Shere Khan
Shere Khan, a fictional tiger of the Indian jungle, is the chief villain in two of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories featuring Mowgli.
Mowgli attacking Shere Khan with a burning
branch; detail of a rare clay bas-relief by
John Lockwood Kipling, father of Rudyard,
The Works of Rudyard Kipling Vol. VII:
The Jungle Book, 1907
Despite being born with a withered leg (and thus lacking the "fearful symmetry" of William Blake's Tyger), and derisively nicknamed Lungri (The Lame One) by his own mother, Shere Khan is aggressive and arrogant and regards himself as the rightful lord of the jungle. The only creature who looks up to him, however, is the despised and cowardly Tabaqui the jackal.
In "Mowgli's Brothers", Shere Khan's failed attempt to hunt humans causes a human "cub" to stray from his parents. By the time Shere Khan catches up with the infant it has already been adopted by the wolves Raksha and Father Wolf, who have named it Mowgli. Despite Shere Khan's bluster, Mowgli is accepted into Akela's wolf pack and protected by Bagheera and Baloo. Furious at losing his kill, the tiger swears that the cub will be his some day.
Over the next decade, while Mowgli is growing up, Shere Khan infiltrates the wolf pack by promising the younger wolves rich rewards once Akela is deposed. His plan comes to a head when the young wolves manouevre Akela into missing his kill, and the pack council meets to expel him.
At the meeting Shere Khan threatens that if the wolves do not give him Mowgli he will take over their hunting territory, but Mowgli attacks Shere Khan and his allies with a burning branch and drives them away. Akela leaves the pack to become a lone hunter. Mowgli returns to the human village, but swears that he will return one day with Shere Khan's skin.
In "Tiger! Tiger!" Mowgli is adopted by Messua and her husband and learns human ways. He also learns that the villagers have heard of the lame tiger, which has a price on its head, but believe it is lame because it is the reincarnation of a money-lender who was lamed in a riot. When Mowgli scoffs at these fanciful tales the villagers decide to put him to work herding buffalo to keep him out of trouble.
While he is doing so he meets his wolf friend Grey Brother, who tells him that Shere Khan is still planning to kill him. Grey Brother forces Tabaqui to tell him where and when Shere Khan is planning to strike, and then kills the jackal. With the help of Akela, Grey Brother and Mowgli trap Shere Khan in a narrow canyon and stampede the buffalo, which trample him to death.
Mowgli then sets out to fulfil his promise by skinning Shere Khan, but while he is doing so he is interrupted by the village's elderly chief hunter Buldeo who wants the tiger's hide for the reward. Mowgli calls Akela, who pins Buldeo down while Mowgli finishes removing the hide.
Mowgli assumes that this will be an end of the matter, since in the jungle scores are always settled quickly, but when he returns to the village with the buffalo the villagers drive him away, accusing him of witchcraft. Furious at being driven out of not one but two 'packs', Mowgli leaves. That night he fulfils his pledge by laying Shere Khan's hide upon the wolf pack's council rock, and then dances upon the hide singing of his anger and confusion.
Thus Shere Khan's story comes to an end, but the consequences for Mowgli continue. In the story "Letting In the Jungle" in The Second Jungle Book Mowgli discovers that the villagers are preparing to burn his adopted parents to death for harbouring a witch, and he prepares to rescue them and take revenge on Buldeo and the villagers.