"They have no leader," said Bagheera. "They lie. They have always lied."

"They were very kind and bade me come again. Why have I never been taken
among the Monkey People? They stand on their feet as I do. They do
not hit me with their hard paws. They play all day. Let me get up! Bad
Baloo, let me up! I will play with them again."

"Listen, man-cub," said the Bear, and his voice rumbled like thunder on
a hot night. "I have taught thee all the Law of the Jungle for all the
peoples of the jungle--except the Monkey-Folk who live in the trees.
They have no law. They are outcasts. They have no speech of their own,
but use the stolen words which they overhear when they listen, and peep,
and wait up above in the branches. Their way is not our way. They are
without leaders. They have no remembrance. They boast and chatter and
pretend that they are a great people about to do great affairs in the
jungle, but the falling of a nut turns their minds to laughter and all
is forgotten. We of the jungle have no dealings with them. We do not
drink where the monkeys drink; we do not go where the monkeys go; we do
not hunt where they hunt; we do not die where they die. Hast thou ever
heard me speak of the Bandar-log till today?"

"No," said Mowgli in a whisper, for the forest was very still now Baloo
had finished.

"The Jungle-People put them out of their mouths and out of their minds.
They are very many, evil, dirty, shameless, and they desire, if they
have any fixed desire, to be noticed by the Jungle People. But we do not
notice them even when they throw nuts and filth on our heads."

He had hardly spoken when a shower of nuts and twigs spattered down