The Jungle Book -- Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling.

During the Victorian period, Mowgli is the five-year-old son of Nathoo, a wilderness guide, with whom he accompanies on a tour in the jungles of their native India and has Grey Brother as a pet wolf cub. Mowgli becomes close friends with a British girl named Katherine Anne "Kitty" Brydon, whose father, Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, commissioned the journey. When Shere Khan goes on a rampage in the camp and kills Mowgli's father and one of Colonel Brydon's soldiers, the boy and the wolf are lost in the confusion and are left to fend for themselves. Bagheera finds them and leads Mowgli to the wolf pack. Mowgli is befriended by the animals of the jungle including Baloo the bear cub, and they develop an unspoken bond as the boy learns to survive. Twenty years later, the Bandar-log steal the bracelet Kitty gave Mowgli. He follows them to the ruins of an overgrown and lost city, deep in the jungle, where he meets King Louie the orangutan, who he follows in to a chamber full of vast treasure. Louie wants to add the bracelet to the treasure, but agrees to give it back if Mowgli fights the great serpent Kaa and wins. Mowgli manages to defeat Kaa with a jeweled dagger he found in the temple. Kaa flees, but he is not killed. Louie returns Mowgli the bracelet, proclaiming the latter a hero.

A little later, Mowgli once again encounters Kitty, who has returned to India with her father and her arrogant and deceitful suitor, Captain William Boone. Kitty and Mowgli recognize each other, and while his powers of speech are rusty, Kitty reintroduces Mowgli to civilization with the help of Dr. Julius Plumford and Mowgli introduces Kitty to his friends in the jungle. However, after spending most of his life in the jungle, Mowgli does not feel at home among the rude and snobbish aristocrats (especially soldiers Sgt. Harley and Lt. Wilkins) who are friends with Kitty's family. He falls in love with Kitty, but he concedes to his rival for her affections, believing that he does not belong in her world.

Meanwhile, Buldeo, one of Boone's men, finds the jewelled dagger Mowgli used against Kaa, and they hatch a plan to get Mowgli to lead them to the treasure in Monkey City. After Mowgli refuses they attempt to capture him but fail thanks to Baloo's intervention. Baloo is shot in the process and Mowgli rushes back to Kitty's home to find Dr. Plumford; however the butler informs him that Kitty and Plumford are going back to England. Mowgli finds Kitty and the others just as Boone's men, led by Buldeo and Tabaqui (a guide working for Boone), ambush and attack them. Geoffrey is shot and wounded, and abducted along with Kitty. Mowgli saves Plumford, and asks him to return the favour by helping Baloo. Mowgli catches up with Boone's men, and agrees to escort them to Monkey City in exchange for Kitty and Geoffrey's safety.

The next morning, while the troupe is still searching for the treasure, Harley sinks in quicksand Tabaqui falls off a cliff, and Wilkins is chased down by Shere Khan. Eventually only Mowgli, Kitty, Boone and Buldeo make it to Monkey City.

As the three enter the ancient ruins, Buldeo attempts to shoot Mowgli and chases him into a crypt, but accidentally sets off a booby trap that buries him alive. In the end, only Mowgli, Kitty and Boone reach the treasure alive. Boone, no longer needing Mowgli, attempts to kill him, but the two fight and Boone loses. Mowgli and Kitty flee the temple, as Boone starts to pocket all the gold he can find. Kaa suddenly appears and scares Boone into falling into the water below them. While Boone is underwater, he notices a few skeletons of people whom Kaa had possibly killed in the past. Boone joins them when he is bitten and killed by Kaa.

Shere Khan confronts Mowgli and Kitty as they exit. Khan still does not trust Mowgli, and the two stare at each other a long time before Khan is stared down and leaves in submission - the fulfillment of a dream Mowgli had in the beginning of the story, where he, already a 'half-tiger' in spirit, would stare Shere Khan eye to eye and become a 'whole tiger', Khan recognising in Mowgli another creature of the jungle. Mowgli and Kitty reunite with their friends and family, including Geoffrey and Baloo, both cured by Plumford. Kitty and Mowgli are now together. They share a passionate kiss by a waterfall.