The Second Jungle Book

The second collection of Mowgli's stories follows the boy raised by wolves into his teens. In 'How Fear Came' the elephant Hathi tells how the first tiger got his stripes; in 'Letting in the Jungle' Mowgli brings the jungle down on a village that has turned against his human mother; in 'Red Dog' he and the wolves face a deadly invading pack; and in 'The Spring Running' he feels that he must leave the jungle for the world of men. Other tales include 'The Miracle of Purun Bhagat', about an Indian statesman who becomes a holy man.

Published in 1895, the book completes the Mowgli cycle begun in The Jungle Book, and it is darker and more mature than the first. Rudyard Kipling wrote both while living in Vermont, drawing on the India of his early childhood. See his life.

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was born in Bombay, sent to England at five to an unhappy foster home, and returned to India at sixteen to work as a journalist in Lahore. His stories of Anglo-Indian life made him famous in London in his twenties.

The Jungle Book, written in Vermont, Kim and Just So Stories became classics, and in 1907 he became the first English-language writer to win the Nobel Prize. His poem 'If—' is still widely quoted, though his support for empire makes him a controversial figure today. His only son was killed in the First World War.