`` NOW I see why it was Shere Khan bade me look at him ! He got no good of it , for he could not hold his eyes steady , and -- and I certainly did not fall down at his feet . But then I am not a man , being of the Free People . '' `` Umm ! '' said Bagheera deep in his furry throat . `` Does the Tiger know his Night ? '' `` Never till the Jackal of the Moon stands clear of the evening mist . Sometimes it falls in the dry summer and sometimes in the wet rains -- this one Night of the Tiger . But for the First of the Tigers , this would never have been , nor would any of us have known fear . '' The deer grunted sorrowfully and Bagheera 's lips curled in a wicked smile . `` Do men know this -- tale ? '' said he . `` None know it except the tigers , and we , the elephants -- the children of Tha . Now ye by the pools have heard it , and I have spoken . '' Hathi dipped his trunk into the water as a sign that he did not wish to talk . `` But -- but -- but , '' said Mowgli , turning to Baloo , `` why did not the First of the Tigers continue to eat grass and leaves and trees ? He did but break the buck 's neck . He did not EAT . What led him to the hot meat ? '' `` The trees and the creepers marked him , Little Brother , and made him the striped thing that we see .
Never again would he eat their fruit ; but from that day he revenged himself upon the deer , and the others , the Eaters of Grass , '' said XXXXX .
Bagheera Baloo First Hathi Jackal Khan Mowgli Night Tigers fall