tiger whimpered and whined in an agony of fear.

"Pah! Singed jungle cat--go now! But remember when next I come to the
Council Rock, as a man should come, it will be with Shere Khan's hide
on my head. For the rest, Akela goes free to live as he pleases. Ye will
not kill him, because that is not my will. Nor do I think that ye
will sit here any longer, lolling out your tongues as though ye were
somebodies, instead of dogs whom I drive out--thus! Go!" The fire was
burning furiously at the end of the branch, and Mowgli struck right
and left round the circle, and the wolves ran howling with the sparks
burning their fur. At last there were only Akela, Bagheera, and perhaps
ten wolves that had taken Mowgli's part. Then something began to hurt
Mowgli inside him, as he had never been hurt in his life before, and he
caught his breath and sobbed, and the tears ran down his face.

"What is it? What is it?" he said. "I do not wish to leave the jungle,
and I do not know what this is. Am I dying, Bagheera?"

"No, Little Brother. That is only tears such as men use," said Bagheera.
"Now I know thou art a man, and a man's cub no longer. The jungle is
shut indeed to thee henceforward. Let them fall, Mowgli. They are only
tears." So Mowgli sat and cried as though his heart would break; and he
had never cried in all his life before.

"Now," he said, "I will go to men. But first I must say farewell to my
mother." And he went to the cave where she lived with Father Wolf, and
he cried on her coat, while the four cubs howled miserably.

"Ye will not forget me?" said Mowgli.