Reading extract and questions:
Year 5-6
The Jungle Book
Excerpt from Mowgli’s Brothers
Set A
Shere Khan the tiger has attacked a woodcutter’s camp, but their young child has escaped
him and walked into the cave of a family of wolves. The Tiger has tracked the child to the
cave and wants his prey to be handed over to him.
Shere Khan had jumped at a woodcutter’s campfire, as Father Wolf had said, and was
furious from the pain of his burned feet. But Father Wolf knew that the mouth of the cave
was too narrow for a tiger to come in by. Even where he was, Shere Khan’s shoulders and
forepaws were cramped for want of room, as a man’s would be if he tried to fight in a
barrel.
“The Wolves are free people,” said Father Wolf. “They take orders from the Head of the Pack, and not from any
striped cattle-killer. The man’s cub is ours – to kill if we choose.”
“Ye choose and ye do not choose! What talk is this of choosing? By the bull that I killed, am I to stand nosing into
your dog’s den for my fair dues? It is I, Shere Khan, who speak.”
The tiger’s roar filled the cave with thunder. Mother Wolf shook herself clear of the cubs and sprang forward, her
eyes, like two green moons in the darkness, facing the blazing eyes of Shere Khan.
“And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answer. The man’s cub is mine, Lungri – mine to me! He shall not be killed. He
shall live to run with the Pack and to hunt with the Pack; and in the end, look you, hunter of little naked cub – frog-
eater – fish killer – he shall hunt thee! Now get hence, or by the Sambhur that I killed (I eat no starved cattle), back
thou goest to thy mother, burnt beast of the Jungle, lamer than ever thou earnest into the world! Go!”
Father Wolf looked on amazed. He had almost forgotten the days when he won Mother Wolf in a fair fight from five
other wolves, when she ran in the Pack and was not called The Demon for compliment’s sake. Shere Khan might
have faced Father Wolf, but he could not stand up against Mother Wolf, for he knew that where he was she had all
the advantage of the ground, and would fight to the death. So he backed out of the cave-mouth growling, and when
he was clear he shouted –
“Each dog barks in his own yard! We will see what the Pack will say to this fostering of man-cubs. The cub is mine,
and to my teeth he will come in the end, O bush-tailed thieves!”
Mother Wolf threw herself down panting among the cubs, and Father Wolf said to her gravely –
“Shere Khan speaks this much truth. The cub must be shown to the Pack. Wilt thou still keep him, Mother?”
“Keep him!” she gasped. “He came naked, by night, alone and very hungry; yet he was not afraid! Look, he has
pushed one of my babes to one side already. And that lame butcher would have killed him and would have run off to
the Waingunga while the villages here hunted through all our lairs in revenge. Keep him? Assuredly I will keep him.
Lie still, little frog. O thou Mowgli – for Mowgli the Frog I will call thee – the time will come when thou wilt hunt
Shere Khan as he has hunted thee.”
Questions for The Jungle Book
Set A
Vocabulary:
1. Look at the paragraph beginning Shere Khan had jumped ... Find and copy one word that means very
angry.
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2. … this fostering of man-cubs … What does the word fostering mean in this sentence?
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3. … And that lame butcher … Which of the following is closest in meaning to lame in this sentence? Circle
one.
vicious weak injured hopeless
Retrieval:
4. Who did the wolves take their orders from?
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5. What were Mother Wolf’s eyes compared to?
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6. Complete the sentence below.
Father Wolf had earned the right to be Mother Wolf’s partner by ...
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Inference:
7. Complete the table below with one piece of evidence to support each statement.
Evidence
Shere Khan is angry with
the wolves.
Mother Wolf could be
dangerous.
8. “Each dog barks in his own yard!” This means … (tick one)
Everyone is braver when they are in their own home.
Wolves make good guard dogs.
I don’t believe you.
Wolves are only fit to be pets.
9. Why was Mother Wolf impressed that Mowgli had pushed one of her cubs to one side?
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Summarise:
10. Which statement is the best summary of the whole extract? Tick one.
Shere Khan is frightened of the wolves.
The wolves want to annoy Shere Khan.
The wolves will let Shere Khan have Mowgli when they have finished with him.
The wolves think it will be a mistake to let Shere Khan have Mowgli.
Meaning as a whole:
11. Draw lines to match each part of the story to its correct quotation.
Past events … the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger
to come in by.
Setting Mother Wolf shook herself clear of the cubs and
sprang forward ...
Action
Shere Khan had jumped at the woodcutter’s fire …
Character He had almost forgotten the days when … she was
not called The Demon for compliment’s sake.
Authorial intent:
12. “… They take orders from the Head of the Pack, and not from any striped cattle-killer ...” What does the
phrase striped cattle-killer tell us about Father Wolf’s impression of Shere Khan?
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