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THE JUNGLE BABY
by
G.E. FARROW
Illustrated by
E.M. & M.F. TAYLOR
Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd.
London . Paris . Berlin . New York .
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There was once a little white baby boy called Bab-ba, he hadbright blue eyes and golden curls, and he had a black Ayahfor his nurse. She had been with Bab-ba ever since he wasquite a tiny baby in long robes, and she was very fond ofhim. Her name was Jeejee-walla, but they just called herAyah.
Bab-ba's Father was an English Officer in India, and theylived in a beautiful white house on the Simla Hills, with abig verandah running all around it. Round about the verandahwas a garden, and outside the garden the jungle stretchedfor miles and miles, and in the jungle were all sorts ofbeasts and birds.
Little Bab-ba used to play on the verandah with his pets,Mioux-Mioux, the cat, and Wooff-Wooff, the dog, and theyboth loved him very dearly. Mioux-Mioux never scratched himwhen he accidentally pulled her tail, although she felt verymuch like doing so; and Wooff-Wooff used to stand on hishind legs and perform all sorts of funny tricks to makeBab-ba laugh.
Every morning after breakfast Bab-ba threw bread crumbs outto the little birds on the lawn, and they used to sit in thetrees and watch for him, and sing about him till he came outof the house. "Good little Bab-ba, who gives us our food,"one would sing; and "We all love little Bab-ba," several ofthe others would reply from another part of the garden.
Mioux-Mioux used to watch them out of the corner of hereyes, but she never attempted to catch them because she knewthat Bab-ba loved them; and Wooff-Wooff used to sit with hishead on one side and wonder however they managed with onlytwo legs and not four like his.
But one day when Bab-ba was feeding the birdies, the bigsnake Hoodo, who lived in the garden, came creeping underthe verandah and tried to catch some of the birds while theywere eating, but Bab-ba saw him and called out!--
"Go away, bad Hoodo, go away!"
and his Ayah heard him and came running out to see what wasthe matter.
When she saw Hoodo, the big snake, she caught Bab-ba up inher arms and ran with him into the house, and two of the menservants came out with big sticks and beat Hoodo over thehead and body till he could hardly crawl away again into hishole under a big tree in the garden.
Now Hoodo was a very wicked snake, and was very angry aboutall this, and he thought and thought about it, and wonderedhow he could be revenged on little Bab-ba, for he put allthat had occurred down to him, and so one day, after he hadgot better he went out into the jungle to see an old friendof his, Tig, the Tiger, and talk the matter over with him.
Hoodo thought that Tig the Tiger was as greedy and cruel ashe was himself, and so he asked him how he would like alittle white fat baby boy for his dinner, and Tig licked hislips and said, "H'M! we shall see."
Then Hoodo went further into the jungle and met Prowl, theWolf.
"How would you like a little fat white baby to eat?" askedHoodo; and Prowl, the Wolf, licked his lips and said, "Ha!"and nothing else.
A little further on Hoodo met Bluf, the big brown Bear, andhe asked him what he would do if he met a little fat whitebaby in the jungle.
And Bluf stood up on his hind legs, hugged himself and said,"Ough! Very nice, very nice indeed!"
And then Poon-dah, the big wild Elephant, came crushingthrough the jungle, and Hoodo had to scurry out of his way,so that he didn't get trampled upon.
"How would you like a little white ----" he screamed out,but Poon-dah made a loud noise with his trunk and went on,for he didn't converse with snakes.
Nevertheless, Hoodo was satisfied, for he said, "If Poon-dahwould trample on me in passing, so he would on a littlewhite baby if he were here;" and his wicked black beady eyeswere bright and he laughed maliciously.
After this Hoodo went home to his hole under the tree inBab-ba's Father's garden, and watched and waited till Bab-bashould be quite by himself; and one day when Wooff-Wooff hadgone off after a wild rabbit, and Mioux-Mioux was fast asleepin the sun, the Ayah went into the house to fetch Bab-ba'sNoah's ark, and he was left alone on the verandah.
Then Hoodo came sliding out of his hole very quickly andstood before the verandah, waving his head backwards andforwards, and shooting out his little tongue, while the sunshowed all the colours of the rainbow on his smooth shinyskin.
"Oh, pretty Hoodo!" said Bab-ba, "but you're naughty. Goaway!"
"No," said Hoodo sweetly, "I'm not naughty, dear Bab-ba, andI know where some such beautiful flowers grow. Come with meand I'll show you!"
"No," said Bab-ba, shaking his head; but Hoodo continued tolook at him steadily, and presently Bab-ba slid down fromthe verandah and came towards him.
