Story: How the Jungle Began

Everyone was gathered at the Peace Rock during a great drought when Hathi, the master of the jungle, revealed how the world was created. Because the water level had dropped down so low that the Peace Rock was visible all of the jungle had formed a truce so that no one would be killed while drinking from the river. All of the animals, from deer to wolves, were lying on the river bank attempting to stay cool when Shere Khan, the tiger, sidled up to the river bank covered in blood.

He bragged of killing man. Not only that; he bragged of killing out of choice instead of need. Bagheera, the other masterful hunter of the jungle, was disgusted and Hathi sent Shere Khan away from the river. But before the tiger left he made a strange remark to the master elephant: "It was my right and my Night. Thou knowest, O Hathi."

As soon as Shere Khan was out of ear shot Mowgli asked Hathi, "What right does he mean? It is always shameful to kill man."

Hathi sighed before replying,"Stay quiet and I will tell you a tale older than the jungle.

"In the beginning of the jungle, we creatures walked together without fear. Back then there were no droughts and we all ate leaves, flowers, fruit, and bark. Tha, the first of the elephants created this jungle. Where he made furrows in the ground with his tusks, there the rivers ran; and where he struck with his foot, there rose ponds of good water; and when he blew through his trunk, there the trees fell. We knew no man; everyone lived together as one people.

Tha was too busy making the forest to deal with small quarrels over grazing land, so he named the first of the tigers master and judge of the jungle. It is said that one night two bucks came to the tiger to settle their argument. One of them pushed the judge with their horns, and the tiger sprung, killing the deer.

Until that night none of us had died or known death. Ashamed and afraid, the first tiger fled into the marshes of the North. When Tha returned to the crazed scene, no one would tell him who killed the buck. So instead he asked the trees to lean over and use their branches to mark the one who brought death to the jungle.

Meanwhile, Tha apponted the ape as the new judge. At first, the grey ape appeared wise, but soon he began to scratch and leap up and down. When Tha returned, he found the ape hanging upside down and mocking those below. There was no law in the jungle, only foolishness.

At this point Tha called all the animals together. He said,'Your first judge brought you death and your second has brought you shame. Now it is time that you know law, a law that you cannot break. You will meet fear and he will be your new master.'

One of the buffaloes rose up and asked: ' What is fear?'

The creator of the jungle answered,'Seek and ye shall find it.'

Soon the buffaloes did find it, huddled away in a cave. The creature was hairless and walked on its hind legs. When it spoke the animals ran, trampling each other. That night we did not lie down together as was the custom. Instead pigs lied down with pigs, wolves lied down with wolves.

When the tiger heard about this new creature he sought to redeem himself by killing what made the rest of the jungle so afraid. He found the cave and approached man, but also fled in fear once he saw the creature. He went to Tha, begging for help to defeat man and help the jungle. The master of the jungle agreed to allow him to live without fear of man once per year.

When the night came, the tiger could feel it and he returned to the cave. Just as Tha said, the man lied down on the ground before the tiger in fear so that he was able to kill man. The tiger returned to the jungle proud of his accomplishment for he had killed fear itself. Alas, things could not return to normal. The animals were now afraid of him, and he was still shunned from his fellow creatures."

Author's Note: This story comes from the Second Jungle Book so I'm not sure how much of this legend and how much of this is from Rudyard Kipling's imagination. He is a British author who lived in India for a time which inspired his writing. I found the story immensely intriguing because it explains the creation as well as the evolution of the jungle into how we know it today.

Bibliography: The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg
Image: Elephant T, Wikimedia Commons