Many believe that the story of the Indian wolf cub Dean Sanichara inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his most famous and beloved by millions of readers, The Jungle Book.

Like Mowgli, Dean was a wild boy raised by wolves, although his life was very different from the fictional character. Book Mowgli surprised readers with his upbringing. After visiting the Indian forest, he was adopted by animals that fed, protected and protected him. Dean was also raised by wolves, but this real-life boy didn't have such a fabulous life.

Born in India, lived there until the age of 6, and then moved to England with his parents, the young writer Rudyard returned to his home a decade later. small homeland. His famous Jungle Book was published in 1895.

It turns out that the story of Mowgli was born two decades after Dean Sanichar was caught by Indian hunters in a pack of wolves. But unlike the bright book character, Dean was mentally handicapped despite years of reintegration into human society.

Dean wasn't the only boy whose unusual life turned into a book story. But it was his life story that had a direct impact on one of the most famous British writers.

The hunters kidnapped him and killed his wolf companion

The hunters accidentally stumbled upon Dean in the jungle and witnessed him walking on all fours behind his wolf friend. Curiosity got the better of them and they began a whole hunt for the boy to catch him.

They made numerous attempts to lure the wild child and separate it from the wolf, but they failed to separate them. The hunters killed the wolf at the first opportunity. Everything happened right in front of the boy.

He was labeled mentally retarded as soon as he entered the orphanage.

The hunters brought Dean to an orphanage, where the missionaries baptized him and gave him the name Sanichar, which means "Saturday" in Urdu, because that was the day of the week he entered the orphanage. At that time, Father Ehrhardt was in charge of the mission and tried to get to know and understand the boy better.

Dean had a hard time adjusting to his new life, because everyone considered him mentally retarded. He has, however, demonstrated the ability to reason and has occasionally sought to complete certain tasks.

He never learned to speak or write

Children learn to speak during the first two years of their lives. Some children pronounce "mom" or "dad" as early as six months and after a couple of years they begin to communicate calmly in sentences. These time milestones coincide with the mental, emotional and behavioral development of the child.

However, Dean never speaks. Despite numerous attempts by those around him to teach him speech, the wolf boy never learned the human language and did not learn how to write. He communicated all his life, making the sounds of an animal.

The boy quickly learned to smoke

The kid was disgusted with clothes and refused to talk, but he liked to walk not on all fours, but on his feet, although this was not easy for him. Very soon, he adopted an addiction from adults and became addicted to smoking. Perhaps this was the cause of tuberculosis, which killed him later.

He preferred eating raw meat and sharpening his teeth on bone.

Most children begin to grow teeth between the ages of four and seven months and have a full set of teeth by the age of three. Most likely, it was very difficult for Dean at first in a pack of wolves to eat without teeth, because wolves are carnivores and eat mostly raw game.

But over time, he seemed to get used to only the food that the pack ate. When he first appeared at the shelter, the boy flatly refused to eat cooked food. But he greedily pounced on raw pieces of meat and gnawed at the bones with a growl.

He hated walking around dressed

Immediately after the delivery of the boy from the jungle, people tried to instill in him the skills of life in society and forced him to dress. Having learned to walk like a human being, for almost twenty years he forced himself to put on trousers and a shirt.

In addition to him, a wolf boy from Krondstadt was later brought to the orphanage, who shared Dean's reluctance to dress. They both liked to run naked in the jungle.

He managed to make friends with only one orphan - the same wild child

Dean spent most of his childhood with animals and it was quite difficult for him to get used to people. But despite this, he managed to immediately find a common language with another wild child who lived in the same shelter.

The rector of the orphanage believed that a “bond of empathy” was instantly established between the boys, and they even taught each other skills of human behavior that were new to them. For example, how to drink liquids from mugs. They both grew up in wild nature, so they were much more comfortable together, because they understood each other.

During that period, several more children were found raised by animals in the Indian jungle.

No matter how strange it may sound, but in addition to Dean under late XIX centuries, other wolf cubs were found in the Indian jungle. One of the missionaries found in 1892 a wild child near Jalpaigur. The following year, a boy was found who loved to eat frogs in Batzipur near Dalsingaray.

Two years later, the child was found near Sultanpur and they say that later he got used to people well and even went to work for the police. The last to be found after 3 years was a child near Shajampur, who could not adapt to life among people at all, although they tried to “tame” him for 14 years.

Dean could not fully adapt to society and tuberculosis killed him

Having lived in the orphanage for nearly a decade, Dean has been unable to catch up with his mental development. The eighteen-year-old boy barely reached 152 centimeters in height. The young man was low-browed and with big teeth, he was constantly nervous and felt "out of his element."

He is believed to have died at the age of twenty-nine due to tuberculosis in 1895. However, according to other sources, by that time he was 34 years old.

Evidence of the existence of children raised by wolves first appeared in India in the 50s of the XIX century.

An 1851 pamphlet, "An Account of Wolves Raising Children in Their Packs According to Indian Statistics" by Sir William Henry Slimane, is one of the first facts to explain the existence of six wolf children in India. Five of these wild children were found in what is now Sultanpur. One was caught in the area of ​​present-day Bahreich.

According to Slimane, there were many wolves that lived near the city of Sultanpur and other areas on the banks of the Gomtri River, and they ran with "a lot of children."

Pupils of wolves, children were killed in the jungle by tigers and other predators

Why were there only children raised by wolves in the jungle, and not grown-up boys or girls? It is likely that many children did not manage to survive their childhood. Perhaps they were dying of hunger or they were killed by the wolves themselves or other predatory animals.

