Book 00061: The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
Title:
- The Jungle Books (The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book, and The Third Jungle Book)
First Publication:
- 1894
Trivia:
- Kipling is the first Englishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; he commands a place amongst the finest of English writers.
What would be more enjoyable than a bunch of quirky poems and fantastic fable-like stories -- that could tease our excitement, fears and anxiety? There is one classic collection of stories that offers these perks: The Jungle Books. Adventure is always a thing for reader who wanted fun, dreaming to relive the story on his own imagination, making himself the main character. This is what I mostly do when I was young: placing myself on the situation of the characters thinking that the story is mine. Yes, I hoped to become a character of classic stories and by reading I could become one.
Here is one of the poems that I greatly enjoyed:
ROAD-SONG OF THE BANDAR-LOG
Here we go in a flung festoon,
Half-way up to the jealous moon!
Don't you envy our pranceful bands?
Don't you wish you had extra hands?
Would n't you like if your tails were -- so --
Curved in the shape of a Cupid's bow?
Now you're angry, but -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
Here we sit in a branchy row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
All complete, in a minute or two --
Something noble and grand and good,
Won by merely wishing we could.
Now we're going to -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
All the talk we ever have heard
Uttered by bat or beast or bird --
Hide or fin or scale or feather --
Jabber it quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Let 's pretend we are... never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
This is the way of the Monkey-kind.
Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines,
That rocket by where, light and high, the wild-grape swings,
By the rubbish in our wake, and the noble noise we make,
Be sure, be sure, we're going to do some splendid things!
Here we go in a flung festoon,
Half-way up to the jealous moon!
Don't you envy our pranceful bands?
Don't you wish you had extra hands?
Would n't you like if your tails were -- so --
Curved in the shape of a Cupid's bow?
Now you're angry, but -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
Here we sit in a branchy row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
All complete, in a minute or two --
Something noble and grand and good,
Won by merely wishing we could.
Now we're going to -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
All the talk we ever have heard
Uttered by bat or beast or bird --
Hide or fin or scale or feather --
Jabber it quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Let 's pretend we are... never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
This is the way of the Monkey-kind.
Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines,
That rocket by where, light and high, the wild-grape swings,
By the rubbish in our wake, and the noble noise we make,
Be sure, be sure, we're going to do some splendid things!
You know what, another parameter to see whether a book is too good or not is the existence of any adaptations, TV shows, movies and stage plays. Who would forget Disney's take on Mowgli's story.
Grade: A
very good stories and poems
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