The Jungle Book Chapter 6

Mowgli's Song

• We're told Mowgli sang this song at Council Rock "when he danced on Shere Khan's hide" (6.1).
• Mowgli is no Taylor Swift, that's for sure—his song has no discernable rhythm, rhyme scheme, or tempo.
• He sings about how he killed Shere Khan, and then said, "lend me thy coat, Shere Khan" (6.12), before stripping the skin from the tiger's body.
• He laments that the Man-Pack cast him out: "I did them no harm, but they were afraid of me. Why?" (6.18)—why then becomes a refrain, ending four of the last eight lines of the song.
• Mowgli mentions how "the water comes out of my eyes" (6.23), and that he is "two Mowglis" (6.24), perhaps Mowgli the boy and Mowgli the man?
• He concludes with "My heart is heavy with the things I do not understand" (6.26).