Mowgli , who had been trained under the Law of the Jungle , did not like or understand this kind of life . The monkeys dragged him into the Cold Lairs late in the afternoon , and instead of going to sleep , as Mowgli would have done after a long journey , they joined hands and danced about and sang their foolish songs . One of the monkeys made a speech and told his companions that Mowgli 's capture marked a new thing in the history of the Bandar-log , for Mowgli was going to show them how to weave sticks and canes together as a protection against rain and cold . Mowgli picked up some creepers and began to work them in and out , and the monkeys tried to imitate ; but in a very few minutes they lost interest and began to pull their friends ' tails or jump up and down on all fours , coughing . `` I wish to eat , '' said Mowgli . `` I am a stranger in this part of the jungle . Bring me food , or give me leave to hunt here . '' Twenty or thirty monkeys bounded away to bring him nuts and wild pawpaws . But they fell to fighting on the road , and it was too much trouble to go back with what was left of the fruit . Mowgli was sore and angry as well as hungry , and he roamed through the empty city giving the Strangers ' Hunting Call from time to time , but no one answered him , and Mowgli felt that he had reached a very bad place indeed . `` All that Baloo has said about the Bandar-log is true , '' he thought to himself . `` They have no Law , no Hunting Call , and no leaders -- nothing but foolish words and little picking thievish hands . So if I am starved or killed here , it will be all my own fault . But I must try to return to my own jungle . Baloo will surely beat me , but that is better than chasing silly rose leaves with the Bandar-log . '' No sooner had he walked to the city wall than the monkeys pulled him back , telling him that he did not know how happy he was , and pinching him to make him grateful . He set his teeth and said nothing , but went with the shouting monkeys to a terrace above the red sandstone reservoirs that were half-full of rain water . There was a ruined summer-house of white marble in the center of the terrace , built for queens dead a hundred years ago . The domed roof had half fallen in and blocked up the underground passage from the palace by which the queens used to enter . But the walls were made of screens of marble tracery -- beautiful milk-white fretwork , set with agates and cornelians and jasper and lapis lazuli , and as the moon came up behind the hill it shone through the open work , casting shadows on the ground like black velvet embroidery .
Sore , sleepy , and hungry as he was , Mowgli could not help laughing when the XXXXX began , twenty at a time , to tell him how great and wise and strong and gentle they were , and how foolish he was to wish to leave them .
Bandar-log Jungle Mowgli canes cornelians fretwork lazuli minutes pawpaws tracery