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Description

Before Mowgli opened his eyes when he awakened the next morning, he became aware of a pattern on not being able to move when he woke up. Kaa’s coils still felt great against the boy’s body, but Mowgli felt he should be free to go where he liked in the jungle at any time. Or at least some of the time. It was something to think about while he waited for Kaa to acknowledge waking up.

When Kaa did wake up, he unrolled smoothly letting Mowgli land gently. No need to make the man-cub suspicious of anything yet. They ate a good breakfast, and then it was time to decide what to do for the day.

“We’ll go down a different path today,” explained Kaa. “It’s good to get familiar with as much of the jungle around here as possible.”

Mowgli didn’t have any better suggestions, and something different from the day before sounded good. They walked along a path that hadn’t seen much use recently with Kaa pointing out various trees and plants. Then with no warning, Kaa slapped his tail in a puddle at the side of the path and splashed water all over Mowgli.

“Hey! That got on my face. What you’d do that for?”

“You said you wanted to play a different game.”

“Game? Why …” Mowgli stomped on the puddle to very little effect. The puddle was originally about a meter in diameter and a decimeter deep, but only a centimeter remained after Kaa’s splash.

“There isn’t enough water left in that puddle,” explained Kaa, “but there are more up ahead, several meters apart. They form when there’s a big rainstorm like yesterday.”

Already Mowgli felt a strong urge to get back at Kaa. The boy quickened his pace so he got to the next puddle before the python, and when Kaa passed by, Mowgli stomped in the ankle-deep puddle and produced a small splash that barely grazed Kaa.

“That was pitiful,” opined the python.

That assessment did not please Mowgli. Since some of the water was gone, he figured he would do better at the next puddle. He did stomp harder, but the result was only marginally better.

“That was pathetic.” Kaa was deliberately angering Mowgli, and like usual, the snake controlled the man-cub’s emotions to a T. “You have two feet, why don’t you use them? Should make a splash twice as big anyway.”

Mowgli grunted but was anxious to try out the advice which made sense. At the next puddle, he jumped in with both feet and did make a bigger splash, but it still wasn’t close to Kaa’s initial effort. Kaa chimed in with, “Well, that was better, but it looks like you can’t jump high enough to be good in this game.”

“I’ll show you! Give me another chance!”

At the next puddle Mowgli jumped higher into another ankle-deep puddle a meter in diameter, but the splash was only a little bigger.

“We might as well face it, you’re just not good at this game.” Kaa was setting Mowgli up for something. “It’s okay not to be good at everything.”

“I will get better. Just watch!”

But the next puddle produced a very similar result. And the next. And in the next one, Mowgli completely unexpectedly plunged in over his head.

When he recovered from the shock, Mowgli paddled up to the surface, gasped for breath, and clambered out. Mowgli thought Kaa might be concerned for the man-cub’s well-being, but instead the snake was rolling on the ground laughing his head off (well, figuratively), not minding a bit that he got moderately wet.

“You tricked me!” shouted Mowgli, boiling over with a fury that Kaa underestimated. Mowgli jumped on Kaa and grabbed him.

Kaa was amused. “What are you going to do?”

“Tie you into a knot!”

“So you want to wrestle? Fine with me.” Kaa knew Mowgli had no chance, but as frequently happened Mowgli didn’t think things through. The python could have won quickly but found it a lot more fun to string the boy along, letting him twist a small section of the snake’s body at a time. This went on for the better part of an hour until Kaa, braced around a high tree branch, finally wrapped one section of his body around Mowgli’s ankles and another section around his wrists. Kaa let Mowgli continue to wrestle but slowly wound his coils up Mowgli’s legs.

Belatedly realizing what was happening, Mowgli thought that Kaa soon would wrap him all the way up to his neck. However, the man-cub was wrong. Kaa took his time, always maintaining the grip he had but pretending he wasn’t fully in control, teasing Mowgli into thinking he had a chance to win. Mowgli twisted and turned, wriggled and writhed, but was exhausting himself in the process.

When Mowgli was clearly no longer putting up much of a struggle, Kaa resumed wrapping up the man-cub’s legs. When his legs were wrapped from ankles to knees, Mowgli again figured he would soon be completely enveloped in coils. However, Kaa stopped wrapping his coils around the boy when the coils barely covered the vine belt of his leaf loincloth.

Mowgli made a final effort, but he couldn’t move his legs, and the coils were too heavy for him to pull himself up at all. Once again, he found himself unable to move apart from turning his head or wiggling his fingers and toes a little. Kaa brought his grinning face directly in front of Mowgli’s. In return, Mowgli glared back with a look of hate. Kaa had done it again, getting Mowgli in a helpless position.

Maintaining his frown, Mowgli continued to stare at Kaa, expecting something to happen. Kaa found it much more fun to leave the man-cub dangling. Mowgli grew more annoyed and felt like shouting, “Will you get it over with?”, but a remnant of his desire to present himself as tough prevented him from doing so for a while. But he was weakening, and the urge was overpowering to say something. He would have to choose his words carefully.

