Mowgli Joins the Wolf Pack
by Rudyard Kipling
Comprehension
A. Fill in the blanks.
1. Father Wolf wanted to go out to hunt again.
2. The villagers of the Waingunga were angry with Sher Khan.
3. At the Council Rock other wolves learn to recognise the new cubs.
B. Answer the questions.
1. What did Tabaqui tell Father Wolf?
= Tabaqui told Father Wolf that Sher Khan, the tiger had shifted his hunting grounds. He had told him that he would hunt among those hills for the next month.
2. Why was the Man-cub safe from Sher Khan inside the cave?
= The Man-cub safe from Sher Khan inside the cave because the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to come in.
3. Why did some of the young wolves want to give little Mowgli to Sher Khan?
= Some of the young wolves want to give little Mowgli to Sher Khan because they did not want to make the tiger angry.
C. Read the lines and answer the questions.
1. "...That is why he has only killed cattle..."
a. Who said this and to whom?
= Mother Wolf said this to Father Wolf.
b. Who has only killed cattle?
= Sher Khan, the tiger has only killed cattle.
c. Why did he only kill cattle?
= He only killed tiger because he had been lame in one foot from his birth.
2. "He wants to hunt Man,"...
a. Who said this and to whom?
= Mother Wolf said this to Father Wolf.
b. Who wants to hunt Man?
= Sher Khan, the tiger, wants to hunt Man.
c. Why did he want to hunt Man?
= He wanted to hunt Man because there were not enough prey for him to hunt.
3. "...and in the end, he shall hunt you! Now go. Go!"
a. Who said this and to whom?
= Mother Wolf said this to Sher Khan.
b. Who is he and why will he hunt you?
= He is the little boy Mowgli. He will hunt Sher Khan because he is wants to kill him and making the other animals terrorised.
D. Think and answer.
1. Sher Khan had come to a village close to where the wolves lived. Why was it dangerous for them and their cubs?
= Sher Khan had come to a village close to where the wolves lived. Sher Khan is a tiger. He is a ferocious animal. It is his basic instinct to be cruel and terrific. He lived near the Waingunga River, twenty miles away. The villagers of the Waingunga are angry with him, and he had come to the village close to where the wolves lived.
2. Why should no animal kill a man?
= No animal should kill a man because man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of men with gongs and rockers and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers.
3. Why didn't the wolves give the baby to the tiger?
= The wolves give the baby to the tiger because they had affection for him. They had never seen man-cub before. They were in love with that little, naked and bold baby.
4. Why do you think the wolves call themselves the free people?
= I think the wolves call themselves the free people because they take orders from the Head of the Pack, and not from any striped cattle-killer.
About the Author:
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on 30 December 1865 in Mumbai (then, known as Bombay), India. Kipling's uncles and cousins were artists and help political positions. When he was six years old, Kipling moved to England with his parents.
He later worked as a journalist in India and started publishing his works. Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature when he was only 42 years old. Some of his well-known works include The Jungle Book, The Man who Would be King, The Light That Failed and Kim.