In The Jungle Book, Mowgli's worst enemy was the tiger Shere Khan. In India, even at that time, there were many tigers that could easily attack a child in wolf pack because people can't run as fast as wolves. During the 19th century, it was not uncommon for hunters to find dead children's bodies in the jungle, gnawed by wild animals.

Wild Children: Truth or Fraud?

Over the years there have been numerous stories of wild children being captured and re-socialized, but many of the stories have since been debunked.

One of the most famous cases in the 1920s involved two girls, Amala and Kamala, who were almost nine years old at the time of their rescue from a wolf pack. The man who found them told everyone that the little ones howled at the moon, walked on all fours and ate only raw meat. He tried to teach them to walk and talk.

Researchers were fascinated by this story and wrote many stories and books about them. But later it turned out that the girls were not brought up by wolves at all, but from birth they were disabled with congenital limb defects.

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Joseph Rudyard Kipling

At seven o'clock on a very hot evening in the middle of the mountains of Hindustan, the wolf father woke up after a day's rest, scratched himself, yawned and spread his paws to get rid of the numbness left in them after sleep. The mother wolf lay with her big gray nose stretched out over four cubs curled up and squeaking. The light of the moon fell into the opening of the cave in which they all lived.
- Brr, - said the wolf father, - it's time to go hunting. He was about to move on when he saw a small shadow with a shaggy tail. She appeared in the opening of the cave and squealed:
- May happiness go with you, chief of the wolves, may your noble children have strong white teeth, may they always succeed, so that they never forget the hungry!
The jackal Tabaki, the eternal sycophant, spoke. The wolves of India despise the jackal, because he runs around and gossips, and besides, he eats scraps and pieces of skin thrown near the villages. But they are also afraid of Tobacco, as jackals can sometimes "go crazy", then they stop being cowards and rush at everyone. Even the tiger runs and hides when the little jackal goes mad because it is the most dangerous disease for the wild animal. People call it hydrophobia. The animals say that this is crazy, and hide from the patient.
“Come in and have a look,” said the father wolf, not too friendly. - We don't have food.
“Not for a wolf,” Tabaki said, “but for a humble creature like me, a dry bone is an excellent treat.” What are we, a tribe of jackals? Can we choose and be capricious?
He trotted into the depths of the cave and there he found the bone of a wild goat, on which there was still some meat left. The jackal began to cheerfully gnaw at her.
"Thank you for the wonderful treat," he said, licking his lips. “Ah, how beautiful your noble children are. What are their big eyes. I. how they are still young. Yes, yes, I should have remembered that royal children become adults from the very beginning.
Tabaqui knew that praise to children's faces brought them misfortune, and he was pleased that the wolves, mother and father, were alarmed and felt embarrassed.
Tabaki sat silently, glad that he had caused trouble, then said:
- Shere Khan has chosen a place for hunting. He told me that before new moon will hunt in these mountains.
Shere Khan was a tiger who lived on the banks of the river twenty miles from the cave of the wolves.
"He has no right to do so," the father wolf said angrily. - According to the laws of the jungle, he has no right to change hunting places without warning other animals. He'll scare away all the game for ten miles around, and I need provisions.
“It was not for nothing that Shere Khan’s mother called him lame,” the she-wolf remarked calmly. He has been lame in one leg since birth. That's why he only kills livestock. Now the villagers are angry with him and he has come here to annoy our human neighbors. They will search for it, inspect the forest and thickets, and we and our children will have to flee when the grass is set on fire. Nothing to say, we can thank Shere Khan.
Would you like to convey your gratitude to him? Tabaki asked.
- Out! shouted the father wolf. - Go hunting with your master! You've given us enough trouble already!
"I'm leaving," Tabaki said calmly. “Do you hear Shere Khan screaming in the bushes? I might as well not tell you that he's here.
The wolf father listened. Below, in the valley that ran along the small river, the angry roar of the tiger was heard, it was clear that he had not caught anything.
"Madman," said the father wolf. - Start the night with such noise! Doesn't he think our wild goats are like his fat, motionless village bulls?
- Shut up. Today he hunts not for goats and not for bulls, - said the she-wolf. - He's chasing a man.
The cry of the tiger was replaced by a loud buzzing purr that seemed to be heard from everywhere. It is this rumble that frightens the woodcutters and gypsies sleeping under open sky, and sometimes makes them run straight into the tiger's mouth.
- Human? - the wolf-father was surprised, showing all his white teeth. - Ugh! Are there really not enough beetles and frogs in the swamps? Does he still want to feast on a man on our land?
The law of the jungle, in which there is not a single unreasonable rule, forbids animals from eating human meat. main reason This is that if the forest animals kill people, sooner or later there will appear in the forest white people on elephants with guns and hundreds of brown savages with gongs and torches. Then all the animals will suffer. Among themselves, the inhabitants of the jungle say that man is the weakest and most defenseless of all animals, and therefore he should not be touched. In addition, according to them (and quite rightly), animals that eat people become covered with scabs and lose teeth.
The purring got louder and louder and suddenly ended in a furious growl.
After that, there was a howl in which it was difficult to recognize the voice of a tiger, but meanwhile it was howling Shere Khan.
“He missed,” said the mother wolf. - What is it?
The father wolf ran out of the cave and heard Shere Khan grumbling angrily as he made his way through the thicket.
“The fool threw himself on the fire of the woodcutters and burned his paws,” the father wolf remarked, chuckling. - Tobacco with him.
“Someone is coming up the hill,” said the she-wolf, pricking up one ear. - Get ready.
Something rustled in the bushes, the wolf crouched slightly, preparing to jump. If you were to look at him now, you would see the most amazing thing in the world: a wolf stopped in the middle of a jump. He jumped before he saw what he was throwing himself at, and immediately tried to stop. Because of this, he, having jumped high, fell almost on the same place from which he began the jump.
"Man," said the wolf. - Look, a human cub!
Just opposite him stood a naked brown boy who had obviously just learned to walk. The child held on to a low branch of a bush.
He looked the wolf straight in the eyes and smiled.
“A human cub,” repeated the mother wolf. - I've never seen what kind of children they have, bring it here.
A wolf, accustomed to carrying his own cubs from place to place, can, if necessary, take an egg in his mouth without breaking it. He lifted the child by the back and did not scratch him. In the cave, the wolf laid the child among his cubs.
- How small he is! And completely hairless. And look, brave! - gently said the she-wolf.
The boy pushed the cubs aside, getting closer to her soft fur.
- Yeah, he wants to feed, just like the rest. So that's what kind of cubs people have! I don't think any she-wolf has ever had such a small animal along with her cubs.
- I heard that this happened, but not in our pack and not in my time, - said the father wolf. “He has no hair at all, and I could kill him with my paw. But look, he's not afraid of us.
The light of the moon that fell into the opening of the wolf's cave disappeared, because the huge square head of Shere Khan and his shoulders occupied the entire entrance. Tabaki stood behind him and barked:
"Master, master, he entered here!"
“Shere Khan did us a great honor,” said the father wolf, but his eyes flashed angrily. "What does Shere Khan want?"
- Give me my prey. A human cub has come here,” said the tiger. - His parents ran away. Give it to me.
The wolf father told the truth: Shere Khan had indeed burned his paw, and the pain irritated him. But the tiger could not get through the opening of the cave, which was too narrow for him.
“Wolves are a free people,” said the father wolf. - They listen to the orders of the leader of the pack and should not obey various striped cattle killers. The man-cub is ours, we can kill it if we want.
- Do you want, do not want! Who's talking about what you want? I swear by the bull I killed! Do I have to suffocate in your stuffy cave for a long time to get my property? It is I who speak, Shere Khan.
Its roar filled the cave. The she-wolf shook off the cubs and jumped to the tiger. Her eyes glowed in the darkness like two green moons, and looked straight into the sparkling eyes of the tiger.
- You say, and I answer, Raksha (demon): my human cub, lame, and he will remain with me. They won't kill him. He will live with us, run and hunt with the pack. And in the end, know that you are a hunter for small hairless cubs, you are a frog eater, a fish killer, he will hunt you! Get out now, scorched animal, even lameer than the day you were born! Go away!
The wolf-father was amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when he married a mother wolf after a fair fight with five other wolves. Then she was still running in the pack, and she was not called a demon. Shere Khan could talk to the wolf father, but he did not dare to speak out against the she-wolf. He knew that in a narrow opening she would have defeated him, and therefore he began to back out of the passage, and when he found himself in an open place, he shouted:
- Every dog ​​barks in his own yard. We'll see what the pack says when they find out you adopted a human cub. He's mine and will someday fall into my teeth. Do you hear that, furry thieves?
The she-wolf, panting, rushed to her children, and the wolf-father remarked to her seriously:
Shere Khan speaks the truth. The little one needs to be shown to the flock. Do you still want to keep him, Raksha?
- Shall I leave him? she called. - He came here without wool, at night, all alone and hungry, but meanwhile he was not afraid. Look, he already pushed one of my kids away. And this lame killer wants to kill him! Will I leave it? Of course I will. Lie down, lie down, my little frog. Oh, you are Mowgli, because I want to call you Mowgli the Frog, someday you will hunt Shere Khan as he hunted you.
"But what will the flock say?" asked the wolf.
The law of the jungle says that every wolf, after marriage, can, if he wishes, live separately. However, as soon as his cubs learn to stand on their feet, he is obliged to bring them to the council of wolves, which, as usual, meets once a month during the full moon. The rest of the wolves inspect the cubs and get to know them. After that, the little ones are allowed to run anywhere, and as long as they do not kill the first goat, not a single adult wolf dares to do them any harm. And the one who kills or offends the wolf cub is executed.
The father wolf was waiting for his cubs to learn to run. And then one night, when the council of the pack met, he took them, Mowgli and the she-wolf with him, and went to the rock where the council took place. There, on top of a mountain covered with stones, there could be about a hundred wolves. Akela, the large gray lone wolf who ruled the entire pack, was lying on a rock, stretched out at full length. A little lower sat about forty wolves of different sizes, different shades, ranging from ash-gray warriors who could handle a bull alone, to dark, almost black three-year-olds who imagined that they were just as strong. Akela had been running them for a year now. In his youth, he twice fell into a wolf trap, and once people beat him so hard with sticks that they considered him dead and left him, so he knew all human customs. There was little talk at the council. The wolf cubs crowded together in the middle of the circle formed by the sitting parent wolves. From time to time, one of the adult wolves calmly approached the wolf cub, looked at him attentively, and with noiseless steps returned to his original place. Sometimes this or that mother pushed her wolf cub out to a place brightly lit by the moon so that they would not forget to examine it. From his rock Akela shouted:
- You know the law, you know the law! Look well, oh wolves!
And the wolf-mothers anxiously repeated:
- Look well, oh, wolves!
Suddenly, all the hair rose on Raksha's neck - it was the wolf-father who pushed Mowgli the Frog, as they called the child, into the very middle of the circle. The child sat smiling and playing with pebbles that shone in the moonlight.
Akela did not raise his head from his paws and continued to shout in a monotone:
- Look good!
From behind the rocks came the muffled roar of Shere Khan:
- He's mine! Give it to me. Why would a free wolf people need a human cub?
Akela didn't even move his ear. He just repeated:
- Look carefully, wolves. What does the free wolf people care about anyone's orders, except for the orders of the free people? Look well.
There was a dull growl, and one young three-year-old wolf repeated Shere Khan's question:
Why would a free people need a human cub?
The law of the jungle says that if there is an argument about whether or not the pack can or cannot adopt a wolf cub, at least two members of the pack (certainly not his father or mother) must say that he should be considered one of his own.
- Who will speak for this cub? Akela asked. - Who's to say that you need to accept it?
There was no answer. The wolf-mother was preparing for the last battle. It should be noted that in the council, in addition to wolves, only Baloo, a sleepy dark bear who teaches the laws of the jungle, can speak. Old Baloo, who has the right to go anywhere he wants because he only eats nuts, roots and honey, got up on his hind legs and grunted:
- Human cub? I say that he needs to be accepted into the pack. He won't harm anyone. I'm not in the habit of talking, but I'm telling the truth. Let him run with the pack, let him live with the rest. I will teach it myself.
- We need a second voice, - said Akela. - Baloo said clearly what he wants, and he is our teacher. Who else wants to say?
A shadow slipped into the circle. It was Bagheera, the black panther, black as ink, but with spots that showed through some of her movements. Everyone knew Bagheera, and no one dared to contradict her, because she was cunning like Tabaqui, strong like a wild buffalo, and unrestrained like a wounded elephant. But she spoke in a voice as soft as wild honey, and her skin was softer than down.
“Oh, Akela, and you free people,” she purred, “I have no right to speak in your assembly, but the law of the jungle says that if the beasts decide whether to kill or not kill a new cub, its life can be bought. The law does not say who has and who does not have the right to pay for his life. Truth?
“Good, good,” said the ever-hungry young wolves. - Listen to Bagheera. You can buy a small one. This is stated in the law.
- I know that I have no right to speak here, and therefore I ask permission to continue.
“Speak, speak,” the wolves shouted.
- It is a shame to kill a defenseless cub, not covered with fur. In addition, it may be useful to you. Baloo spoke for him. Now to the words of Baloo I will add the carcass of a buffalo, very fat, fresh. She lies about a mile away, I will give her to you if you take a man-cub into your flock.
There were many voices.
What's wrong with accepting it? He will die during winter rains. The sun will burn him. Well, what harm can a hairless frog do to us? Let him run with the pack. Where is the buffalo, Bagheera? Let's accept it.
After that, Akela's deep voice rang out:
- Look well, look well, oh, wolves.
The child was still playing with pebbles and did not notice that the wolves began to approach him one by one. Finally, they all ran down to the dead buffalo. Only Akela, Bagheera, Baloo and the wolves who adopted Mowgli remained on the rock. Shere Khan's roar could still be heard in the darkness, angry that Mowgli had not been his.
- That's good, - said Akela, - people and their cubs are very smart. Over time, it will be useful to us.
“Of course, he will come to the rescue in difficult times, because no one can hope to always manage the pack,” Bagheera noted.
Akela didn't say anything. He thought that for every wolf leader, there comes a time when he loses his power, is replaced by another wolf, and is usually killed.
"Take Mowgli away," he said to the wolf father. "Bring him up the way a free people does."
So Mowgli was accepted into the wolf pack.
Now you will have to fast forward ten or eleven years and imagine for yourself what an amazing life Mowgli led among the wolves. He grew up and was brought up with wolf cubs, although, of course, they had already become adult wolves, while he was still a child. The wolf father taught the boy how to hunt and introduced him to everything that was in the jungle. Finally, every rustle of grass, every movement of the warm night air, every exclamation of an owl overhead, every scratch of claws bat, which climbed a tree, every splash of a fish in the water became clear to him. When Mowgli was not studying, he basked in the sun, slept, ate, and slept again; when he got hot, he bathed in small forest swamps. When he wanted honey (Balu said that honey and nuts taste as good as raw meat), he would climb a tree to get them. Bagheera taught him to climb trees. She often lay on one of the upper branches of the tree and called him:
- Come here, little brother.
At first Mowgli crawled through the trees like a slug, but he soon learned to glide through the branches almost as boldly as a gray monkey. When the flock gathered, he also came to the council rock. Once he noticed that under his gaze the wolves lowered their eyes, and sometimes he did this as a joke. Sometimes he took out the thorns of the thorns, which had dug into the paws of the wolves, since all animals often suffer from splinters. Sometimes at night Mowgli came down from the mountains to the cultivated fields and looked with curiosity at the villagers in their huts. However, he was afraid of people and did not trust them, because one day Bagheera showed him a square box with sliding doors, so cleverly hidden in the bushes that Mowgli almost hit him. The panther told him it was a trap.
Most of all, he liked to go with Bagheera into the dark, warm middle of the forest and sleep there all day, and at night watch the panther hunt. Hungry, Bagheera deftly killed game. Mowgli hunted no worse than her. When he grew up and began to understand everything that was said to him, Bagheera said that he should never touch the buffalo, because the buffalo was paid for his life.
“All the jungle is yours,” said Bagheera, “and you may kill all game, but in memory of the buffalo whose life was paid for you, you must never kill them or eat their flesh.” This is the law of the jungle.
Mowgli obeyed.
He became stronger and stronger as he lived in freedom. Once or twice the mother wolf told him that Shere Khan was not to be trusted and that he must eventually kill the tiger.
Of course, the young wolf would always remember this advice, but Mowgli forgot about it, since he was only a boy, despite the fact that he would call himself a wolf if he could speak humanly.
Shere Khan kept meeting him in the jungle, because Akela had grown old, became weaker and could not still control the pack. The lame tiger managed to make friends with the younger wolves. Now they ran after him and picked up the remains of his prey. This Akela would never have allowed if he still had power. Shere Khan flattered them and constantly said that he wondered how such fine young hunters could obey a dying wolf and a man-cub!
“They tell me,” said Shere Khan, “that in council you dare not look him in the face.
In response to this, the young wolves grumbled angrily and raised their bristles. Bagheera, who had eyes and ears everywhere, knew about this and once or twice told Mowgli that Shere Khan would kill him, in response Mowgli only laughed:
- I have a flock and I have you. Baloo, though he is very lazy, will also hit twice. What should I be afraid of?
One very hot day, new rumors reached Bagheera, and it is not known where they came from. Maybe the porcupine told her so. Bagheera and Mowgli were in a deep part of the forest, and the boy lay with his head resting against Bagheera's beautiful black skin. Panther told him:
"Little brother, how many times have I told you that Shere Khan is your enemy?"
“As many times as there are fruits on this palm tree,” answered Mowgli, of course, who could not count. - But why are you talking about it? I'm sleepy, Bagheera, and the talk of Shere Khan will be as long as the tail of Mor's peacock.
But now is not the time to sleep. Baloo knows this, I know this, the flock knows this, even stupid deer know it. And Tabaki warned you too.
"Yes," said Mowgli. - Recently Tabaqui came to me and began to assure me that I was the son of a man and that I did not even dare to pull the truffle out of the ground, but I grabbed Tabaqui by the tail and threw it twice over the palm tree.
- This is stupid. Of course, Tabaki loves to do evil and trouble, but if you didn’t beat him, he would tell you a lot that concerns you personally. Open your eyes brother. Shere Khan does not dare to kill you in the jungle, but remember that Akela is very old and the day will soon come when he will not be able to catch a goat for himself. Then he will cease to be the boss. Many of the wolves that looked at you on the council rock have also grown old, and the young ones believe Shere Khan and say that a human child does not dare to live in a pack. Soon you will be an adult.
- What is a person? Can't he run in a pack with his wolf brothers? asked Mowgli. “I was born in the jungle, I followed the law of the jungle, and we don’t have a single wolf from whose paw I would not pull splinters. Of course they are my brothers.
Bagheera stretched out on the grass at full length and closed her eyes.
“Little brother,” she said, “scratch my throat, under my jaw.”
Mowgli held out his strong hand and under Bagheera's silky chin, where strong chewing muscles passed, covered with shiny hair, he felt a small hairless scar.
“No one in the jungle knows that Bagheera has this sign - the mark of the collar, and meanwhile, little brother, I was born among people, and my mother died in the cage of the royal palace in Udipuri. That's why I paid the council for you when you were a small hairless cub. Yes, I was also born among humans. I was fed with iron bars, from a cast-iron cup. Finally, one night, I felt that I was a panther, a free panther, and not a toy for people. I broke the lock, which shattered under my paw, and broke free. It is because I know people that I have become stronger than Shere Khan himself. Isn't it true?
- Yes, - said Mowgli, - all the jungle is afraid of Bagheera. Everyone is afraid except Mowgli.
“Oh, you are a man-cub,” said the black panther tenderly. - But listen: as I returned to the jungle, so you will return to the people, to your brothers people, unless you are killed in the council.
- Yes, why, why can they kill me? asked Mowgli.
“Look at me,” said Bagheera, and Mowgli fixed his eyes on her. Half a minute later the big panther turned away.
“For this,” she said, spreading her paw. “Even I can’t look you in the eyes, and meanwhile I was born among people and I love you, little brother. The rest hate you because they can't look you in the eye, because you're smart, because you pulled splinters out of their paws, because you're human.
"I didn't know that," said Mowgli gloomily, and frowned.
"Do you know what they do in the jungle?" Hit first, then talk. By your carelessness it is clear that you are a man. But be smarter. I feel that when Akela fails to hunt (and it is more and more difficult for him to catch game), the flock will turn against him and against you. Then the council will meet on the rock and... and... I know what will happen. Bagheera jumped up. “Now run to the human huts in the valley and take a piece of the red flower they keep there. Then you will have a stronger friend than me, Baloo and all those wolves who love you. Get yourself a red flower.
Bagheera called fire the red flower, because not one of the jungle animals dares to say the word "fire". All of them are mortally afraid of him and come up with thousands of names for him.
- Red flower? asked Mowgli. “The one that blooms near their huts at dusk?” I'll get it!
“This is the speech of a man-cub,” said Bagheera proudly. - Remember that it is stored in small pots. Bring one of them and hide it with you just in case.
- Well, - said Mowgli, - I'm going. But are you sure, O my Bagheera, - he hugged his beautiful neck and looked deep into the big eyes, - are you sure that all this is the work of Shere Khan?
“By the broken lock that set me free, I speak the truth, my little brother.
“Then by the buffalo that was paid for me, I will repay Shere Khan,” said Mowgli, and jumped up.
"You are a man. You are real man", - thought Bagheera. Mowgli ran through the forest, and his heart was beating fast. In the evening, when the fog was already rising, he came to the wolf cave, took a deep breath and looked down into the valley. The young wolves were gone, but the mother wolf, who sat in the depth caves, Mowgli realized by breathing that her little frog was worried about something.
- What's wrong with you, son? she asked.
"Stupid chatter of Shere Khan," he said. - Tonight I will go down to the plowed fields.
And he ran down to the stream at the bottom of the valley. Suddenly Mowgli stopped. He heard the howl of a pack that was hunting. Soon there was heard the tramp of the feet of a wild goat and its snorting, then angry exclamations and the howling of young wolves:
- Akela, Akela! Let the lone wolf show his strength. Place for the leader of the pack. Come on, Akela.
Probably the lone wolf jumped, but did not catch the goat. Mowgli heard the wolf's teeth clang, and a minute later the goat knocked the boy down with his front foot.
Mowgli did not wait to see what would happen next. He ran on his way. The scream and howl grew fainter as he approached the crops near which people lived.
Bagheera was telling the truth, he thought, trying to fit into the big cattle feed trough near the window of a hut. Tomorrow will be a bitter day for Akela and for me.
Mowgli pressed his face against the window and looked at the fire that burned in the hearth. He saw the woman sitting in the hut get up and throw some black pieces into the flames.
When morning came and a cold white fog stretched over the earth, a child took one of the pots, filled it with red coals, covered it with his clothes and went with him to the cows.
"Is that all?" thought Mowgli, "if small man If he treats him like that, then I have nothing to fear from him."
He went around the corner, met the boy, snatched the pot out of his hands and disappeared into the mist. The boy screamed loudly in fear.
"People are very much like me," thought Mowgli, and began to blow into the pot, as the woman did in his presence. "This thing will die if I do not feed it." And he threw dry branches and dry bark on the coals. In the middle of the slope of the hill, Mowgli met Bagheera, the morning dew glistening on her like moonstones.
"Akela didn't catch the goat," said the panther. - They would have killed him yesterday, but they need you. They were looking for you.
- I was near plowed fields. I'm ready, look! Mowgli picked up the pot of coals.
- Good. You know, I saw that people put a dry branch into this thing, and then a red flower blooms on it. Are not you afraid?
- No, what should I be afraid of? Now I remember, if this was not a dream, how before I became a wolf, I lay near a red flower, and I felt warm and pleasant.
All that day Mowgli sat in the cave tending his coals. He threw dry branches on them to see what would happen next. Then Mowgli found a bitch, which he liked very much, and when Tabaki came in the evening and rather rudely said that the wolves were waiting for Mowgli near the council rock, he laughed so much that the frightened jackal ran away. And Mowgli boldly went to the rock.
Akela lay at its foot as a sign that the place of the leader of the pack was free, and Shere Khan with his retinue of wolves, feeding on the remnants of his prey, walked up and down the mountain platform. Bagheera lay down beside Mowgli, and he himself sat down on a stone, placing a pot of coals between his legs. When everyone had gathered, Shere Khan began to speak. As long as Akela was strong, the tiger did not dare to do so.
- He has no right to speak in the council, - Bagheera whispered, - say this, he will be frightened.
Mowgli jumped up.
"Free people," he called out, "does Shere Khan lead the pack?" What does the tiger care about our leaders?
“The place of leader is not taken, and I am asked to speak,” began Shere Khan.
- Who asks? Mowgli was surprised. "Are we jackals to listen to this cattle butcher?" Leadership concerns only the pack.
Shouts were heard:
“Shut up, human spawn. Let him speak. He kept our law.
Finally, the older members of the pack thundered:
Let the Dead Wolf speak.
When the leader of the pack fails to hunt, he is called the Dead Wolf.
Akela slowly and wearily raised his head and spoke:
“Free people, and also you jackals of Shere Khan. For twelve years I have taken you hunting, and in all that time no one from the pack has been trapped or hurt. Now I have failed. You know what a conspiracy was. You know that I was led to an unusually strong goat to show my weakness. It was smartly conceived. Now you can kill me here on the council rock, and I ask which of you is willing to fight the lone wolf? By the law of the jungle, I can require you to go out alone.
There was a long silence, none of the wolves wanted to fight Akela to the death. Then Shere Khan bellowed:
- Well, throw this toothless madman! But the human cub has already lived too long. Free people, they were my prey from the very beginning! Give it to me. For ten years he has been constantly embarrassing the jungle. Give it to me or I will always hunt you and leave you no bones. He is a man, a spawn of man, and I hate him to the core.
Half the pack screamed:
- Man, man! Why does he need us? Let him go to himself.
"And turn all the villagers against us?" shouted Shere Khan. - No, give it to me. He is a man, and none of us can look him in the eyes.
Akela raised his head again and said:
- He ate our food. He slept with us. He drove game for us. He didn't break any rules of the jungle.
- And I paid for it with a whole buffalo. The value was small, but the honor of Bagheera is dear, and for this she will fight, ”the panther said insinuatingly.
- What does the buffalo mean, which the wolves ate ten years ago? - mockingly said the wolves. "What do we care about old bones?"
- or before given word? asked Bagheera, her white teeth flashing from under her lips. - Tell me: are you called a free people or not?
"Manspawn cannot run with the jungle dwellers," Shere Khan said. - Give it to me.
“He is our brother, although not of our blood,” continued Akela, “and you want to kill him. Indeed, I have lived too long. Some of you eat livestock, I hear, go with Shere Khan on black nights and drag children from the villages. So you are cowards and I am talking to cowards. I know that I am going to die and that my life has no price, otherwise I would have offered it for the life of Mowgli. But for the honor of the pack, I tell you: if you let the man-cub come home, I will not defend myself when the wolves want to kill me. I will die without a fight. This will save at least three wolves. There is nothing more I can do, but if you agree, I will spare you the shameful murder of a brother who did you no harm, a brother whose life was bought by the laws of the jungle.
There were shouts:
- He's a man, a man, a man.
And most of the wolves began to gather around Shere Khan.
- Well, now everything is in your hands, - said Bagheera Mowgli. “We just have to fight.
Mowgli stood up, holding a pot of coals, he was angry, rage and sadness raged in him.
- Listen, you, - he shouted, - why do you need this lame? You have told me so many times today that I am a man that I think you are telling the truth. So I don't call you my brothers anymore. You are dogs, that's what everyone will say about you. It is not for you to say what you will do and what you will not do. I will talk about this. And so that you can see more clearly what is the matter, I, a man, brought a piece of a red flower, which you dogs are afraid of.
He threw a pot on the ground, and hot coals set fire to dry moss, it flared up. Everyone retreated in horror from the jumping flame.
Mowgli lowered into the fire a large dry branch he had captured in himself, its branches caught fire and began to crack. Then he began waving it over the heads of the frightened wolves.
“Now you are their master,” said Bagheera in a whisper. - Save Akela from death. He has always been your friend.
Akela, the sullen old wolf who never asked for mercy, looked up at Mowgli with plaintive eyes. The boy stood naked. His long black hair fell over his shoulders, the flame of a burning branch illuminating him.
- Fine, - said Mowgli, looking around. - I see that you are dogs. I will go to my brothers if they are really my brothers. The jungle is gone for me, and I need to forget your language, but I will be more merciful than you. I was your brother and I promise you that when I become a man and settle among people, I will not betray you, as you betrayed me. He kicked the fire, and sparks flew in all directions. - There should be no quarrels in the flock! But I have to pay one debt before leaving.
He walked up to Shere Khan, who was blinking his eyes stupidly, and grabbed him by the hair on his chin. Bagheera followed Mowgli just in case.
"Get up, dog," cried Mowgli. - Get up when a person is talking to you, or I'll set fire to your wool.
Shere Khan pressed his ears to his head and closed his eyes because the burning branch was very close to him.
“That livestock eater said he would kill me in the council because he failed to kill me when I was a child. Look, we humans beat dogs like this, like this, and like this. Move your mustache, limp, and I will put a red flower on your back.
He hit Shere Khan on the head with a burning branch, and the tiger only squealed in fear.
- Well now you're marked, jungle cat. Get out! Just remember: next time I come to the rock of council, as a man should come, I will cover my head and shoulders with the skin of Shere Khan! Akela will live as he pleases. You won't kill him, because I don't want that. I also think that you will not sit here long, sticking out your tongues, as if you are free animals, and not dogs, which I will drive out like this. Get out!
A fire burned brightly at the end of a branch, and Mowgli beat it right and left. The wolves fled howling, their fur smoldering with sparks. Finally, only Akela, Bagheera and about ten wolves, who took the side of Mowgli, remained on the rock. At that moment Mowgli felt a strange pain inside him, such as he had never felt before. He held his breath, sobbed, and tears rolled down his face.
- What is it, what is it? - he said. - I don't want to leave the jungle, and I don't know what's wrong with me. Am I dying, Bagheera?
- No, little brother. These are only tears, human tears,” said Bagheera. - Now I know that you are an adult, not a cub. True, from now on the jungle is closed to you. Let them roll, Mowgli. It's only tears!
So Mowgli sat and wept as if his heart were breaking. He had never cried before.
“Now,” he said, “I will go to the people. But first I must say goodbye to my mother. - He went to the cave where Raksha and the wolf father lived. Mowgli wept for a long time, clinging to her fur, and four young wolves howled with grief.
- You won't forget me? asked Mowgli.
“Never, as long as we stand on our paws,” they replied. - When you become a man, come to the foot of the mountain. We will talk and play with you at night among the sown fields.
“Come back soon,” said the wolf father. - Come back soon, smart frog, because both I and your mother are already old.
“Come back soon, my little hairless son,” Raksha said, “because know, child of man: I loved you more than my own children.
- I will come back, of course, - said Mowgli, - I will return to put the skin of Shere Khan on the council rock. Don't forget me! Tell me not to be forgotten in the jungle!
The dawn was breaking. Mowgli walked from the mountain alone to those mysterious creatures who are called people.

This amazing tale tells about a small child who got into a pack of wolves and survived. The wolves fed him with their milk, warmed him, protected him. Then they taught themselves to get food and defend themselves. I do not know if Kipling put any sacred meaning into his fairy tale, but some images appeared to me.

In a pack of wolves

The tale begins with the fact that in the jungle the tiger Sher Khan (tiger lord) attacked people. The adults ran away, but the child somehow lagged behind them and came to the wolf hole. The wolf knew that this was a human cub, and he subdued the mother wolf with his gullibility, ate the same way as wolf cubs. She adopted him and fell in love with him as her cub. At the advice of the pack, the teacher Baloo and the panther Bagheera (who knew people well since she was born and grew up in a cage, having matured, fled) stood up for Mowgli and the pack accepted him.

Mowgli

The wolf mother gave him the name Mowgli, which means frog. The frog is a very interesting ancient creature - it lives in water, breathes air, and buries itself in the sand for the winter. On it, like on a child, there is no protective woolen cover, there is not even a shell. The human child is also defenseless.

jungle world

With the help of our 5 senses: smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing, Mowgli got acquainted with the outside world, mastered the three elements: air, water and earth. He listened to the rustling of grass, the squeak of a bat in the night, the splashing of fish in the water, the light breath of the night air, the cries of birds, and he recognized plants by their smell. The life of the jungle became important and understandable to him. Baloo the bear taught the cubs the Laws of the Jungle. “You and I are of the same blood” Do not be afraid of the world around you and do not threaten it, but coexist peacefully. Everything that Mowgli taught the jungle is our subconscious, that is, that part of a person's behavioral response to life situations that is unpredictable and almost not controlled by our consciousness. It's called instinct. It has been worked out by the biological world of the earth that precedes us, from the simplest unicellular creatures to animals and birds.

Have there been real Mowglis in the history of mankind?

Yes, they meet. But unlike the fabulous Mowgli, they have little chance of returning to human society complete people. In the journal ChiP No. 1 for 2012. An article about the story of two girls has been published.

« In the autumn of 1920, Christian preachers in one of the remote villages in a wolf hole, along with wolves, found two girls. On the appearance one is eight years old, and the younger one is one and a half years old. They named them Amala and Kamala. When and how they got into the wolf pack, no one knows. After many adventures, they managed to be delivered to the church orphanage.

Among the people

The babies were very weak, they did not understand what and how to eat, they did not know how to drink from cups. They loved milk, but lapped it up with their tongues like dogs. They were washed and trimmed. They began to look like ordinary children. They were not afraid of the dark at all, at night they were constantly looking for loopholes in the fence to escape. They ran on all fours, their knees almost did not unbend. Could smell raw meat in the kitchen for 70 meters or more. Once Kamala rushed from afar to the kitchen with a brutal expression and, muffledly growling and baring her teeth, tried to grab a piece of meat from the table. By smell, they immediately discovered a fallen animal or bird and immediately ate easy prey. Then from the rotten meat they began to hurt. In the end, these infections became the main cause of their death. The youngest girl died a year later, and the older one nine years after entering the orphanage. In the cold winter, they tried to dress them, but they tore their clothes into small pieces as soon as the teachers left the room.

In the heat, the girls' skin remained cool and smooth; they drank liquids no more than usual, did not sweat. Their skin never became greasy and dirt did not stick to it. They did not communicate with the children - they were looking for wolves and puppies and got angry, not finding them. Ordinary children, they, baring their teeth, drove away.

Gradual adaptation in the shelter

Loved the adult teacher. However, their relationship was not like that of a grandmother with her grandchildren, but like that of a master with devoted dogs. Emotions both showed very poorly, they did not smile and did not laugh. Nobody heard from them nor the usual baby crying, no cries of joy. When living with wolves, they had no one to get speech skills from. After Amala's death, Kamala began to look for company among goats and chickens, but most of all, as a companion, she was attracted by a hyena puppy. The head teacher gave her massages with mustard oil, and her joints gradually softened. She began to straighten her legs. I began to feel cold - I pulled a blanket over myself, going out into the street, put on a dress. Gradually mastered a small vocabulary. I even tried to hum them somehow - I mastered the rhythm. In September 1929 Kamala died. Doctors were unable to make a clear diagnosis.

conclusions

Children raised by animals are found from time to time in different parts of the world. The case of the girls proves that the human body, and above all its brain, has tremendous adaptive capabilities. Modern genetics claims that the human genome has many hidden features that are activated when it is vital for the body. The second conclusion: adaptation to the environment occurs in children in the very early age. Pediatricians are right: the child begins to form from the very first days of life. It's important for parents to know«.

This is due to the subconscious reaction of a person to environment. Those genes that are necessary for survival are activated. Wednesday prompts. ("Smart Cells" by Bruce Lipton)

Let's go back to our Mowgli.

Mowgli has grown up. The world began to seduce him. The monkeys saw their own in him: “he looks like us, he can do everything, he knows everything, he is ours.” Bear Baloo and Bagheera warn the guy about the danger - this is a trap. But Mowgli is careless. An imperfect person is easily seduced. We spend a lot of time of our lives on empty fuss, vanity in our name, worldly hype. It can be difficult to escape from these furry prehensile paws. They pass us on to each other: from vice to vice, from one passion to another. Monkeys - the vanity of the world - offer him to see the dead city. And only when he got into it, Mowgli realized what the teachers had warned about. Birds from the height of heaven, saw where Mowgli was, and handed it over to the teachers.

Kaa

Boa constrictor Kaa is a very strict teacher-educator. It admonishes - those whom it is impossible to reason with otherwise than by rigid submission. Mowgli is gaining experience.

Shere Khan

We, the people of the physical world of the planet, constantly feel in ourselves such qualities as good and evil. Moreover, evil is the most active. In the tale, he is personified by Shere Khan. He is constantly looking for an opportunity to destroy the human cub. Bagheera tells you how to defeat the tiger: "Get the Red Flower." Animals do not own fire. Only a reasonable person knows how to use fire - the fourth element. First it is the physical fire of a fire, cooking, making tools and weapons. Growing up, mankind masters the fire of Love, in any case, we all really want this. This is the strongest fire in the universe. Evil is powerless before him.

Mowgli - leader of the pack

Mowgli drove off Shere Khan and became the leader of the pack. A flock is all our subconscious qualities (feelings) that we instinctively manifest. That is, a person, growing up, learns to subordinate his feelings to the mind-reason. But even thoughts are different. We do not invite bad thoughts, they come by themselves, like red dogs in a fairy tale. And you have to fight them. They interfere with selfless love. They force you to weigh all the pros and cons, and instead of Love, you get a solid arithmetic. Mowgli with a pack and Teachers defeated the red dogs. And Mowgli returned to the people: where he came from. That's the whole story about Mowgli - the frog.