Description

Before Mowgli opened his eyes when he awakened the next morning, he became aware of a pattern on not being able to move when he woke up. Kaa’s coils still felt great against the boy’s body, but Mowgli felt he should be free to go where he liked in the jungle at any time. Or at least some of the time. It was something to think about while he waited for Kaa to acknowledge waking up.

When Kaa did wake up, he unrolled smoothly letting Mowgli land gently. No need to make the man-cub suspicious of anything yet. They ate a good breakfast, and then it was time to decide what to do for the day.

“We’ll go down a different path today,” explained Kaa. “It’s good to get familiar with as much of the jungle around here as possible.”

Mowgli didn’t have any better suggestions, and something different from the day before sounded good. They walked along a path that hadn’t seen much use recently with Kaa pointing out various trees and plants. Then with no warning, Kaa slapped his tail in a puddle at the side of the path and splashed water all over Mowgli.

“Hey! That got on my face. What you’d do that for?”

“You said you wanted to play a different game.”

“Game? Why …” Mowgli stomped on the puddle to very little effect. The puddle was originally about a meter in diameter and a decimeter deep, but only a centimeter remained after Kaa’s splash.

“There isn’t enough water left in that puddle,” explained Kaa, “but there are more up ahead, several meters apart. They form when there’s a big rainstorm like yesterday.”

Already Mowgli felt a strong urge to get back at Kaa. The boy quickened his pace so he got to the next puddle before the python, and when Kaa passed by, Mowgli stomped in the ankle-deep puddle and produced a small splash that barely grazed Kaa.

“That was pitiful,” opined the python.

That assessment did not please Mowgli. Since some of the water was gone, he figured he would do better at the next puddle. He did stomp harder, but the result was only marginally better.

“That was pathetic.” Kaa was deliberately angering Mowgli, and like usual, the snake controlled the man-cub’s emotions to a T. “You have two feet, why don’t you use them? Should make a splash twice as big anyway.”

Mowgli grunted but was anxious to try out the advice which made sense. At the next puddle, he jumped in with both feet and did make a bigger splash, but it still wasn’t close to Kaa’s initial effort. Kaa chimed in with, “Well, that was better, but it looks like you can’t jump high enough to be good in this game.”

“I’ll show you! Give me another chance!”

At the next puddle Mowgli jumped higher into another ankle-deep puddle a meter in diameter, but the splash was only a little bigger.

“We might as well face it, you’re just not good at this game.” Kaa was setting Mowgli up for something. “It’s okay not to be good at everything.”

“I will get better. Just watch!”

But the next puddle produced a very similar result. And the next. And in the next one, Mowgli completely unexpectedly plunged in over his head.

When he recovered from the shock, Mowgli paddled up to the surface, gasped for breath, and clambered out. Mowgli thought Kaa might be concerned for the man-cub’s well-being, but instead the snake was rolling on the ground laughing his head off (well, figuratively), not minding a bit that he got moderately wet.

“You tricked me!” shouted Mowgli, boiling over with a fury that Kaa underestimated. Mowgli jumped on Kaa and grabbed him.

Kaa was amused. “What are you going to do?”

“Tie you into a knot!”

“So you want to wrestle? Fine with me.” Kaa knew Mowgli had no chance, but as frequently happened Mowgli didn’t think things through. The python could have won quickly but found it a lot more fun to string the boy along, letting him twist a small section of the snake’s body at a time. This went on for the better part of an hour until Kaa, braced around a high tree branch, finally wrapped one section of his body around Mowgli’s ankles and another section around his wrists. Kaa let Mowgli continue to wrestle but slowly wound his coils up Mowgli’s legs.

Belatedly realizing what was happening, Mowgli thought that Kaa soon would wrap him all the way up to his neck. However, the man-cub was wrong. Kaa took his time, always maintaining the grip he had but pretending he wasn’t fully in control, teasing Mowgli into thinking he had a chance to win. Mowgli twisted and turned, wriggled and writhed, but was exhausting himself in the process.

When Mowgli was clearly no longer putting up much of a struggle, Kaa resumed wrapping up the man-cub’s legs. When his legs were wrapped from ankles to knees, Mowgli again figured he would soon be completely enveloped in coils. However, Kaa stopped wrapping his coils around the boy when the coils barely covered the vine belt of his leaf loincloth.

Mowgli made a final effort, but he couldn’t move his legs, and the coils were too heavy for him to pull himself up at all. Once again, he found himself unable to move apart from turning his head or wiggling his fingers and toes a little. Kaa brought his grinning face directly in front of Mowgli’s. In return, Mowgli glared back with a look of hate. Kaa had done it again, getting Mowgli in a helpless position.

Maintaining his frown, Mowgli continued to stare at Kaa, expecting something to happen. Kaa found it much more fun to leave the man-cub dangling. Mowgli grew more annoyed and felt like shouting, “Will you get it over with?”, but a remnant of his desire to present himself as tough prevented him from doing so for a while. But he was weakening, and the urge was overpowering to say something. He would have to choose his words carefully.