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Mowgli
Shere Khan is the most feared animal in Mowgli’s jungle. He is a powerful tiger who does not adhere to the Law of the Jungle like the other animals. Shere Khan is also cunning and manipulative. At the end of “Mowgli’s Brothers,” he manages to turn the wolves against Mowgli, and he retains power over them until his death. Although Shere Khan is smart, Mowgli is smarter and manages to outwit Shere Khan and bring about his death. After Shere Khan dies, Mowgli skins him and claims his pelt as a trophy.
Shere Khan Quotes in The Jungle Book
The The Jungle Book quotes below are all either spoken by Shere Khan or refer to Shere Khan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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1. Mowgli’s Brothers
Quotes
The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the hunting grounds of his pack or tribe. The real reason for this is that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches. Then everybody in the jungle suffers. The reason the beasts give among themselves is that Man is the weakest and most defenseless of all living things, and it is unsportsmanlike to touch him. They say too—and it is true—that man-eaters become mangy, and lose their teeth.
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‘And it is I, Raksha [The Demon], who answers. 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 cubs—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, burned beast of the jungle, lamer than ever thou camest into the world! Go!’
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‘Ay, roar well,’ said Bagheera, under his whiskers, ‘for the time will come when this naked thing will make thee roar to another tune, or I know nothing of man.’
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5. ‘Tiger! Tiger!’
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‘Lead us again, O Akela. Lead us again, O Man-cub, for we be sick of this lawlessness, and we would be the Free People once more[,]’ [cried the Pack.]
‘Nay,’ purred Bagheera, ‘that may not be. When ye are full-fed, the madness may come upon you again. Not for nothing are ye called the Free People. Ye fought for freedom, and it is yours. Eat it, O Wolves.’
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6. Mowgli’s Song
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I am two Mowglis, but the hide of Shere Khan is under my feet.
All the Jungle knows that I have killed Shere Khan. Look – look well, O Wolves!
Ahae! My heart is heavy with the things that I do not understand.
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Get the entire The Jungle Book LitChart as a printable PDF.
Shere Khan Character Timeline in The Jungle Book
The timeline below shows where the character Shere Khan appears in The Jungle Book. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. Mowgli’s Brothers
...to hunt. Before he departs, he speaks with Tabaqui, a jackal, who tells him that Shere Khan , a tiger, has decided to hunt in Father Wolf’s territory. Tabaqui’s news upsets Father...
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Right on cue, Shere Khan roars loudly into the night sky, drawing the attention of Mother Wolf and Father Wolf....
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Moments later, Shere Khan arrives looking for the man cub. Luckily, he cannot get inside the wolves’ cave because...
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...deal, Bagheera kills one of his bulls, and Mowgli gets to join the Pack. Meanwhile, Shere Khan is furious that he did not get his paws on Mowgli.
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...Bagheera worries that, without Akela, it will be challenging to keep Mowgli safe. He knows Shere Khan has been trying to poison other members of the Pack against Mowgli by claiming that...
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...to the human village and take some of their “Red Flower” (fire) to use against Shere Khan .
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...of aging, no one dares to challenge Akela as Pack leader. During the same meeting, Shere Khan shows up and asks that the Pack hand Mowgli over to him. He claims Mowgli...
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...and lights a branch on fire. He waves the burning branch at the wolves and Shere Khan , frightening them. Shere Khan and the wolves retreat; they fear Mowgli’s fire and do...
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After Shere Khan and the other wolves are gone, Mowgli cries. He does not understand why the wolves...
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...asks them to always remember him because he plans to return and get revenge on Shere Khan one day. Father Wolf and Mother Wolf tell Mowgli that they love him and will...
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5. ‘Tiger! Tiger!’
...of the wolf pack still loyal to Mowgli, approaches him. Grey Brother warns Mowgli that Shere Khan will likely return to cause more problems in the jungle. At first, Mowgli does not...
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...he mocks Buldeo, the village hunter, to his face because he tells a story about Shere Khan .
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Apparently, Buldeo once knew a money-lender with a limp who died in the forest. Because Shere Khan has a lame foot, Buldeo thinks the spirit of the money-lender possesses Shere Khan. Of...
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...tending to the buffalo, Grey Brother pays him a visit. Grey Brother warns Mowgli that Shere Khan still wants revenge on him. He believes Shere Khan will try to attack and kill...
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Mowgli learns that Shere Khan recently ate a pig, meaning that he will not be as spry as he normally...
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After Shere Khan is dead, Mowgli skins him. As he does, Buldeo approaches him and demands that Mowgli...
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...people. At first, Mowgli thinks the villagers plan to celebrate him; after all, he killed Shere Khan , a tiger they feared. However, instead, the villagers throw rocks at Mowgli and order...
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...leave the village for his own sake. Before he leaves, Messua thanks him for killing Shere Khan . Mowgli asks his wolf friends to herd the buffalo back to the village. If...
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Mowgli returns to Council Rock and shows the other animals Shere Khan 's pelt. Many of the wolves are in attendance, and they ask Mowgli and Akela...
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6. Mowgli’s Song
Mowgli sings a song to all of the animals at Council Rock, celebrating Shere Khan ’s death. His song talks about how he is the man who killed Shere Khan...
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