About this book
When the river shrinks to a pool, even the jungle's fiercest creatures must gather at the last water.
Rudyard Kipling's The Second Jungle Book brings together stories and poems about danger, loyalty and belonging. In How Fear Came, drought draws the animals to the last water. Mowgli, the human boy raised by wolves, grows toward manhood under the watchful care of Baloo and Bagheera. The jungle's laws guide him, but his place between animals and people remains uncertain.
Letting in the Jungle returns to the village that casts Mowgli out, where people still fear him as a sorcerer and a wolf's child. Elsewhere, a pack of killers threatens the creatures he knows. Beyond Mowgli's world, the tales travel to a Himalayan hillside and the Arctic coast, following people who face hard choices, danger and hunger.
What you’ll discover
- The laws of belonging Follow Mowgli as he learns what he owes to the creatures who raise him.
- A life beyond rank Meet a statesman who leaves wealth behind in The Miracle of Purun Bhagat.
- Grim laughter by the river Explore greed and age in The Undertakers, a dark comedy on a river sandbank.
- Hunger on the frozen coast Travel with young hunter Kotuko in Quiquern, far from the forests of India.
- Poems between the dangers Find a short poem after each tale, alongside animal talk, wit and adventure.
Who will love it
For readers who love adventure with a moral edge, families who read aloud, and anyone returning to Mowgli after the first book.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fear Enters the Jungle and Brings Law
- A Great Man Chooses to Become Nothing
- Mowgli Faces the Village That Cast Him Out
- Crocodiles, Cobras and a Cursed Treasure
- A Boy in the Snow and a War in the Forest
- Law, Belonging and the Telling of the Tales
Who’s who
- MowgliA human boy raised by wolves, growing older, who must decide where he belongs and how to use his jungle skills and his clever human mind.
- BalooThe old brown bear who teaches the wolf cubs the Law of the Jungle and acts as Mowgli's patient teacher and friend.
- BagheeraThe black panther, Mowgli's wise and watchful protector, who knows both the jungle and the cages of men.
- KaaThe huge rock python, a patient and powerful ally who helps Mowgli in dangerous moments, especially in the Cold Lairs.
- HathiThe elephant who tells the old tales of the first days and speaks with the authority of the jungle's eldest.
- MessuaThe village woman who once took Mowgli for her lost son and suffers for the kindness she showed him.
- Purun BhagatA former prime minister who gives up wealth and rank to live as a holy man on a Himalayan hillside.
- KotukoA young Inuit hunter whose village faces hunger and who meets what he takes to be a legendary great dog.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 17 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Il secondo libro della giungla
by Rudyard Kipling · 1895
Mowgli learns the jungle's laws as a pack of killers threatens every creature he knows.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
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.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
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.
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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.
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