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Shere Khan 〔("Kipling's list of names in the stories" ), excerpted from volume XII of ''The Complete Works'', Sussex edition, 1936.〕 ((ヒンディー語:शेर खान)) is a fictional tiger who appears in two of Rudyard Kipling's ''Jungle Book'' stories featuring Mowgli and their adaptations. The word ''Shere'' (or "''shir''") translates as "tiger" or "lion" in Persian, Urdu, and Punjabi, and ''Khan'' translates as "sovereign," "king", or "military leader", in a number of languages influenced by the Mongols, including Pashto. ==The original ''Jungle Book'' stories== Despite being born with a crippled leg and derisively nicknamed Lungri (The Lame One) by his mother, Shere Khan is arrogant and regards himself as the rightful lord of the jungle. The only creature who looks up to him is Tabaqui, the cowardly, despised golden jackal.〔In Hindi ''lungri'' is the adjective's female form. The corresponding male form would be ''lungra'', लंगड़ा. See () or ()〕 In "Mowgli's Brothers", Shere Khan's failed attempt to hunt humans causes a human "cub" to stray from his parents. When Shere Khan discovers the infant, it has been adopted by Indian wolves, Raksha and Father Wolf, who have named the child Mowgli. However, Mowgli is accepted into Akela's wolf pack and is protected by Bagheera and Baloo. Furious at losing his kill, the tiger swears that the boy will be his some day. While Mowgli is growing up, Shere Khan infiltrates the wolf pack, by promising the younger wolves rich rewards, once Akela is deposed. When the young wolves manoeuvre Akela into missing his kill, the pack council meets to expel him. Shere Khan threatens to take over their hunting territory if the wolves do not give him Mowgli. Having been warned by Bagheera, Mowgli attacks Shere Khan and his allies with a burning branch and drives them away. Akela leaves the pack to become a lone hunter. Mowgli returns to the human village, but swears that he will return one day with Shere Khan's skin. In "Tiger! Tiger!", Mowgli is adopted by Messua and her husband and learns human ways. He also learns that the villagers have heard of the lame tiger, which has a price on its head but believe it is lame because it is the reincarnation of a money-lender who was injured in a riot. When Mowgli scoffs at these fanciful tales the villagers decide to put him to work herding buffalo. He then meets his wolf friend Grey Brother, who tells him that Shere Khan is still planning to kill him. Grey Brother forces Tabaqui to tell him where and when Shere Khan is planning to strike, and then kills the jackal. With the help of Akela, Grey Brother and Mowgli trap Shere Khan in a narrow canyon and incite the buffalo to stampede him to death. Mowgli then sets out to fulfil his promise by skinning Shere Khan, but he is interrupted by the village's elderly chief hunter Buldeo, who wants the tiger's hide for the reward. Mowgli calls Akela, who pins Buldeo down while Mowgli finishes removing the hide. Mowgli believes this will end the matter, since in the jungle, quarrels are usually settled quickly, but when he returns to the village with the hide and the buffalo the villagers drive him away, accusing him of witchcraft. Furious at being driven out of two 'packs', Mowgli leaves. That night he fulfils his pledge by laying Shere Khan's hide upon the wolf pack's council rock, and then dances upon the hide singing. But the consequences of Mowgli's actions in defeating him continue to affect Mowgli and his adoptive parents. In the story "Letting In the Jungle" in ''The Second Jungle Book'' Mowgli discovers that the villagers are preparing to burn to death Messua and her husband for harbouring a witch-boy, so Mowgli prepares to rescue them and take revenge on Buldeo and the villagers. Shere Khan also appears in the story "How Fear Came", which is set between the first and second halves of "Mowgli's Brothers," and probably some time after "Kaa's Hunting". In this story the tiger comes to drink from the river just after having killed a human purely for sport, prompting Hathi the Elephant to tell the story of why tigers, alone of all the animals in the jungle, are allowed to hunt humans for pleasure at certain times. This story, in which Mowgli appears mainly as an observer, may be seen as a direct ancestor of Kipling's ''Just So Stories''.〔.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shere Khan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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