Then Hoodo laughed and drew back quickly into the thick partof the garden, with Bab-ba running after him.
When the Ayah returned to the verandah with Bab-ba's Noah'sArk, and she saw his little empty chair and Mioux-Mioux asleepin the sun, she grew alarmed and ran about calling Bab-ba'sname, and wringing her hands, and Bab-ba's Mother came out,and his Father, and they and all the servants hunted about inthe garden for a very long while, but could not find any traceof him, and Mioux-Mioux woke up and wondered what all thecommotion was about, and Wooff-Wooff came back without therabbit and wondered too.
Wooff-Wooff went over to where Mioux-Mioux was sitting, andtalked the matter over with her. While they were talking,some little birds overhead called out to them to attracttheir attention.
"Bab-ba," they said, "Bab-ba has followed Hoodo, the Snake,into the jungle, and he will be lost and eaten by the wildbeasts unless he is brought back. Quick! Quick! Go afterhim! Haste!"
And so Wooff-Wooff ran to Bab-ba's Father and Mother andtried to tell them.
He ran backwards and forwards towards the jungle, and barkedand tried to make them follow; but they wouldn't understand,and so at last he had to set out himself to try and findhim.
Now after Bab-ba had followed Hoodo a little way through thegarden, the snake turned to a little path which led to ahole broken in the wall.
"You must crawl through here," said Hoodo, "the prettyflowers are on the other side."
So Bab-ba crawled through and found himself in the jungle.
"Further on! further on!" cried Hoodo, every time Bab-bastopped to gather any, "there are prettier ones further on."And so Bab-ba went on and on till he came to where Tig theTiger lay asleep in the long grass.
"Now's your time," whispered Hoodo in his ear, "here's thelittle white baby for your dinner." And Tig sprang up with aroar.
But Bab-ba wasn't a bit frightened, and he only laughed, andsaid "what a big, big Mioux-Mioux!" And he put his armsaround Tig's neck and nestled his head in his soft fur, tillTig forgot all about his dinner, and purred with delightjust like Mioux-Mioux did when she was pleased.
Hoodo was very angry at this, and finding that Tig wasmaking friends with Bab-ba instead of eating him up, hecalled Bab-ba to him and said, "Come, let us be going, or weshall be late home." And Bab-ba kissed Tig, the Tiger, andfollowed Hoodo further into the jungle, till they met Prowl,the Wolf. "Here's the little white baby," whispered Hoodo.And Prowl said, "Ha!" and was goi
ng to spring upon him andeat him up. But Bab-ba only laughed and said, "What a bigWooff-Wooff!" and patted him on the head, and looked intohis eyes so that Prowl forgot all about eating him, andlicked his hands and frisked about him just as Wooff-Wooffwould have done.
"This is silly," said Hoodo angrily. "Come away, it is near tosunset, and we must be getting home," and he led the way towhere Bluf, the big brown Bear, lived. "I've brought thelittle white baby for you," said Hoodo. And Bluf said, "Ough!very nice, very nice indeed!" And caught Bab-ba up in his armsand hugged him.
"Just like my Ayah does!" laughed Bab-ba, and he pattedBluf's cheeks and kissed him, so that Bluf didn't want toeat him at all, but only to hug him and keep him warm.
Just then there was a loud trumpeting heard, and Bluf putBab-ba down to the ground, and Hoodo slid off into the grass,hissing. "Now Poon-dah is coming and you will be trampled todeath. Good-bye, little Bab-ba, I hate you!"
But when Poon-dah came and saw the little white baby, heremembered that he had not always been a wild elephant, buthad once himself belonged to a white man, and so he pickedlittle Bab-ba up with his trunk and placed him gently on hisback.
And that's the position in which Bab-ba's Father found him,when at last he had understood Wooff-Wooff's barking, andhad followed him into the jungle, accompanied by some nativeservants armed with guns and sticks. Wooff-Wooff traced thelittle boy by his scent, till they came upon him riding onPoon-dah's back.
And now a funny thing happened, for amongst the servants wasone who had once been Poon-dah's keeper, and Poon-dah rememberedhim and allowed himself to be led by him to Bab-ba's home. Andso they returned in triumph with Bab-ba and his Father onPoon-dah's back, and good Wooff-Wooff barking and frisking byhis side.
The wicked Hoodo was justly punished, for just as he wasgoing into his hole under the tree, he met an old enemy ofhis, Tiv, the Mongoose, and the two fought and fought for along while, till at last Hoodo was exhausted and stretchedhimself out and died, while little Tiv sat up and rubbed hispaws together to clean them, and then skipped off to his newlittle home under Bab-ba's verandah, where he still lives tokeep away any other wicked snakes from harming him.
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