The Man Cub

(Birds Chatter and Hoot)

Bagheera (narrator): Many strange legends are told of these jungles in India, but none so strange as the story of a small boy named Mowgli. It all began when the silence of the jungle was broken by an unfamiliar sound.

(Baby Cries and Bagheera stops to hear what he's hearing)

Bagheera (narrator): It was a sound like (Bagheera appears to look at the baby in a basket in the broken boat) one never heard before in this part of the jungle.

(Crying continues)

Bagheera (narrator): It was a man cub! Had I known how deeply I was to be involved, I would've obeyed my first impulse and walked away.

(Baby laughs and coos)

(Bagheera comes back and smiles)

(Baby coos and laughs)

Bagheera (narrator): This man cub would have to have nourishment, and soon. (Baby coos) It was many days' travel to the nearest man-village, and without a mother's care, he would soon perish. (Cooing continues) Then it occured to me. (Meanwhile, at the wolf's cave) A family of wolves I knew had been blessed with a litter of cubs.

(The cubs play together)

(Bagheera, carrying the basket, appears to watch)

(Mother Wolf stands up and tells them to get inside the cave)

(The cubs, playing with stick, whin and whimper)

(The stick breaks)

(One of them runs while Mother Wolf and the cubs walk inside the cave)

(The second one runs after him and barks)

(Bagheera looks and see if the coast is clear, sneaks near to the cave, place the basket on the ground and walks back)

(Bagheera checks to see when the wolves might realize that the baby is here, but the basket stands still without them)

(He sneaks to the basket and touches it)

(The baby cries loudly and Bagheera run back)

(The cubs comes out to look at the baby, who now coos and laughs)

(Mother Wolf comes out and look at the baby too)

Bagheera (narrator): (Mother Wolf and one of the wolf cubs smile) I knew there'd be no problem with a mother, thanks to the maternal instinct, but I wasn't so sure about Rama, the father.

(Rama appears and sniffs)

(The baby cries)

(Rama looks up at Mother Wolf, who smiles)

(The baby coos and laughs)

(Laughing continues)

(Rama looks down at the baby and smiles)

(The cubs look at the baby with their tail shaking)

(Mother Wolf carries the basket and she, Rama and the cubs walk in the cave)

(Years later)

Bagheera (narrator): Ten times, the rains had come and gone, and I often stopped by to see how Mowgli, the man cub, was getting along. He was a favorite with all the young wolf cubs of the pack.

(Mowgli howls)

(Mowgli brother wolves runs to Mowgli, who is still howling)

(They jump at him and lick him and Mowgli laughs)

Bagheera (narrator): No man cub was ever happier. And yet, I knew that someday he would to go to his own kind.