"Till that night never one of us had died, and the First of
the Tigers, seeing what he had done, and being made foolish by
the scent of the blood, ran away into the marshes of the North,
and we of the Jungle, left without a judge, fell to fighting
among ourselves; and Tha heard the noise of it and came back.
Then some of us said this and some of us said that, but he saw
the dead buck among the flowers, and asked who had killed,
and we of the Jungle would not tell because the smell of the
blood made us foolish. We ran to and fro in circles, capering
and crying out and shaking our heads. Then Tha gave an order
to the trees that hang low, and to the trailing creepers of
the Jungle, that they should mark the killer of the buck so
that he should know him again, and he said, "Who will now be
master of the Jungle People?" Then up leaped the Gray Ape
who lives in the branches, and said, "I will now be master of
the Jungle."

At this Tha laughed, and said, "So be it," and went away
very angry.

"Children, ye know the Gray Ape. He was then as he is now.
At the first he made a wise face for himself, but in a little
while he began to scratch and to leap up and down, and when Tha
came back he found the Gray Ape hanging, head down, from a
bough, mocking those who stood below; and they mocked him
again. And so there was no Law in the Jungle--only foolish
talk and senseless words.

"Then Tha called us all together and said: 'The first of your