Mowgli

Mowgli /ˈmaʊɡli/ is a fictional character and the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories. He is a feral child from the Pench area in Central India who originally appeared in 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 novels The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.

Kipling's Mowgli stories

The Mowgli stories, including In the Rukh, "Getting cold in London" and "Chakalita in Panama" 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).

In the Rukh describes how Gisborne, an English forest ranger in the Pench area in Central India at the time of the British Raj, discovers a young man named Mowgli, who has extraordinary skill at hunting, tracking, and driving wild animals (with the help of his wolf brothers). He asks him to join the forestry service. Mueller (the head of all Woods and Forests of India, i.e. Gisborn's boss), meets Mowgli, checks his elbows and knees noting the callouses and scars, and figures him out, that Mowgli is not using magic or demons, having seen a similar case in 30 years of service. Muller also offers Mowgli to join the service, to which Mowgli agrees. Later Gisborne learns the reason for Mowgli's almost superhuman talents; he was raised by a pack of wolves in the jungle (explaining the scars on his elbows and knees from going on all fours). Mowgli takes for wife the daughter of Gisborne's butler. By the end of the story, Mowgli has a son, and Mowgli's wolf brothers are friendly with Gisborne.

Mowgli (disambiguation)

Mowgli is a fictional feral boy in some stories written by Rudyard Kipling.

Mowgli may also refer to