"We be of one blood, you and I."
on Mowgli
I think about Mowgli a lot because I like to look for characters that represent well-balanced energy in their relationship to wildness. Things I like about Mowgli:
He smack talks really well.
He's a child of nature; embedded in it; nature is his teacher. In all characters that are representatives of positive masculine (yang) energy, they seem to be balanced by the-feminine-as-nature. I'm thinking of the druid energy in The Secret of Kells, and Tarzan to some extent -- although nature is not Tarzan's teacher, he's still an educated masculine figure who dwells within it.
People like Kim Wolhuter, who carries no gun, walks barefoot, and hangs out with hyenas on the regular, are even better representatives of this energy balance.
Mowgli's natural arrogance has to be tamed by a process of learning how to talk to all the People. He doesn't take any shit, stands up to his foes, and gloats about it.
My favorite stories often have a centralized relationship to nature, and nature-as-self. (I never get tired of The Secret Garden.)
What are your favorites?
