Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the twelfth chapter of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.
Come with us as we release one bite a day of one of your favorite classic novels, plays & short stories. Bree reads these classics like she reads to her daughter, one chapter a day. If you love books or audiobooks and want something to listen to as you're getting ready, driving to work, or as you're getting ready for bed, check out Bite at a Time Books!
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Welcome to Bite at a Time Books where we read you your favorite classics one bite at a time. My name is Bree Carlile and I love to read and wanted to share my passion with listeners like you. If you enjoy our show, be sure to follow us so you get all the new episodes. We would also love for you to drop us a rating on your favorite podcast platform, and share our show with your friends! You can catch us on all the social medias @biteatatimebooks. Today we will be continuing The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.
Bree:
Shiv and the Grasshopper
Bree:
(The song that Toomai’s mother sang to the baby)
Bree:
Shiv, who poured the harvest and made the winds to blow,
Sitting at the doorways of a day of long ago,
Gave to each his portion, food and toil and fate,
From the King upon the guddee to the Beggar at the gate.
All things made he—Shiva the Preserver.
Mahadeo! Mahadeo! He made all,—
Thorn for the camel, fodder for the kine,
And mother’s heart for sleepy head, O little son of mine!
Bree:
Wheat he gave to rich folk, millet to the poor,
Broken scraps for holy men that beg from door to door;
Battle to the tiger, carrion to the kite,
And rags and bones to wicked wolves without the wall at night.
Naught he found too lofty, none he saw too low—
Parbati beside him watched them come and go;
Thought to cheat her husband, turning Shiv to jest—
Stole the little grasshopper and hid it in her breast.
So she tricked him, Shiva the Preserver.
Mahadeo! Mahadeo! Turn and see.
Tall are the camels, heavy are the kine,
But this was Least of Little Things, O little son of mine!
Bree:
When the dole was ended, laughingly she said,
“Master, of a million mouths, is not one unfed?”
Laughing, Shiv made answer, “All have had their part,
Even he, the little one, hidden ‘neath thy heart.”
From her breast she plucked it, Parbati the thief,
Saw the Least of Little Things gnawed a new-grown leaf!
Saw and feared and wondered, making prayer to Shiv,
Who hath surely given meat to all that live.
All things made he—Shiva the Preserver.
Mahadeo! Mahadeo! He made all,—
Thorn for the camel, fodder for the kine,
And mother’s heart for sleepy head, O little son of mine!
Bree:
Thank you for joining Bite at a Time Books today while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics. If you enjoy our show, be sure to follow us so you get all the new episodes. We would also love for you to drop us a rating on your favorite podcast platform, and share our show with your friends! You can catch us on all the social medias @biteatatimebooks. Also, Be sure to check us our on website www.biteatatimebooks.com. Again my name is Bree Carlile and I hope you come back tomorrow while we take the next bite of The Jungle Book.
