Bagheera's Secret
By lyosha
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"Little Brother" said he, "feel under my jaw."
Mowgli put up his strong brown hand, and just under Bagheera's silky chin, where the giant rolling muscles were all hid by the glossy hair, he came upon a little bald spot.
"There is no one in the jungle that knows that I, Bagheera, carry that mark -- the mark of the collar; and yet, Little Brother, I was born among men, and it was among men that my mother died -- in the cages of the King's Palace at Oodeypore. It was because of this that I paid the price for thee at the Council when thou wast a little naked cub. Yes, I too was born among men. I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera, the Panther, and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw, and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan. Is it not so?"
"Yes," said Mowgli; "all the jungle fear Bagheera -- all except Mowgli."
--Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
A belated happy birthday to one of my favourite authors.
Mowgli put up his strong brown hand, and just under Bagheera's silky chin, where the giant rolling muscles were all hid by the glossy hair, he came upon a little bald spot.
"There is no one in the jungle that knows that I, Bagheera, carry that mark -- the mark of the collar; and yet, Little Brother, I was born among men, and it was among men that my mother died -- in the cages of the King's Palace at Oodeypore. It was because of this that I paid the price for thee at the Council when thou wast a little naked cub. Yes, I too was born among men. I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera, the Panther, and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw, and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan. Is it not so?"
"Yes," said Mowgli; "all the jungle fear Bagheera -- all except Mowgli."
--Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
A belated happy birthday to one of my favourite authors.
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© 2007 - 2021 lyosha
Comments225
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Man, I may need to read that book someday. I love the way Kipling writes. Anyways, Mowgli looks great and Bagheera looks gorgeous. Good work.
cool pic...poor Bagheera...
Wait... so Bagheera was an even bigger bad than Shere Khan?
Great picture! I've always loved Bagheera.
It sounds to me like Bagheera could have made Shere Khan his prison bitch.
Nice job with the spots
Really well done piece, that seems to fit well with the excerpt from the novel.
However, I'm pretty sure that if a lock can be broken with just one swipe of a Panther's paw, it's not fit to be a lock - especially for a fully grown and dangerous animal like a panther.
However, I'm pretty sure that if a lock can be broken with just one swipe of a Panther's paw, it's not fit to be a lock - especially for a fully grown and dangerous animal like a panther.
I'm glad to see this scene painted out and described. It gives Bagheera a lot more depth. After seeing the newest Jungle Book trailer for 2016 ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_EN03… ), I can just imagine this scene done in Ben Kingsley's voice.
I'm going to go out and buy this book now.
My favorite scene from the book.
I love it
Even made me cry a little. Love the emotional image and the wonderful text...
Even made me cry a little. Love the emotional image and the wonderful text...
I've never read the original book, but it puts an entirely new spin on my view of the story knowing that Bagheera was raised in captivity...
on a more unrelated topic, we have a black cat named Bagheera
Brilliant.
I love Bagheera
I truly love you based this scene of the authors words
This is beautiful.
Awesome!
Beautiful!!
Gorgeous illustration. 
I love these two.
perfect, so beautiful ! i love everything about this
I've always loved panthers!
GOD bless
John 3:16
GOD bless
John 3:16
Whoa... So Bagheera was rasised in captivity.. poor guy. That would explain why he knew so much about mankind...
And thinking of a fight between him and Shere Khan just now... I really hope that Bagheera truly mops the jungle floor with that creep's face. XD
And thinking of a fight between him and Shere Khan just now... I really hope that Bagheera truly mops the jungle floor with that creep's face. XD
this is absolutely gorgeous~
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