The Jungle book introduces Mowgli, the human founding adopted by a family of wolves. It tells of the enmity between him and the tiger Shere Khan, who killed Mowgli's parents, and of the friendship between the man-cub and Bagheera, the black panther, and Baloo, the sleepy brown bear, who instruct Mowgli in the Laws of the jungle.
The second jungle book countains some of the most thrilling of the Mowgli stories. It includes Red dog, in which Mowgli forms an unlikely alliance with the python Kaa, How fear came and Letting in the jungle as well as The spring running, wich brings Mowgli to manhood and the realisation that he must lease Bagheera, Baloo and his other friends for the world of man.
The diverse tales selected for this volume display the astonishing virtuosity of Rudyard Kipling's early writings. A Nobel prize-winner, Kipling was phnomenally productive and imaginative, displaying a literary mastery of idioms, technology and technical terms, exotic locations, and social range.
He gained immense popularity, becoming (as these stories indicate) the knowledgeable spokesman for a wide public. Later, although Kipling's right-wing views increasingly incurred hostility, his creativity remained formidable. In this rich collection, we encounter bold realism, poignant nostalgia, dark comedy, the vividly horrifie, the exuberantly fanciful and the disturbingly uncanny.
This anthology of Rudyard Kipling's greatest short stories contains some of the most memorable and popular examples of the genre of which he was an undisputed master. The Man who would be king is a classic tale of adventure as the opportunistic, renegade and vagabond pair of Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan attempt to establish themselves at the level of god and king over the primitive people of Kafiristan.
Other famous short stories included are ; Only a subaltern, The phantom "Rickshaw, Wee Willie Winkie, and Baa Baa black sheep.
The Man who would be king was made into a popular film in 1975, starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer and directed by John Huston.
