meet the Hairless One--and his name
is Man--ye shall not be afraid of him, but he shall be afraid of you, as
though ye were judges of the Jungle and masters of all things. Show him
mercy in that night of his fear, for thou hast known what Fear is.'

"Then the First of the Tigers answered, 'I am content'; but when next
he drank he saw the black stripes upon his flank and his side, and he
remembered the name that the Hairless One had given him, and he was
angry. For a year he lived in the marshes waiting till Tha should keep
his promise. And upon a night when the jackal of the Moon [the Evening
Star] stood clear of the Jungle, he felt that his Night was upon him,
and he went to that cave to meet the Hairless One. Then it happened as
Tha promised, for the Hairless One fell down before him and lay along
the ground, and the First of the Tigers struck him and broke his back,
for he thought that there was but one such Thing in the Jungle, and that
he had killed Fear. Then, nosing above the kill, he heard Tha coming
down from the woods of the North, and presently the voice of the First
of the Elephants, which is the voice that we hear now----"

The thunder was rolling up and down the dry, scarred hills, but
it brought no rain--only heat--lightning that flickered along the
ridges--and Hathi went on: "THAT was the voice he heard, and it said:
'Is this thy mercy?' The First of the Tigers licked his lips and said:
'What matter? I have killed Fear.' And Tha said: 'O blind and foolish!
Thou hast untied the feet of Death, and he will follow thy trail till
thou diest. Thou hast taught Man to kill!'

"The First of the Tigers, standing stiffly to his kill, said. 'He is as
the buck was. There is no Fear. Now I will judge the Jungle Peoples once
more.'

"And Tha said: 'Never again shall the Jungle Peoples come to thee. They
shall never cross thy trail, nor sleep near thee, nor follow after thee,
nor browse by thy lair. Only Fear shall follow thee, and with a blow
that thou canst not see he shall bid thee wait his pleasure. He shall
make the ground to open under thy feet, and the creeper to twist about
thy neck, and the tree-trunks to grow together about thee higher than
thou canst leap, and at the last he shall take thy hide to wrap his cubs
when they are cold. Thou hast shown him no mercy, and none will he show
thee.'

"The First of the Tigers was very bold, for his Night was still on him,
and he said: 'The Promise of Tha is the Pro