Bagheera stretched and half shut his eyes. “Little Brother,” he said, “feel under my jaw.”
Mowgli put his strong hand just under Bagheera’s silky chin. He came upon a little bald spot.
“There is no one in the jungle who knows I carry that mark-the mark of a collar. And yet, Little Brother, I was born among men. It was in the care of these men that my mother died-in the cages of the King’s Palace. It was because of yhis that I paid the price for you at the Council Meeting when you were a tiny man cub. I did not want you to be raised by men. Yes, I, too, was born among men. They kept me behind bars and fed me from an iron pan, until one night I got so angry I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and ran away. I became more terrible in the jungle than even Shere Khan.”