The first set of three stories stars a young boy named Mowgli. He is raised by wolves, trained by a bear, kidnapped by monkeys, rescued by a panther and a snake, and kills and skins a tiger. All this before he hits puberty. In «The White Seal,» Kotick, the titular white seal, who lives in the Bering Sea (which is not the jungle), sees his adorable, cute, cuddly, fuzzy seal buddies get clubbed to death and their bloody skins ripped from their little bodies. Yikes. He decides to search for an island where all seals can be safe, but when he finds it, all the seals are too lazy to move. Talk about ungrateful, right? Kotick, who’s all big and strong from all the swimming, kicks all the seals’ tails. Impressed by his strength, they follow him to safety. Our protagonist in «Toomai of the Elephants» is Toomai (of the elephants). He follows his elephant Kala Nag into the jungle and witnesses a top-secret elephant dance ritual. Finally, there’s «Our Majesty’s Servants,» in which a bunch of military service animals—donkeys, camels, and horses, oh my—chat about fear and obedience. We didn’t forget «Rikki-tikki-tavi» either. The most iconic star of The Jungle Book next to Mowgli the boy wonder gets his Shmoop on over here.
