kipling animals

[paul]

i am currently tutoring a 10 year old mexican child in english reading and speaking. reading the Jungle Book has convinced her that the story couldn't possibly be set in India because, as she pointed out - there are no bears and wolves in India. She is also convinced that Kaa is an anaconda and not a python.<br><br>where can we find a source to disspel these notions? even the tiger and elephant arguments do not seem to convince her that we're in India, and not in, say, south america or god knows where.

[Carol Reese]

Baloo is a sloth bear. Here's a site that talks about them, and of course, they live in India.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Support/AdoptSpecies/AnimalInfo/SlothBear/default.cfm

And here is a site about Indian animals. It mentions both sloth bears and black bears in the Himalayas.

http://greetingindia.tripod.com/animals.html

And here's a site that talks about Indian wolves, which are now endangered.

http://www.wolf.org/wolf/learn/iwmag/2001/fall2001/fal2001a5.asp

You must remember that Kipling wrote these stories about a hundred years ago, and these animals were likely not endangered at that time.

This is probably late for your purposes, but I just found and joined this forum yestereday!

[sassypengeduin]

I'm trying to find out why their are so many abridged version to Kipling's the Jungle book. I just found the scholastic version and noticed they left out several of the tales such as the white seal. Do you know why they do this?

[Whifflingpin]

"I'm trying to find out why their are so many abridged version to Kipling's the Jungle book. I just found the scholastic version and noticed they left out several of the tales such as the white seal. Do you know why they do this?"

Perhaps because they don't fit in with the Disney version, some other preconceived idea of Kipling.

You ask in another thread if you should get an unabridged version - I think you have answered your own question.

[Carol Reese]

The Jungle Books are actually 2 sets of short stories. Because of the Disney movies, many people think they are a novel. If read in the correct order, the Mowgli stories seem to be a novel, but they are not. In fact, I think there are about 15 stories in all only 7 of which are about Mowgli.

Unfortunately, when you read them on this site, the impression is given that they are novels becuase they list chapters rather than story titles. And that gets confusing, because they are in the order they were in the original books. Set up that way,there is no plot to the "book." Each story has it's own plot and is complete in itself.

I think "The White Seal" is often left out because it's not about an INdian jungle animal. "The Miracle of Purun Baghat" is also frequently left out because it seems to be more about a man.

I would urge you to try to find unabridged versions. Although the Mowgli stores won't necessarily be arranged in chronological order, they do stand alone and it doen't matter what order you read them in. The other stories are also wonderful, and anyone not reading them all is missing a lot.

Personally, while the DIsney movie is cute, I don't care for it because it doesn't really follow the stories well. There is much more to them,and of course, they don't even use all of them. (Specifically the one where Mowgli kills Shere Khan.)

[RJbibliophil]

I guess I had never really thought about how there "aren't" bears and wolves in India. Thank you for the excellant information Carol.

You have also reminded me that there is a second volume to the Jungle Book, which I do not think I have read. I will have to look for it next fall sometime.

[Carol Reese]

This edition out in August 2004 appears to be unabridged, although it has comments and other information - not necessarily a bad thing.

http://books.google.com/books?dq=buy+books+by+rudyard+kipling&id=yWeKCrrMM-UC&start=5

I need to get these. I have many of the stories in another set of books, but not all of them. THe 1956 "Kipling, a Selection of his stories and poems" edited by John Beecroft. It's a good overview of his works, and while out of print can be found used fairly easily.

Here's one link, but it will probably not stay a link very long as the books will sell.

http://www.kensvideo.net/si/SKU1002724.html

[kev67]

Baloo is a sloth bear. Here's a site that talks about them, and of course, they live in India.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Support/AdoptSpecies/AnimalInfo/SlothBear/default.cfm

And here is a site about Indian animals. It mentions both sloth bears and black bears in the Himalayas.

http://greetingindia.tripod.com/animals.html

And here's a site that talks about Indian wolves, which are now endangered.

http://www.wolf.org/wolf/learn/iwmag/2001/fall2001/fal2001a5.asp

You must remember that Kipling wrote these stories about a hundred years ago, and these animals were likely not endangered at that time.

This is probably late for your purposes, but I just found and joined this forum yestereday!

If Baloo was a sloth bear, that would fit in with the lyrics:

Wherever I wander, wherever I roam
I couldn't be fonder of my big home
The bees are buzzin' in the tree
To make some honey just for me
When you look under the rocks and plants
And take a glance at the fancy ants
Then maybe try a few



According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_bear), sloth bears are insectivorous. They are also very fond of honey, but aren't all bears fond of honey?