Letting in the Jungle

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Letting in the Jungle" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

Illustration from "Letting in the Jungle" in Rudyard Kipling's The Second Jungle Book.

"Letting In the Jungle" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling which continues Mowgli's adventures from "Mowgli's Brothers" and "Tiger! Tiger!". The story was written at Kipling's parents' home in Tisbury, Wiltshire, and is therefore the only Mowgli story not written in Vermont.

It was published in the Pall Mall Gazette and the Pall Mall Budget for December 13, 1894, and in McClure's Magazine for January 1895, before being collected as the third story in The Second Jungle Book (1895).

## Story[edit]

In the previous story Mowgli fulfilled his vow to kill the tiger Shere Khan and to lay his hide upon the wolfpack's Council Rock, but was cast out of the human village after its chief hunter Buldeo learned of his friendship with wolves and accused him of sorcery.

Mowgli returns to the jungle and tries to forget humanity, but Akela tells him that Buldeo is still searching for him. Grey Brother suggests killing Buldeo, but Mowgli angrily forbids him.

Mowgli and the wolves stalk Buldeo and eavesdrop on his conversation with some charcoal-burners. Mowgli is shocked to discover that the villagers have imprisoned his adoptive human parents, Messua and her husband, and are planning to execute them for fostering Mowgli.

Ordering the wolves to harry Buldeo and prevent him from returning to the village, Mowgli returns there to rescue his parents. He discovers that his adopted wolf mother Raksha has also arrived, and warns her to keep out of sight while he frees Messua and her husband.

Meshua is pleased that her son has returned to save them, but her husband is bitter at losing most of his money and possessions and shows no paternal warmth toward Mowgli.

Messua and her husband set out on foot for the town of Khanhiwara, some thirty miles away, guarded by Raksha at a discreet distance. Meanwhile, Bagheera the panther arrives and takes their place in the hut, so that when the villagers arrive to take out the prisoners they get an unpleasant surprise.

The next day Mowgli tells Bagheera he has a plan to take banish the villagers, a plan that involves Hathi the elephant leader and his sons. Bagheera is skeptical that Hathi will answer Mowgli's summons, but is surprised when he does so.

Mowgli tells Hathi of a story Buldeo once told, about an elephant that escaped from a trap and took revenge upon his captors by trampling their fields and villages. Hathi confirms Mowgli's suspicion that he was the elephant in the story. Mowgli wants Hathi to destroy Buldeo's village as well, but to take more time doing so.

Over the course of several weeks the village fields are invaded by herds of wild pigs, deer and buffalo, the livestock is harried by wolves, and the elephants destroy the grain storage bins. While all this is happening Mowgli keeps well out of sight so that the villagers will not suspect his involvement. Finally, as the rainy season sets in, the elephants tear down the village huts and any villagers who have not already left flee for their lives. Six months afterward the wreckage has been completely swallowed by wild jungle and Mowgli's plan is complete.

## In other media[edit]

* In the 1942 film, Mowgli recruits Hathi and his herd to help with banishing the humans for their crimes, but it leads to rescuing animals when a fire threatens the jungle.
* In the anime series Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli, one episode shows Mowgli, Hathi, Baloo, Bagheera, and Raksha leading an army of elephants, buffaloes, deer, wild boars, and wolves to protect the jungle from Buldeo's dark deeds.

## References[edit]

Publication information is taken from the appendix to "The World's Classics" edition of The Second Jungle Book, Oxford University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-19-281655-1.

## External links[edit]

* Children's literature portal

Letting in the Jungle at Wikipedia's sister projects

* Media from Commons
* Texts from Wikisource

* v
* t
* e

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book

Books|

* The Jungle Book (1894)
* The Second Jungle Book (1895)
* All the Mowgli Stories (1933)

Mowgli stories|

* "Mowgli's Brothers"
* "Kaa's Hunting"
* "Tiger! Tiger!"
* "Letting in the Jungle"
* "Red Dog"

Other stories|

* "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
* "Toomai of the Elephants"

Characters|

* Mowgli
* Baloo
* Bagheera
* Akela
* Raksha
* Kaa
* Hathi
* Shere Khan
* Bandar-log
* King Louie

Disney franchise|

| Film|

* The Jungle Book (1967)
*   * The Jungle Book (1994)
* The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998)
* The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
* The Jungle Book (2016)

|

Television|

* TaleSpin (1990–91)
* Jungle Cubs (1996–1998)

Music|

| Soundtracks|

* The Jungle Book (1967)
* The Jungle Book (2016)

|

Songs|

* "Colonel Hathi's March"
* "The Bare Necessities"
* "I Wan'na Be like You"
* "Trust in Me"
* "That's What Friends Are For"
* "My Own Home"

Video games|

* TaleSpin (Nintendo) (1991)
* TaleSpin (TurboGrafx-16) (1991)
* TaleSpin (Sega) (1992)
* The Jungle Book (1993)
* The Jungle Book Groove Party (2000)

| Related|

* Disney Infinity 3.0 (2016)
* Disney Magic Kingdoms (2017)
* Disney Mirrorverse (2022)
* Disney Speedstorm (2023)

|

Other|

* The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic
* Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost
* Once Upon a Studio (2023)

