The Law of the Jungle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Law of the Jungle" is usually an expression that means "every one for himself" and "anything goes"(survives the strongest). However, Rudyard Kipling in The Jungle Book uses it to mean an actual law code used by wolves and other animals in the jungles of India. It consists of a series of maxims such as:

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
And the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Baloo, the wise old bear, teaches Mowgli the Law of the Jungle.

The Law of the Wild
by Rudyard Kipling

And this is the law of the wild
As true and as blue as the sky
And the wolf that keeps it will prosper
But the wolf that breaks it will die.

Like the vine that circles the tree trunk
This law runneth forward and back
The strength of the pack is the wolf
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.

Kill only to eat, or to keep from being eaten.