Red Dog (Kipling short story) facts for kids
"Red Dog" is an exciting story about Mowgli, written by Rudyard Kipling. It's one of the famous Mowgli adventures.
Kipling wrote this story in 1895. It first appeared in magazines like The Pall Mall Gazette and McClure's Magazine. Later that year, it became the seventh story in his book, The Second Jungle Book.
The Story of Red Dog
Mowgli, who grew up with wolves, is about 16 years old. He lives happily with his wolf family in the Seeonee jungle. One day, a lonely wolf named Won-tolla arrives. His family was killed by fierce wild dogs called dholes. Won-tolla warns the Seeonee wolves that the dhole pack is coming. They will soon try to take over the wolves' home.
Mowgli's Plan
That night, Mowgli meets his old friend, Kaa, the giant python. Mowgli tells Kaa about the dholes. Kaa doesn't think Mowgli and the wolf pack can win a direct fight. Kaa then thinks deeply, remembering old strategies. He comes up with a clever idea.
Kaa takes Mowgli to the Bee Rocks. This is a deep gorge with huge beehives hanging over the river. Millions of wild bees live there. Mowgli and Kaa plan to trick the dholes into coming to this gorge. The bees will then attack them. Mowgli waits in a tree branch for the dholes. He rubs himself with garlic to keep the bees away.
When the dholes arrive, Mowgli teases their leader. He makes the leader very angry and even cuts off its tail! Then, Mowgli runs towards the gorge. Just before he jumps into the water, he kicks stones into the beehives. This makes the bees very angry. The garlic protects Mowgli, and he dives safely into the river. Kaa quickly wraps around Mowgli to keep him from being swept away by the strong current.
The Big Battle
Some of the dholes are stung to death by the furious bees. Others drown in the rushing river. The rest of the dhole pack tries to escape downstream. Mowgli chases after them. Eventually, Mowgli and the remaining dholes reach shallower water. Here, Mowgli and the wolves fight a very fierce and bloody battle.
Won-tolla, the lonely wolf, bravely kills the dhole leader. But he is badly hurt and dies from his wounds. As the battle ends, Mowgli finds Akela, the old wolf leader, who is also dying. With his last breath, Akela tells Mowgli that he must soon go back to live with humans. Mowgli asks who will make him go. Akela replies, "Mowgli will drive Mowgli. Go back to thy people. Go to Man." What happens next is told in another story called "The Spring Running".
Red Dog in Other Media
The story of "Red Dog" has been shown in many different ways:
- In the Disney show Jungle Cubs, there was a two-part episode. The young animal friends had to drive the Red Dogs out of the jungle. They tricked the dogs into falling into a gorge full of bees.
- The Russian film series Adventures of Mowgli also showed this story. It followed the book closely, but also included Shere Khan and Tabaqui watching the fight.
- The anime series Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli had two episodes about this story. However, Akela did not take part in the war or die in this version.
- In the children's TV show Wild Kratts, the characters go looking for red dogs after Martin reads the story.
- A comic book called Red Dog #1 was made by P. Craig Russell in 1988. This comic book version was very similar to the original story.
