Status Updates From The Jungle Book

“Thou canst kill everything that thou art strong enough to kill; but for the sake of the bull that bought thee thou must neverkill or eat any cattle young or old.” Mowgli is set apart like Samson and John the Baptist. “And he grew and grew strong as a boy must grow who does not know that he is learning any lessons.” Luke 4:20 “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.”

Bagheera showed him things about the man village so that he would not get hurt. Mowgli also watched him hunt when he felt hungry. He warned him never to kill a bull because he was bought with the price of a bull. (Like Adam and Eve not eating animals and God did not permit eating animals until after the Flood). It’s a bit like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in phrasing.

Mowgli seems to be living in paradise, but remembering the cave it is a false paradise. He cares for his fellow cubs by pulling out thorns. His days are divided between being educated by his father and living the good life with Baloo and Bagheera. He swims in pools (baptism). eats nuts and honey (John the Baptist), and swings through the air like an ape (mastery of nature in a way that wolves cannot).

“Only guess at all the wonderful life that Mowgli led among the wolves, because if it were written out it would fill ever so many books.”

John 21:25 “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

WE ARE THE WOLVES.

Father Wolf teaches Mowgli to read nature (general revelation).

Shere Khan whines. All leave to feast but Baghera, Baloo, and Akela’s family. They wonder if Mowgli will help them out someday. Akela thinks of the day he can’t hunt and thinks Mowgli might be handy to have around. He is brough in through a sacrifice (Old Testament?) and words (New Testament?). Tenish years later (in the fullness of time), the story will pick up. There is a neat Biblical reference.

Bagheera shows deference in saying he has no right to speak but the promise of a bull causes the wolves to accept his words. He points out that it’s a shame to kill a naked cub and he will make more sport to kill if they chose to after he grows up. The wolves accept him mainly because they think he won’t survive the winter rains or the scorching sun. They are not afraid of a naked frog. Akela tells them to look well.

He seems to be the mirror of Shere Khan. He’s inky black but the marks are spots, not stripes, and are only appear in sunlight. He is a combination of cunning, bold, and reckless and he knows the Law very well. A cub can be affirmed with the price of a bull and it does not matter who pays it. He bows out of the conversation but a fat, newly killed bull must have made the mouths of young wolves water.

Akela follows the Law. Two of the Free People must vouch for a cub who is questioned and it cannot be the parents. The first to speak for Mowgli is Baloo who is not considered a threat because he is not a flesh-eater. He teaches the Law of the Jungle to the cubs and he is well-versed in the protocol. Akela calls for another voice. Bagheera speaks even though he is not one of the Free People.

With each one, he announces, “You know the Law. Look well. Look well.” All are accepted. Now he puts forward Mowgli the Frog who sits laughing playing with pebbles glistening in the moonlight. It is a full moon in the Spring and I just can’t help but wonder if it’s the Passover. LOL Shere Khan whines in the background, claiming ownership of Mowgli in classic evil fairy manner. A young wolf questions his acceptance.

Putting on my fairy tale hat, Mowgli fell in status and he is facing death threats from Shere Khan, who has already tried to kill him once. Wow, that sounds like Harry Potter. Akela had nearly died three times: twice he fell into a wolf trap and another time he had been beaten and left for dead, but it’s not clear who beat him. He had been leading the pack for a year. All mother’s are pushing their cubs forward.

Raksha, at one point, led the pack and Akela fought five other wolves to marry her. She is fierce. She made a prophecy that Mowgli will protect the pack some day. Akela worries what the pack will think but Raksha knows the Law of the Jungle, too. If the pack accepts Mowgli, anyone in the pack who kills him will die as a punishment. The pack meets at Council Rock every full moon to accept new cubs and it’s time.

Akela, as king of the Free People, won’t follow a tiger’s orders (I think of stripes as prison). Shere Khan’s roar fills the cave with thunder (false god Zeus) and Raksha (the Demon) spring and her green eyes look like full moons. Mother is a terror when she chooses. She calls him a cub, frog, and fish killer and eater -- I love the imagery. She calls on the demands of hospitality as a reason to care for Mowgli.

We have an orphan of mysterious origin, except that his father was a woodcutter (carpenter?). His name is “Frog” (two natures) and, by living with wolves, he has two natures. He has escaped death. He lives in a cave (descent imagery). It happened on the night of a full moon in the spring. He has an enemy who claims him for his own (Shere Khan). The tiger had burned his paws in a campfire because he missed.

From the beginning Mowgli showed no fear. The naked, brown toddler laughed when he saw the wolves. Mother is nursing her cubs and Akela to bring the man cub to her and he do so quite delicately. Mowgli joins the cubs in nursing and the mother wants to keep him. She butters Akela up by pointing out how they could boast of having a man cub. Akela says he could kill it with one paw and yet it’s not afraid.

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Is this like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (a forbidden fruit)? Animals console themselves because man is weak and defenseless and it is therefor unsportsmanlike to kill them. Their folklore is that animals who do that will become mangy and toothless. The tiger misses and lands in a campfire. He howls in anger. Something walks to the cave and Akela leaps and drops in mid-air because it is man cub.

Mother worries that the game will be scared off for ten miles, and angry villagers will set the grass on fire. Akela snarls at the jackal and sends him away. They can hear Shere Khan whining in the background because he has caught nothing. Then Mother Wolf drops a truth bomb. The tiger is hunting a man cub. How does she know? The Law of the Jungle prohibits killing man because it causes problems for all.

Life seems to revolve around the moon. The jackal says Shere Khan has killed too many cattle in his hunting ground because he is lame (from birth because of the nickname his mother gave him) and cannot take down a buck. The people are ticked off and he needs to hunt elsewhere until they cool down. So, he will hunt in Akela's territory. The jackal delights in bringing bad news.

The jackal has hydrophobia when mad. A fear of water (symbol of baptism). He is called dish lickers because he eats the scraps, old bones. Is it the image of dogs begging for crumbs under the table? He makes an odd comment that the children of kings are men from the beginning. He knows that children should not be complimented to their face. Akela and Mother Wolf are not happy.

Mowgli's Brothers. Fairy tale numbers. Seven o'clock. Father Wolf and Mother Wolf and four cubs plus Mowgli makes seven. Wolf days and nights are flipped from humans. Father is Akela, the chief of the wolves, whose name means solitary. The jackal makes mischief with his flattering words that are intended to cause problems. The tendency of jackal is to go mad, creating chaos and causing terror. He disrupts order.