But , one year , Baloo 's words came true , and Mowgli saw all the Jungle working under the Law . It began when the winter Rains failed almost entirely , and Ikki , the Porcupine , meeting Mowgli in a bamboo-thicket , told him that the wild yams were drying up . Now everybody knows that Ikki is ridiculously fastidious in his choice of food , and will eat nothing but the very best and ripest . So Mowgli laughed and said , `` What is that to me ? '' `` Not much NOW , '' said Ikki , rattling his quills in a stiff , uncomfortable way , `` but later we shall see . Is there any more diving into the deep rock-pool below the Bee-Rocks , Little Brother ? '' `` No . The foolish water is going all away , and I do not wish to break my head , '' said Mowgli , who , in those days , was quite sure that he knew as much as any five of the Jungle People put together . `` That is thy loss . A small crack might let in some wisdom . '' Ikki ducked quickly to prevent Mowgli from pulling his nose-bristles , and Mowgli told Baloo what Ikki had said . Baloo looked very grave , and mumbled half to himself : `` If I were alone I would change my hunting-grounds now , before the others began to think . And yet -- hunting among strangers ends in fighting ; and they might hurt the Man-cub . We must wait and see how the mohwa blooms . '' That spring the mohwa tree , that Baloo was so fond of , never flowered . The greeny , cream-coloured , waxy blossoms were heat-killed before they were born , and only a few bad-smelling petals came down when he stood on his hind legs and shook the tree . Then , inch by inch , the untempered heat crept into the heart of the Jungle , turning it yellow , brown , and at last black . The green growths in the sides of the ravines burned up to broken wires and curled films of dead stuff ; the hidden pools sank down and caked over , keeping the last least footmark on their edges as if it had been cast in iron ; the juicy-stemmed creepers fell away from the trees they clung to and died at their feet ; the bamboos withered , clanking when the hot winds blew , and the moss peeled off the rocks deep in the Jungle , till they were as bare and as hot as the quivering blue boulders in the bed of the stream . The birds and the monkey-people went north early in the year , for they knew what was coming ; and the deer and the wild pig broke far away to the perished fields of the villages , dying sometimes before the eyes of men too weak to kill them . Chil , the Kite , stayed and grew fat , for there was a great deal of carrion , and evening after evening he brought the news to the beasts , too weak to force their way to fresh hunting-grounds , that the sun was killing the Jungle for three days ' flight in every direction .
XXXXX , who had never known what real hunger meant , fell back on stale honey , three years old , scraped out of deserted rock-hives -- honey black as a sloe , and dusty with dried sugar .
Bee-Rocks Brother Ikki Mowgli Porcupine bamboo-thicket bamboos evening nose-bristles quills