Mowgli by John Lockwood Kipling (father of Rudyard Kipling). An illustration from The Second Jungle Book, 1895

Mowgli is a fictional feral child character who originally appeared in Rudyard Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" (collected in Many Inventions, 1893) and then went on to become the most prominent and memorable character in his fantasies, The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book (1894-1895), which also featured non-Mowgli stories. Download high resolution version (500x752, 105 KB)Mowgli, sitting in a Y-shaped branch: illuminated letter Y from Letting In the Jungle in The Second Jungle Book, 1895, by J. Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling. ... Download high resolution version (500x752, 105 KB)Mowgli, sitting in a Y-shaped branch: illuminated letter Y from Letting In the Jungle in The Second Jungle Book, 1895, by J. Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard Kipling. ... John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911) was an art teacher, an illustrator, museum curator, and father of Rudyard Kipling. ... Embossed cover from the original MacMillan edition of The Second Jungle Book, 1895, based on art by John Lockwood Kipling (Rudyards father) The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... A feral child (feral, - wild or undomesticated) is a human child who, from a very young age, has lived in isolation from human contact and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language. ... This article is about the British author. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Embossed cover from the original MacMillan edition of The Jungle Book, 1894, based on art by John Lockwood Kipling (Rudyards father) For other uses, see The Jungle Book (disambiguation). ... Embossed cover from the original MacMillan edition of The Second Jungle Book, 1895, based on art by John Lockwood Kipling (Rudyards father) The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The Mowgli stories including In the Rukh were first collected in chronological order in one volume as The Works of Rudyard Kipling Volume VII: The Jungle Book (1907) (Volume VIII of this series contained the non-Mowgli stories from the Jungle Books), and subsequently in All the Mowgli Stories (1933). Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... First US edition, Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1936, cover by Kurt Wiese. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Mowgli Stories

In the Rukh describes how Gisborne, an English forest ranger in India at the time of the British Raj, discovers a young man named Mowgli, who has extraordinary skill at hunting and tracking, and asks him to join the forestry service. Later Gisborne learns the reason for Mowgli's almost superhuman talents: he was raised by wild animals in the jungle. The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial...

Kipling then proceeded to write the stories of Mowgli's childhood in detail. Lost by his parents in the Indian jungle during a tiger attack, a human baby is adopted by the wolves Mother (Raksha) and Father Wolf, who call him Mowgli the Frog because of his furlessness. Shere Khan the tiger demands that they give him the baby but the wolves refuse. Mowgli grows up with and runs naked with the pack, hunting with his brother wolves. Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... Raksha is afemale wolf in Rudyard Kiplings novel The JUNGLE BOO ... Father Wolf is a fictional wolf character in Rudyard Kiplings Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. ... Mowgli attacking Shere Khan (right) with a burning branch; detail of a rare clay bas-relief by John Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard, , 1907. ... For other uses, see Tiger (disambiguation). ...

Bagheera (the black panther) befriends Mowgli, partly because Mowgli, being a human, has the power of dominion over beasts: Bagheera cannot withstand Mowgli's gaze. Also, as Bagheera often mentions, he was "raised in the Kings cages at Oodeypore" from a cub, and thus knows the ways of man. Baloo the bear, teacher of wolves, has the thankless task of educating Mowgli in The Law of the Jungle. Bagheera in a Russian cartoon (1967) Bagheera (Hindi: Leopard) the black panther is an animal fictional character in Rudyard Kiplings Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book (coll. ... A melanistic black jaguar, or black panther The black panther is the common name for a black specimen (a melanistic variant) of any of several species of cats. ... Baloo is the fictional sleepy old grey bear featured in Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Law of the Jungle is usually an expression that means every one for himself and anything goes. ...

Mowgli has many adventures among the talking animals in his jungle paradise, assuming ever-increasing mastery as he approaches manhood. Shere Khan regards Mowgli as fair game, but eventually Mowgli finds the one weapon he can use against the tiger - fire. After driving off Shere Khan, Mowgli returns to the human village where he is adopted by Messua and her husband who believe he is their own long-lost son Nathoo. (In fact we never find out if this is true.) For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation). ... Messua is a fictional character in Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. ... Messuas husband is an otherwise unnamed fictional character in Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. ... Nathoo is a fictional character referred to (but perhaps never seen) in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. ...

