Outsong in the Jungle
[Baloo:] For the sake of him who showed
One wise Frog the Jungle-Road,
Keep the Law the Man-Pack make
For thy blind old Baloo's sake!
Clean or tainted, hot or stale,
Hold it as it were the Trail,
Through the day and through the night,
Questing neither left nor right.
For the sake of him who loves
Thee beyond all else that moves,
When thy Pack would make thee pain,
Say: "Tabaqui sings again."
When thy Pack would work thee ill,
Say: "Shere Khan is yet to kill."
When the knife is drawn to slay,
Keep the Law and go thy way.
(Root and honey, palm and spathe,
Guard a cub from harm and scathe!)
Wood and Water, Wind and Tree,
Jungle-Favour go with thee!
[Kaa:] Anger is the egg of Fear--
Only lidless eyes see clear.
Cobra-poison none may leech--
Even so with Cobra-speech.
Open talk shall call to thee
Strength, whose mate is Courtesy.
Send no lunge beyond thy length.
Lend no rotten bough thy strength.
Gauge thy gape with buck or goat,
Lest thine eye should choke thy throat.
After gorging, wouldst thou sleep ?
Look thy den be hid and deep,
Lest a wrong, by thee forgot,
Draw thy killer to the spot.
East and West and North and South,
Wash thy hide and close thy mouth.
(Pit and rift and blue pool-brim,
Middle-Jungle follow him!)
Wood and Water, Wind and Tree,
Jungle-Favour go with thee!
[Bagheera:] In the cage my life began;
Well I know the worth of Man.
By the Broken Lock that freed--
Man-cub, ware the Man-cub's breed!
Scenting-dew or starlight pale,
Choose no tangled tree-cat trail.
Pack or council, hunt or den,
Cry no truce with Jackal-Men.
Feed them silence when they say:
"Come with us an easy way."
Feed them silence when they seek
Help of thine to hurt the weak.
Make no bandar's boast of skill;
Hold thy peace above the kill.
Let nor call nor song nor sign
Turn thee from thy hunting-line.
(Morning mist or twilight clear,
Serve him, Wardens of the Deer!)
Wood and Water, Wind and Tree,
Jungle-Favour go with thee!
[The Three:] On the trail that thou must tread
To the threshold of our dread,
Where the Flower blossoms red;
Through the nights when thou shalt lie
Prisoned from our Mother-sky,
Hearing us, thy loves, go by;
In the dawns when thou shalt wake
To the toil thou canst not break,
Heartsick for the Jungle's sake;
Wood and Water, Wind air Tree,
Wisdom, Strength, and Courtesy,
Jungle-Favour go with thee!
Commentary
This is a poemsong by Kipling. It’s from “The Jungle Books” and is sung by Mowgli’s friends as he prepares to leave the jungle and return to the man-pack in “The Spring Running”.
Things that are nice:
1. Most of Kipling’s stuff rhymes nicely, you can chant them as much as you can read them.
2. Mowgli gets advice from 3 friends, from their own unique perspective. The advice is perfectly in tune with their characters. Baloo, says idealistic and sentimental things, advises him to be “good” in life, just like the teacher-friend-advisor he is; Kaa provides a lot more worldly-wise advice and Bagheera is a balance between the other two.
3. The message is related to the context of the three creatures, and this point is hammered in the next-to-penultimate and next-to-next-to-penultimate lines.
Baloo:
(Root and honey, palm and spathe,
Guard a cub from harm and scathe!)
Kaa:
(Pit and rift and blue pool-brim,
Middle-Jungle follow him!)
Bagheera:
(Morning mist or twilight clear,
Serve him, Wardens of the Deer!)
4. The last two lines in each stanza are italicized, and common to all three. A sense of urgency or importance, and unity.
5. And finally, the chorus is once again a united statement. Come to think of it, it’s quite moving - especially if you’ve read the books and understand Mowgli’s life amongst his friends. There’s a feel of a sort of “farewell party”, the kind that happened to some of us when we left our homes and hostels etc.; when our old friends gave us advice and wished us well as we started on something new.
Personally, this poem is about a billion times better than such sentimental hogwash as “If”.
Ooops. I’ve already said too much.
— Ravi
Minstrels Links
Rudyard Kipling has featured quite regularly on the Minstrels; see The Wondering Minstrels for a comprehensive index.
Many of Kipling’s poems first featured in his books; for example:
Poem #166, “Night-Song in the Jungle”, is from the Jungle Book.
Poem #143, “Harp Song of the Dane Women”, and Poem #493, “A Pict Song”, are both from “Puck of Pook’s Hill”.
Poem #379, “The Buddha at Kamakura”, is from “Kim”.
Show 1 commentHide comments
From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Nisha George · 20 February 2001
Ravi mundoli /Thomas
I agree!! there’s osmething extremely regal about those poems from jungle book! There’s another one called’Law of the jungle’?! “for this is the law of the jungle , as old and as true as the sword..(?) the wolf that shall keep it may prosper and the wolf that will break it must die…………..’
nisha george