which must be repeated aloud till it is answered, whenever one of the
Jungle-People hunts outside his own grounds. It means, translated, "Give
me leave to hunt here because I am hungry." And the answer is, "Hunt
then for food, but not for pleasure."

All this will show you how much Mowgli had to learn by heart, and he
grew very tired of saying the same thing over a hundred times. But, as
Baloo said to Bagheera, one day when Mowgli had been cuffed and run off
in a temper, "A man's cub is a man's cub, and he must learn all the Law
of the Jungle."

"But think how small he is," said the Black Panther, who would have
spoiled Mowgli if he had had his own way. "How can his little head carry
all thy long talk?"

"Is there anything in the jungle too little to be killed? No. That is
why I teach him these things, and that is why I hit him, very softly,
when he forgets."

"Softly! What dost thou know of softness, old Iron-feet?" Bagheera
grunted. "His face is all bruised today by thy--softness. Ugh."

"Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than
that he should come to harm through ignorance," Baloo answered very
earnestly. "I am now teaching him the Master Words of the Jungle that
shall protect him with the birds and the Snake People, and all that hunt
on four feet, except his own pack. He can now claim protection, if he
will only remember the words, from all in the jungle. Is not that worth
a little beating?"