While herding buffalo for the village Mowgli learns that the tiger is still planning to kill him, so with the aid of two wolves he traps Shere Khan in a ravine, where the buffalo trample him. The tiger immediately dies and Mowgli sets to skin him. Seeing this, the villagers persecute Mowgli and his adopted parents as witches. Mowgli runs back to the jungle but soon learns that the villagers are planning to kill Messua and her husband, so he rescues them and sends elephants, buffalo and other animals to trample the village and its fields to the ground. Binomial name Syncerus caffer (Sparrman, 1779) Subspecies The African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a bovid from the family of the Bovidae. ... A ravine is a very small valley, which is often the product of streamcutting erosion. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas antiquus † Elephas beyeri † Elephas celebensis † Elephas cypriotes † Elephas ekorensis † Elephas falconeri † Elephas iolensis † Elephas planifrons † Elephas platycephalus † Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea...

During his time in the village Mowgli wears clothing, but discards it again, running naked, when he returns to the wild. Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. ...

In later stories he finds and then discards an ancient treasure, not realising that men will kill to own it; and with the aid of Kaa the python he leads the wolves in a war against the dhole (red dogs). Mowgli with Kaa in a Russian cartoon (1969). ... Genera Aspidites Antaresia Apodora Bothrochilus Leiopython Liasis Morelia Python Python is the common name for a group of non-venomous constricting snakes, specifically the family Pythonidae. ... Binomial name Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1811) The Dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a species of wild dog of the Canidae family. ...

Finally, Mowgli stumbles across the village where his human mother is now living, which forces him to come to terms with his humanity and decide whether to rejoin his fellow humans.

Kipling also adapted the Mowgli stories for The Jungle Play in 1899, but the play was never produced on stage and the manuscript was lost for almost a century. It was finally published in book form in 2000. Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...

The Jungle Play: UK paperback edition: ISBN 0-14-118292-X To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Influences upon other works

Only five years after the first publication of The Jungle Book, E. Nesbit's The Wouldbegoods (1899) included a passage in which some children act out a scene from the book. Edith Nesbit (August 15, 1858 - May 4, 1924) was a British childrens author whose works were published under the asexual name of E. Nesbit. ... Year 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Mowgli has been cited as a major influence on Edgar Rice Burroughs' character Tarzan, although the Mowgli stories are arguably better written. Mowgli was also a probable influence on at a number of other "wild boy" characters; see Feral Children in Mythology and Fiction. Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan, although he also produced works in many genres. ... 1914 Edition of Tarzan of the Apes Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in twenty-three sequels. ... Cover from Shasta of the Wolves by Olaf Baker (1921 British edition) Feral children (that is, human children raised by non-human animals) in mythology and fiction are often depicted as having superior strength, intelligence and morals to normal humans, the implication being that because of their upbringing they represent...

Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson used the Mowgli stories as the basis for their humorous 1957 science fiction short story "Full Pack (Hokas Wild)". This is one of a series featuring a teddy bear-like race called Hokas who enjoy human literature but cannot quite grasp the distinction between fact and fiction. In this story a group of Hokas get hold of a copy of The Jungle Book and begin to act it out, enlisting the help of a human boy to play Mowgli. The boy's mother, who is a little bemused to see teddy bears trying to act like wolves, tags along to try to keep him (and the Hokas) out of trouble. The situation is then complicated by the arrival of three alien diplomats who just happen to resemble a monkey, a tiger and a snake. This story appears in the collection Hokas Pokas! (1998) (ISBN 0-671-57858-8), and is also available on-line: Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926–July 31, 2001) was an American science fiction author of the genres Golden Age. ... Gordon Dickson lecturing. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ...

Prologue | Story

Mowgli has been tried as a name for dogs, but never became popular.

The Name Mowgli

In the stories, the name Mowgli is said to mean "frog". Kipling confessed it was a made-up name, and "does not mean 'frog' in any language."

Kipling stated that the first syllable of "Mowgli" should rhyme with "cow", but it is almost always pronounced to rhyme with "go".

Mowgli stories by other writers

The story of Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufail (before 1185) is similar to the story of Mowgli in that a baby is abandoned in a deserted tropical island where he is take care of and fed by a mother wolf. There is no account of the tiger shere-khan in the story as it is intended to be a philosophical reflection on life and divine existence. Ibn Tufail (c. ...

