the Mowgli stories back full circle to his first tale ‘In the Rukh’, and leads to a devastating, emotional and bittersweet finale.
October 16, 2018
A real treat, for any fans of the Mowgli tales.
April 25, 2024
Note: this is a subjective, non-prof review.
What can I say about this... It didn't lived the hype, but in certain ways it did.
The poetry is very skippable and bad, and the first tales are not good at all, then they became good, like very very good.
Lets say that, the more constricted by the narrative, the original one that is, the worse they are, but the more and more freedom and divergencies Jekel took, from boring and trite became fun and filling.
The problem is that those are only the last five, making half the book a chore to go through, well a bit than more than half because the poetry is very bad, Jekel is no Kipling and though her effort are apreciated, well the book would have been better without it.
I cannot say that I didn't enjoy this book because it wold be a lie for my part, I did, but only half of it, it is not a solid book not even a mid one, is the type of, or you love it or you hate it with no midpoint, and certaintly, I didn't like it, but maybe you would, so if you think you would enjoy it, give it a try.
What can I say about this... It didn't lived the hype, but in certain ways it did.
The poetry is very skippable and bad, and the first tales are not good at all, then they became good, like very very good.
Lets say that, the more constricted by the narrative, the original one that is, the worse they are, but the more and more freedom and divergencies Jekel took, from boring and trite became fun and filling.
The problem is that those are only the last five, making half the book a chore to go through, well a bit than more than half because the poetry is very bad, Jekel is no Kipling and though her effort are apreciated, well the book would have been better without it.
I cannot say that I didn't enjoy this book because it wold be a lie for my part, I did, but only half of it, it is not a solid book not even a mid one, is the type of, or you love it or you hate it with no midpoint, and certaintly, I didn't like it, but maybe you would, so if you think you would enjoy it, give it a try.
May 17, 2024
A charming, delightful read.
January 16, 2014
I was deeply skeptical going in, especially since Kipling's original Mowgli stories are my favorite stories in all the world. I wasn't expecting to love this book, but I was interested in what is essentially Kipling fanfic. The first thing I noticed is how hollow the poetry rang. How silly it was when contrasted with Kipling's magisterial Law of the Jungle. The stories were oddly light as well. Many phrases were ported wholesale from the source, but they couldn't save the weakness of plot. Then she brought in bats. Vampire bats. In India. There are no vampire bats in India. I say it's spinach, and I say don't bother. The illustrations didn't work for me either.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews