Résumé
Résumé de Le Second Livre de la jungle
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love adventure with a moral edge, families who read aloud, and anyone returning to Mowgli after the first book.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Second Jungle Book is a collection of stories and poems by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1895, a year after The Jungle Book. Kipling was born in India and wrote from memory of its forests, villages and rivers. Most of the tales follow Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in the Indian jungle. Others wander further, to a Himalayan hillside and to the frozen coast of the Arctic.
In this book Mowgli grows from child toward young man. He learns the laws that keep the jungle in order, makes enemies among men, and faces a pack of killers that threatens every creature he knows. You get adventure, animal talk, wit and a good deal of danger, with a short poem at the end of each tale. Let us begin where the jungle itself begins, with the story of how fear first came into the world.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Fear Enters the Jungle and Brings LawFree
- 2A Great Man Chooses to Become Nothing
- 3Mowgli Faces the Village That Cast Him Out
- 4Crocodiles, Cobras and a Cursed Treasure
- 5A Boy in the Snow and a War in the Forest
- 6Law, Belonging and the Telling of the Tales
Point clé 1 sur 6
Fear Enters the Jungle and Brings Law
The collection opens with How Fear Came, a tale told at a time of drought. The rains have failed, the river has shrunk to a pool, and the animals gather at the last water. By the old Law of the Jungle, called the Water Truce, no creature may hunt while drinking is going on there. Hunter and hunted stand side by side without harm.
Mowgli sits among them on the great rock with Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther. Hathi the elephant, the oldest of the jungle's people, tells how the Law began. He says the first of all creatures was Tha, the elephant who made the jungle, and that in those days all animals ate grass and leaves. Tha set the first Lord of the Jungle to judge quarrels.
The tale then follows what goes wrong. The first ruler grows angry, kills, and so brings death into the world, and with death comes shame and then fear. Hathi explains that the Law was made to answer this, to put rules on the killing so that the jungle would not tear itself apart. The story also explains why the tiger bears the stripes he does and why he is never trusted.
It matters because it sets the moral frame for the book. The jungle is no place without rules, and every later tale tests those rules in some way. When Mowgli breaks a custom or keeps one, you will remember this scene by the dry river. The tale is also a quiet reminder that Kipling is writing myth here, in the manner of old stories told to explain how the world came to be.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Mowgli
- Mowgli is a human boy raised by wolves, taught and protected by his animal friends in the Indian jungle.
- Baloo
- Baloo is a brown bear who teaches Mowgli and the wolf cubs the Law of the Jungle.
- Bagheera
- Bagheera is a black panther whose experience of both captivity and jungle life makes him Mowgli's watchful protector.
- Kaa
- Kaa is a huge rock python who serves as Mowgli's powerful ally and patient friend.
- Hathi
- Hathi is an authoritative elephant who tells Mowgli and the gathered animals how fear first entered the jungle.
- Messua
- Messua is a village woman who welcomes Mowgli as her lost son and faces hostility for sheltering him.
- Purun Bhagat
- Purun Bhagat is a former prime minister who becomes a holy man among Himalayan villagers and animals.
- Kotuko
- Kotuko is a young Inuit hunter whose family and fellow villagers face hunger on the Arctic coast.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 66,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 20 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Le Second Livre de la jungle
What is The Second Jungle Book about?
It is a collection of linked stories and poems, mostly about Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in India, as he grows older. It also includes tales set in the Himalayas and the Arctic.
Do you need to read The Jungle Book first?
It helps, because it introduces Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera and the wolves. But the tales here stand on their own, and a newcomer can follow them with little trouble.
Who are Kaa and Hathi?
Kaa is the great rock python who becomes a friend and ally to Mowgli. Hathi is the old elephant who speaks for the oldest traditions of the jungle and tells how its Law began.
When was The Second Jungle Book written?
Rudyard Kipling published it in 1895, one year after The Jungle Book. It is fiction, though it draws on his memories and knowledge of India and its animals.
Is The Second Jungle Book hard to read?
The sentences are clear and the stories move quickly. It reads well aloud and works for both older children and adults.