The Third Jungle Book after the first half of "Mowgli's Brothers" when the infant Mowgli is being taught jungle law and customs, and end after the events of "In the Rukh", when Mowgli is married and raising a child but still keeping in touch with his animal friends. Some of the stories are inspired by Kipling. "Where the Elephants Dance" is based on Kipling's "Toomai of the Elephants", while "The Mad Elephant of Mandla" and "Jacala, Tyrant of the Marsh" are both based on single sentences in Kipling's "Red Dog" in which Kipling mentions some of Mowgli's adventures that he did not intend to
The Jungle Book junior scout "Wolf Cubs" on the stories, and that Kipling admired the movement. Ricketts wrote that Kipling was obsessed by rules, a theme running throughout the stories and named explicitly as "the law of the jungle". Part of this, Ricketts supposed, was Mrs Holloway's evangelicalism, suitably transformed. The rules required obedience and "knowing your place", but also provided social relationships and "freedom to move between different worlds". Sandra Kemp observed that the law may be highly codified, but that the energies are also lawless, embodying the part of human nature which is "floating, irresponsible and self-absorbed". There is a duality