Other adaptations|

| Live-action film|

* Elephant Boy (1937)
* Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book (1942)
* The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997)
* Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)

|

Animated film|

* Adventures of Mowgli (1967–1971)
* Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1966)

Television|

* Elephant Boy (1973)
* Mowgli's Brothers (1976)
* Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1975)
* Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli (1989–90)
* episodes
* Mowgli: The New Adventures of the Jungle Book (1998)
* The Jungle Book (2010–2020)

Other|

* A dzsungel könyve
* Djungelboken

Related|

* Bagheera Fountain
* Law of the jungle
* The Jungle Book and Scouting
* The Wolf Cub's Handbook
* Mowgli syndrome
* Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1997 book)

* v
* t
* e

Rudyard Kipling

Novels|

* The Light That Failed (1891)
* The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (co-author, Wolcott Balestier, 1892)
* Captains Courageous (1896)
* Kim (1901)

Collections|

* Plain Tales from the Hills (1888)
* Soldiers Three (1888)
* The Story of the Gadsbys (1888)
* In Black and White (1888)
* The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales (1888)
* Under the Deodars (1888)
* Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (1888)
* From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel (1889)
* Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, poetry)
* Many Inventions (1893)
* The Jungle Book (1894)
* "Mowgli's Brothers"
* "Kaa's Hunting"
* "Tiger! Tiger!"
* "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
* The Second Jungle Book (1895)
* "Letting in the Jungle"
* "Red Dog"
* All the Mowgli Stories (c. 1895)
* The Seven Seas (1896, poetry)
* The Day's Work (1898)
* Stalky & Co. (1899)
* Just So Stories (1902)
* The Five Nations (1903, poetry)
* Puck of Pook's Hill (1906)
* Rewards and Fairies (1910)
* The Fringes of the Fleet (1915, non-fiction)
* Debits and Credits (1926)
* Limits and Renewals (1932)
* Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (1940)
* A Choice of Kipling's Verse (by T. S. Eliot, 1941)

Poems|

* "The Absent-Minded Beggar"
* "The Ballad of the 'Clampherdown'"
* "The Ballad of East and West"
* "The Beginnings"
* "The Bell Buoy"
* "The Betrothed"
* "Big Steamers"
* "Boots"
* "Cold Iron"
* "Dane-geld"
* "Danny Deever"
* "A Death-Bed"
* "The Female of the Species"
* "Fuzzy-Wuzzy"
* "Gentleman ranker"
* "The Gods of the Copybook Headings"
* "Gunga Din"
* "Hymn Before Action"
* "If—"
* "In the Neolithic Age"
* "The King's Pilgrimage"
* "The Last of the Light Brigade"
* "The Lowestoft Boat"
* "Mandalay"
* "The Mary Gloster"
* "McAndrew's Hymn"
* "My Boy Jack"
* "Recessional"
* "A Song in Storm"
* "The Sons of Martha"
* "Submarines"
* "The Sweepers"
* "Tommy"
* "Ubique"
* "The White Man's Burden"

Short stories|

* ".007"
* "The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly"
* "Baa Baa, Black Sheep"
* "Bread upon the Waters"
* "The Broken-Link Handicap"
* "The Butterfly that Stamped"
* "Consequences"
* "The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin"
* "Cupid's Arrows"
* "The Devil and the Deep Sea"
* "The Drums of the Fore and Aft"
* "Fairy-Kist"
* "False Dawn"
* "A Germ-Destroyer"
* "His Chance in Life"
* "His Wedded Wife"
* "In the House of Suddhoo"
* "Kidnapped"
* "Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris"
* "Lispeth"
* "The Man Who Would Be King"
* "A Matter of Fact"
* "Miss Youghal's Sais"
* "The Mother Hive"
* "The Other Man"
* "The Rescue of Pluffles"
* "The Ship that Found Herself"
* "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo"
* "The Taking of Lungtungpen"
* "Three and – an Extra"
* "The Three Musketeers"
* "Thrown Away"
* "Toomai of the Elephants"
* "Watches of the Night"
* "Wireless"
* "Yoked with an Unbeliever"

Related|

* Bibliography
* Bateman's (house)
* Indian Railway Library
* Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer
* Iron Ring
* Law of the jungle
* Aerial Board of Control
* My Boy Jack (1997 play)
* Rudyard Kipling: A Remembrance Tale (2006 documentary)
* My Boy Jack (2007 film)

Family|

* Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling (wife)
* Elsie Bambridge (daughter)
* John Kipling (son)
* John Lockwood Kipling (father)
* MacDonald sisters (mother's family)
* Stanley Baldwin (cousin)
* Georgiana Burne-Jones (aunt)
* Edward Burne-Jones (uncle)
* Philip Burne-Jones (cousin)
* Edward Poynter (uncle)
* Alfred Baldwin (uncle)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[c.]: circa