The Third Jungle Book (1992) by Pamela Jekel (ISBN 1-879373-22-X) is a collection of new Mowgli stories in a fairly accurate pastiche of Kipling's style. The Third Jungle Book by Pamela Jekel, 1992, cover art by Nancy Malick. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. ...

Hunting Mowgli (2001) by Maxim Antinori (ISBN 1-931319-49-9) is a very short novel which describes a fateful meeting between Mowgli and a human hunter. Although marketed as a children's book it is really a dark psychological drama, and ends with the violent death of a major character. Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ...

Movies, television and radio

Because of taboos against the depiction of juvenile nudity, film, television and comic book adaptaions of the story almost always depict Mowgli wearing a loincloth or a brief other one-piece garment, or might have his hand in the way of his genitals. Now it is true that people in the jungle do wear loincloths but it is impossible for Mowgli to really obtain one because the only fabric he had in the 1967 version of the Jungle Book was White and the Color of his Loincloth was Red, and he had no contact with human civilization at that time “Moving picture” redirects here. ... This article is about cultural prohibitions in general, for other uses, see Taboo (disambiguation). ... “Clothes free” redirects here. ... A loincloth is a one-piece male garment, sometimes kept in place by a belt, which covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks. ... Brief redirects here. ... A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, narrowly defined, is any of those parts of the body (which are not always bodily organs according to the strict definition) which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in an complex organism; namely: Male: penis (notably the glans penis...

Mowgli has been portrayed on film by several actors: For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ...

• Sabu in Alexander Korda's The Jungle Book (1942)
• Jason Scott Lee in Disney's live-action The Jungle Book (1994)
• Jamie Williams in The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997)
• Brandon Baker in Disney's Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998), which is apparently not a sequel to either the 1967 (see below) or 1994 Disney versions.

There has also been a Japanese anime Jungle Book series (see Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli for details) and a US live-action TV show, Mowgli: the New Adventures of the Jungle Book. Sabu in The Jungle Book Sabu Dastagir (January 27, 1924 – December 2, 1963) was a motion picture actor known by his first name, Sabu. ... Sir Alexander Korda (September 16, 1893 - January 23, 1956) was a film director and producer, a leading figure in the British film industry and the founder of London Films. ... For other uses, see The Jungle Book (disambiguation). ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jason Scott Lee playing Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Jason Scott Lee (李截, pinyin: Lǐ Jié, born November 19, 1966) is an American movie actor. ... The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... The Jungle Book is a 1994 film, loosely based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Jamie Williams is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska and is a member of the band Tilly and the Wall. ... Embossed cover from the original MacMillan edition of The Second Jungle Book, 1895, based on art by John Lockwood Kipling (Rudyards father) The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Brandon Baker (born April 28, 1985 in Anaheim, California) is an American actor. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... “Animé” redirects here. ... Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli(ジャングルブック 少年モーグリ), is an anime adaption of the original jungle book story which aired in 1989. ...

However, none of these adaptations is especially true to the spirit of Kipling's original. Chuck Jones's 1977 animated TV short Mowgli's Brothers, adapting the first story in The Jungle Book, is the adaptation that sticks most closely to the original plot and dialogue. Chuck Jones in 1976 Charles Martin Chuck Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ...

Mowgli from the Disney version

The best known of all portrayals of Mowgli is the musical version in Disney's The Jungle Book (1967), where he is voiced by Bruce Reitherman, son of the film's director Wolfgang Reitherman; and The Jungle Book 2 (2003) in which Mowgli is voiced by Haley Joel Osment. Disney's brightly-lit child-friendly jungle is a whole world away from the dark, dangerous and often violent jungle inhabited by Kipling's noble savage, but the popularity of the Disney version has overshadowed the original stories. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. ... The Jungle Book is the nineteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Bruce Reitherman (born September 15, 1955 in Burbank, California), is an American child actor and the son of film director Wolfgang Reitherman. ... Wolfgang Reitherman (June 26, 1909 - May 22, 1985), also known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a famed Disney animator and one of Disneys Nine Old Men. ... The Jungle Book 2 is an animated feature produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ...

The Disney version also overshadowed the release of a Russian version, Maugli (Маугли) (1967), which resembles the original far more closely. Maugli (Маугли) is the Russian spelling of Mowgli, and is the title under which Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book usually appears in Russian translations. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ...

