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And the heat went on and on, and sucked up all the moisture, till at last the main channel of the Waingunga was the only stream that carried trickle of water between its dead banks; and when Hathi, the wild elephant, who lives for a hundred years and more, saw a long, lean blue ridge of rock show dry in the very centre of the stream, he knew that he was looking at the Peace Rock. |
This is from “How Fear Came” in the Second Jungle Book. From time immemorial it has been agreed that when the river is nearly dried up, there must be a Water Truce , through which there must be no killing at the watering place. When, in defiance, Shere Khan, t he lame tiger. asserts his ancient right to kill, Hathi tells the story of How Fear Came. |
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