world--has arranged for almost every kind of accident that may
befall the Jungle People, till now its code is as perfect as time
and custom can make it. You will remember that Mowgli
spent a great part of his life in the Seeonee Wolf-Pack,
learning the Law from Baloo, the Brown Bear; and it was Baloo
who told him, when the boy grew impatient at the constant
orders, that the Law was like the Giant Creeper, because it
dropped across every one's back and no one could escape.
"When thou hast lived as long as I have, Little Brother,
thou wilt see how all the Jungle obeys at least one Law.
And that will be no pleasant sight," said Baloo.

This talk went in at one ear and out at the other, for a boy
who spends his life eating and sleeping does not worry about
anything till it actually stares him in the face. But,
one year, Baloo's words came true, and Mowgli saw all the
Jungle working under the Law.

It began when the winter Rains failed almost entirely, and
Ikki, the Porcupine, meeting Mowgli in a bamboo-thicket, told
him that the wild yams were drying up. Now everybody knows that
Ikki is ridiculously fastidious in his choice of food, and will
eat nothing but the very best and ripest. So Mowgli laughed and
said, "What is that to me?"

"Not much NOW," said Ikki, rattling his quills in a stiff,
uncomfortable way, "but later we shall see. Is there any
more diving into the deep rock-pool below the Bee-Rocks,
Little Brother?"