"The Second Jungle Book" of Rudyard Kipling was published in 1895, one year after "The Jungle Book." It is a sort of sequel, but it consists of eight individual stories, some of which are related to one another.
"How Fear Came"
Mowgli appears in the story. He is the boy who was stolen from his parent?s home by the tiger Shere Kahn and subsequently adopted by the family of wolves. However, Mowgli plays a very minor role in this particular story.
One year an exceptionally oppressive drought occurred. Hathi the elephant proclaimed the water truce. From then on, no animal was allowed to hunt or kill at the few places where water still existed. All animals could come and drink without fear of being killed ? until it rained once more.
When Mowgli and a crowd of animals were gathered by a river, Shere Kahn came to drink. He boasted that he had killed a man. The assembled group thought that the tiger had violated jungle law, which strictly limited the circumstances under which a man might be killed; but Shere Kahn asserted: "It was my right and my Night." He stated that Hathi knew that he was telling the truth.
Mowgli asked Hathi to explain. Hathi told of a time when the jungle was an ideal place. No one died. Even the tiger and the panther were vegetarians. Tha, the first elephant, was lord of the jungle. He appointed the first tiger to the position of master and judge of the jungle. The tiger became a wise and respected judge, but one day he forgot himself and impulsively killed a buck. This act allowed death to come into the jungle.
Tha returned and told the animals that Fear would be the new master of the jungle. So the animals looked around trying to find Fear. They found a hairless one in a cave and recognized that he was Fear.
The first tiger went to the cave, intending to break the neck of Fear. As he went, the branches marked his back with stripes. When he saw the hairless one, he was terrified and ran away.
The tiger was distressed by this turn of events. He also noted with sorrow that the jungle animals, which formerly held him in high esteem, now ran away in fear when they saw him approach. He appealed to Tha for help.
Tha granted him one favor. He explained that the hairless one was named Man. Though the tiger would normally be afraid of Man, each year there would be one night in which Man would fear the tiger. Tha urged the tiger to show mercy when that night arrived.
When his night arrived, the first tiger killed Man. He thought that he had killed Fear and that now things would be as they were in the beginning. However, Tha told the tiger that there were other men. By killing a man, the first tiger had taught men how to kill. The first tiger was killed by a man soon thereafter.
