They heard , as the last burdened family filed through the gate , a crash of falling beams and thatch behind the walls . They saw a shiny , snaky black trunk lifted for an instant , scattering sodden thatch . It disappeared , and there was another crash , followed by a squeal . Hathi had been plucking off the roofs of the huts as you pluck water-lilies , and a rebounding beam had pricked him . He needed only this to unchain his full strength , for of all things in the Jungle the wild elephant enraged is the most wantonly destructive . He kicked backward at a mud wall that crumbled at the stroke , and , crumbling , melted to yellow mud under the torrent of rain . Then he wheeled and squealed , and tore through the narrow streets , leaning against the huts right and left , shivering the crazy doors , and crumpling up the caves ; while his three sons raged behind as they had raged at the Sack of the Fields of Bhurtpore . `` The Jungle will swallow these shells , '' said a quiet voice in the wreckage . `` It is the outer wall that must lie down , '' and Mowgli , with the rain sluicing over his bare shoulders and arms , leaped back from a wall that was settling like a tired buffalo . `` All in good time , '' panted Hathi . `` Oh , but my tusks were red at Bhurtpore ; To the outer wall , children ! With the head ! Together ! Now ! '' The four pushed side by side ; the outer wall bulged , split , and fell , and the villagers , dumb with horror , saw the savage , clay-streaked heads of the wreckers in the ragged gap . Then they fled , houseless and foodless , down the valley , as their village , shredded and tossed and trampled , melted behind them . A month later the place was a dimpled mound , covered with soft , green young stuff ; and by the end of the Rains there was the roaring jungle in full blast on the spot that had been under plough not six months before . MOWGLI 'S SONG AGAINST PEOPLE I will let loose against you the fleet-footed vines -- I will call in the Jungle to stamp out your lines ! The roofs shall fade before it , The house-beams shall fall , And the Karela , the bitter Karela , Shall cover it all ! In the gates of these your councils my people shall sing , In the doors of these your garners the Bat-folk shall cling ; And the snake shall be your watchman , By a hearthstone unswept ; For the Karela , the bitter Karela , Shall fruit where ye slept !
Ye shall not see my strikers ; ye shall hear them and guess ; By night , before the moon-rise , I will send for my cess , And the wolf shall be your herdsman By a landmark removed , For the Karela , the bitter XXXXX , Shall seed where ye loved !
Hathi Karela Mowgli fall house-beams left months plough right water-lilies