— ”

“So also said Akela on the night of Red Dog,” Mowgli muttered.

“So also says Kaa, who is wiser than us all.”

“What dost thou say, Gray Brother?”

“They cast thee out once, with bad talk.

They cut thy mouth with stones. They sent Buldeo to slay thee. They would have thrown thee into the Red Flower. Thou, and not I, hast said that they are evil and senseless. Thou, and not I — I follow my own people — didst let in the Jungle upon them. Thou, and not I, didst make song against them more bitter even than our song against Red Dog.”

“I ask thee what THOU sayest?”