by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
Mowgli's song against people
Language: English
I will let loose against you the fleet-footed vines - I will call in the Jungle to stamp out your lines! The roofs shall fade before it, The house-beams shall fall; And the Karela1, the bitter Karela, Shall cover it all! In the gates of these your councils my people shall sing. In the doors of these your garners the Bat-folk shall cling; And the snake shall be your watchman, By a hearthstone unswept; For the Karela, the bitter Karela, Shall fruit where ye slept! Ye shall not see my strikers; ye shall hear them and guess; By night, before the moon-rise, I will send for my cess2, And the wolf shall be your herdsman By a landmark removed; For the Karela, the bitter Karela, Shall seed where ye loved! I will reap your fields before you at the hands of a host; Ye shall glean behind my reapers for the bread that is lost; And the deer shall be your oxen On a headland untilled; For the Karela, the bitter Karela, Shall leaf where ye build! I have untied against you the club-footed vines, I have sent in the Jungle to swamp out your lines. The trees - the trees are on you! The house-beams shall fall; For the Karela, the bitter Karela, Shall cover [you] it all!
View original text (without footnotes)
1 a wild melon
2 an Indian tax
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
1 a wild melon
2 an Indian tax
Authorship:
- by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), "Mowgli's song against people", appears in The Second Jungle Book, ending the story "Letting in the Jungle", first published 1895 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "Mowgli's song against people", 1903, published 1958, rev. 1907, rev. 1923 [baritone, tenor, strings, piano, harmonium, 2 oboes, English horn, and horn], from The Jungle Book, no. 11. [text verified 1 time]
- by Anthony L. W. Scott (b. 1911), "Mowgli's song against people" [SS chorus and piano] [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 30
Word count: 219