It was the village club , and the head-man and the watchman and the barber , who knew all the gossip of the village , and old Buldeo , the village hunter , who had a Tower musket , met and smoked . The monkeys sat and talked in the upper branches , and there was a hole under the platform where a cobra lived , and he had his little platter of milk every night because he was sacred ; and the old men sat around the tree and talked , and pulled at the big huqas -LRB- the water-pipes -RRB- till far into the night . They told wonderful tales of gods and men and ghosts ; and Buldeo told even more wonderful ones of the ways of beasts in the jungle , till the eyes of the children sitting outside the circle bulged out of their heads . Most of the tales were about animals , for the jungle was always at their door . The deer and the wild pig grubbed up their crops , and now and again the tiger carried off a man at twilight , within sight of the village gates . Mowgli , who naturally knew something about what they were talking of , had to cover his face not to show that he was laughing , while Buldeo , the Tower musket across his knees , climbed on from one wonderful story to another , and Mowgli 's shoulders shook . Buldeo was explaining how the tiger that had carried away Messua 's son was a ghost-tiger , and his body was inhabited by the ghost of a wicked , old money-lender , who had died some years ago . `` And I know that this is true , '' he said , `` because Purun Dass always limped from the blow that he got in a riot when his account books were burned , and the tiger that I speak of he limps , too , for the tracks of his pads are unequal . '' `` True , true , that must be the truth , '' said the gray-beards , nodding together . `` Are all these tales such cobwebs and moon talk ? '' said Mowgli . `` That tiger limps because he was born lame , as everyone knows . To talk of the soul of a money-lender in a beast that never had the courage of a jackal is child 's talk . '' Buldeo was speechless with surprise for a moment , and the head-man stared . `` Oho ! It is the jungle brat , is it ? '' said Buldeo . `` If thou art so wise , better bring his hide to Khanhiwara , for the Government has set a hundred rupees on his life . Better still , talk not when thy elders speak . '' Mowgli rose to go .
`` All the evening I have lain here listening , '' he called back over his shoulder , `` and , except once or twice , Buldeo has not said one word of truth concerning the jungle , which is XXXXX his very doors .
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