Mr Lewis Hind, the e.litor of the Pall Mall Racket has arranged Kipling for six more “Jungle Stories,” which are to be published in the first instance in that journal. For the serial rights of these Mr Astor pays £l2 10s per thousand words or about £IOO apiece. The first, which iscalled “ How Fear Came to the Jungle,” will appear in the initial number of the enlarged series of the Budget on June 7th, and cost £lO5. Through the courtesy of Mr Hind I have been permitted to read it, and as these notes will not see light till long after the Pall Mall Budget of June 7th has dazzled poor humanity, I ean tell you a little thereof. “ How Fear Came to the Jungle ” commences with a description of a terrible drought in Rukh. All the streams dry up and food of every kind is so scarce that man and beast are alike well nigh starving. At last thing 3 get so bad that only in one place in the whole forest can a trickle of water be obtained. Then old Kha, the elephant king of the jungle, proclaims a water-truce which enables all the animals to meet and water together without fear of one another. Whilst it lasts the deer are safe alike from Baloo the bear, Bagbeera the Panther, and even from Shire Khan the Tiger ; and Kaa the serpent and the Bandar-Log meet together quite ami cably, One night during this truce Mowgli and and his jungle friends are having a long drink in company, when Shere Khan the tiger arrives and presently is discovered to have disgraced himself and the jungle by killing a man. The elephant king orders him to his lair in a voice of thunder. Mowgli asks why it is such a sin to kill a man. This leads old Kha to tell the wonderful legend of how fear came to the jungle through the first of the tigers meeting man. I must not spoil your pleasure by 6aying more. The tale cannot be reckoned one of the author’s best, but like all the jungle stories betrays a sump tuous imagination.