There was also a BBC radio adaptation in 1994, starring actress Nisha K. Nayar as Mowgli, Freddie Jones as Baloo and Eartha Kitt as Kaa. This has been released on audio cassette and has been re-run a number of times on digital radio channel BBC 7's Little Toe Show. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Nisha K. Nayar is a British actress, perhaps best known for her recurring role as Elaine The Pain Boyak in The Story of Tracy Beaker. ... Freddie Jones (born September 12, 1927) is a British character actor. ... Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith on January 17, 1927),[1] is an American actress, singer, and cabaret star. ... The original logo of BBC 7. ...

Vince Noir (a character in The Mighty Boosh played by Noel Fielding) describes himself as Mowgli in flares. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Mighty Boosh is a British cult comedy about two friends who go on magical adventures. ... Noel Fielding (born 21 May 1973 in Westminster, London) is an English comedian and actor, best known for his role as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh. ...

Note: According to Kipling the "Mow" of Mowgli should rhyme with "cow", but in the film and TV versions it is almost always pronounced to rhyme with "go".

Comic books

(Not counting the numerous comics based on the Disney version) A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...

• Classics Illustrated #83 (1951) contains an adaptation of three Mowgli stories.
  • Reprinted in 1997 in a digest size edition with new coloring, accompanied by notes on the original stories, as a "Classics Illustrated Study Guide".
• Between 1953 and 1955 Dell Comics featured adaptations of six Mowgli stories in three issues (#487, #582 and #620).
• Some issues of Marvel Fanfare feature adaptations of the Mowgli stories by Gil Kane
• P. Craig Russell's Jungle Book Stories (1997) collects three stories, actually adapted from The Second Jungle Book, which originally appeared between 1985 and 1996.
• Fables features an adult Mowgli. He is one of the "Tourists", a group of three Fables monitoring Fables who do not live in Fabletown. He first appears in Fables #39, where he meets up with Baloo and Bagheera, and discusses old times with them. In Fables #48 & 49, Mowgli is the protagonist of a two-part story arc in which he tracks down Bigby Wolf.

Classics Illustrated were comic book adaptations from classic literature, a series that Russian-born Albert Lewis Kanter (1897-1973) began in 1941 for Elliot Publishing. ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Digest size is a standard magazine size, smaller than a conventional bedsheet size magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Marvel Fanfare are two comic books published by Marvel Comics. ... Showcase #22 (Oct. ... Philip Craig Russell, a. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Embossed cover from the original MacMillan edition of The Second Jungle Book, 1895, based on art by John Lockwood Kipling (Rudyards father) The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. ... Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Fables is a Vertigo comic book series created and written by Bill Willingham. ... Fabletown is the clandestine community of Fables resident in New York in the Fables comic book universe. ... Baloo is the fictional sleepy old grey bear featured in Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. ... Bagheera in a Russian cartoon (1967) Bagheera (Hindi: Leopard) the black panther is an animal fictional character in Rudyard Kiplings Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book (coll. ... Bigby Wolf is a major character in the comic book series Fables. ...

See also

• Works of Rudyard Kipling
• Feral children in mythology and fiction
• The Jungle Book characters
• Mowgli Syndrome

Rudyard Kiplings Works Books (all collections of short stories except as noted) Departmental Ditties (1886, poetry) Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) Soldiers Three (1888) The Story of the Gadsbys (1888, novel) In Black and White (1888) Under the Deodars (1888) The Phantom Rickshaw (1888) Wee Willie Winkie (1888... Cover from Shasta of the Wolves by Olaf Baker (1921 British edition) Feral children (that is, human children raised by non-human animals) in mythology and fiction are often depicted as having superior strength, intelligence and morals to normal humans, the implication being that because of their upbringing they represent... Rudyard Kiplings story collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book contain a colourful array of both human and talking animal characters. ... Mowgli Syndrome is a term that is often given to children that are found with severe cognitive and/or physical deficiencies that are not the result of any biological cause, but rather are due to severe neglect. ...

External links

• In the Rukh: Mowgli's first appearance from Kipling's Many Inventions
• The Jungle Book Collection and Wiki: a website demonstrating the variety of merchandise related to the book and film versions of The Jungle Books, now accompanied by a Wiki on the Jungle Books and related subjects