Great White Cobra!
A sequel of the original, The Second Jungle Book resumes the story of Mowgli and how he came
back to the jungle after living in the world of men. It also throws in some other stories and
poems, one in particular being a prequel to Kipling's Just So Stories.
I was particularly intrigued with the The King's Ankus and the huge white cobra that guards the fabulous
stash of royal treasure. I'm a sucker
for lost hoards of gems and gold...I imagine Rudyard was as well. You'll notice with this particular story,
it's shorter in the first edition. This
mistake was corrected in later editions, and the story was printed in
full. I've provided both the first
edition and a later American edition so you can experience all the slithery
goodness.
As an extra little bonus, the first story in this book...How Fear Came...includes a telling of
how the tiger got his stripes, and is a prequel to the series of children's
stories published by Kipling as Just So
Stories in 1902.
A first edition of The Second Jungle Book can be acquired
here:
Here's a later, complete edition:
The Second Jungle Book (1899)