The singing and the sight of the men climbing up the trees have made me very ready . Who is Man that we should care for him -- the naked brown digger , the hairless and toothless , the eater of earth ? I have followed him all day -- at noon -- in the white sunlight . I herded him as the wolves herd buck . I am Bagheera ! Bagheera ! Bagheera ! As I dance with my shadow , so danced I with those men . Look ! '' The great panther leaped as a kitten leaps at a dead leaf whirling overhead , struck left and right into the empty air , that sang under the strokes , landed noiselessly , and leaped again and again , while the half purr , half growl gathered head as steam rumbles in a boiler . `` I am Bagheera -- in the jungle -- in the night , and my strength is in me . Who shall stay my stroke ? Man-cub , with one blow of my paw I could beat thy head flat as a dead frog in the summer ! '' `` Strike , then ! '' said Mowgli , in the dialect of the village , NOT the talk of the Jungle , and the human words brought Bagheera to a full stop , flung back on haunches that quivered under him , his head just at the level of Mowgli 's . Once more Mowgli stared , as he had stared at the rebellious cubs , full into the beryl-green eyes till the red glare behind their green went out like the light of a lighthouse shut off twenty miles across the sea ; till the eyes dropped , and the big head with them -- dropped lower and lower , and the red rasp of a tongue grated on Mowgli 's instep . `` Brother -- Brother -- Brother ! '' the boy whispered , stroking steadily and lightly from the neck along the heaving back . `` Be still , be still ! It is the fault of the night , and no fault of thine . ''
`` It was the smells of the XXXXX , '' said Bagheera penitently .
Bagheera Brother Man-cub Mowgli day eater instep left night right