the falling of a nut turns their minds to laughter and all
is forgotten. We of the jungle have no dealings with them. We do not
drink where the monkeys drink; we do not go where the monkeys go; we do
not hunt where they hunt; we do not die where they die. Hast thou ever
heard me speak of the Bandar-log till today?"

"No," said Mowgli in a whisper, for the forest was very still now Baloo
had finished.

"The Jungle-People put them out of their mouths and out of their minds.
They are very many, evil, dirty, shameless, and they desire, if they
have any fixed desire, to be noticed by the Jungle People. But we do not
notice them even when they throw nuts and filth on our heads."

He had hardly spoken when a shower of nuts and twigs spattered down
through the branches; and they could hear coughings and howlings and
angry jumpings high up in the air among the thin branches.

"The Monkey-People are forbidden," said Baloo, "forbidden to the
Jungle-People. Remember."

"Forbidden," said Bagheera, "but I still think Baloo should have warned
thee against them."

"I--I? How was I to guess he would play with such dirt. The Monkey
People! Faugh!"

A fresh shower came down on their heads and the two trotted away, taking
Mowgli with them. What Baloo had said about the monkeys was perfectly
true. They belonged to the tree-tops, and as beasts very seldom look
up, there was no occasion for the monkeys and the Jungle-People to cross
each other's path. But whenever they found a sick wolf, or a wounded
tiger, or bear, the monkeys would torment him, and would throw sticks
and nuts at any beast for fun and in the hope of being noticed. Then
they would howl and shriek senseless songs, and invite the Jungle-People
to climb up their trees and fight them, or would start furious battles
over nothing among themselves, and leave the dead monkeys where the
Jungle-People could see them. They were always just going to have a
leader, and laws and customs of their own, but they never did, because
their memories would not hold over from day to day, and so they
compromised things by making up a saying, "What the Bandar-log think now
the jungle will think later," and that comforted them a great deal. None
of the beasts could reach them, but on the other hand none of the beasts
would notice them, and that was why they were so pleased when Mowgli
came to play with them, and they heard how angry Baloo was.

They never meant to do any more--the Bandar-log