Akela (The Jungle Book) Akela (The Jungle Book) Akela ( / "Akelā" also called The Lone Wolf or Big Wolf) is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's stories, "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book". He is the leader of the Seeonee pack of Indian wolves and presides over the pack's council meetings. It is at such a meeting that the pack adopts the lost child Mowgli and Akela becomes one of Mowgli's mentors. "Akelā" means "single or solitary" in Hindi and Urdu. Kipling also calls him the "Lone Wolf: Kipling portrays Akela with the character of an English gentleman. This is shown
Rudyard Kipling poem was originally published at the head of a story about the Battle of Jutland and appears to refer to a death at sea; the 'Jack' referred to is probably a generic 'Jack Tar'. In the Kipling family, Jack was the name of the family dog while John Kipling was always John, making the identification of the protagonist of "My Boy Jack" with John Kipling somewhat questionable. However, it is true that Kipling was emotionally devastated by the death of his son. It is said that Kipling helped assuage his grief over his son's death by reading the novels of