Song of the Seeonee and Other Extended Scenes

Song of the Seeonee

   The full moon illuminated over the jungle, making it seem as though it were bright as day. That night, the Seeonee Wolf Pack was gathering in a circle around the Council Rock, a hillside of rocks, cliffs and boulders where a hundred wolves could hide, an ancient tree towering nearby, its wide, leaf-clad branches giving their owner an imposing appearance in the moonlight.
"Look well, O Wolves! Look well!" boomed Akela, leader of the Seeonee wolves, from his place on top of the Rock as he called the meeting into order. Below him, all the Seeonee wolves were gathered and accounted for around the Rock, wolves of all ages from badger-colored veterans would could handle a buck alone, to darker coated yearlings who thought they could.
  Mowgli, who had recently returned from a three month stay in the Man-Village, took his place on a convenient boulder next to his older foster brother Gray. Nearby sat the rest of their family: Father and Mother Wolf, their brothers Raja and Black Bane as well as Dhwani and Sundari, the two gray sisters.
For the longest time, not a word was whispered among the Pack. The only sounds that were heard was the gentle night wind rattling the leaves, the nocturnal choruses of the Crawling People, and the flow of the Waingunga River. Before too long, a dark cloud covered the vast expanse of the moon, and the silent spell was pierced by a chorus of deep howls as half a dozen or so burly wolves, seated on a series of boulders, lifted their voices in unison, and then they all broke into  song with every turn, and flourish, and grace-note that every deep-mouthed wolf of the Pack knows. In that moment, the full moon's silver light returned, illuminating the Rock in her glow.
  This is a rough rendering of the song, but you must imagine what it sounds like when it breaks the late night hush of the jungle:
"To the moon we'll lift our voices,"–here the wolves raised their shaggy heads upwards, howling in between the verse before continuing the following–"In a fearful harmony,
"No one but us rejoices at
The song of the Seeonee
"All for one and one for all
We'll sing out our deeds tonight
Oh hear the tune of the wild hunting call
As we sing by the moon's silver light, (silver light)"
  One dark colored hunter took up the next verse, his deep voice baying: "The Pack can always defend its own
Whatever its own may lack," The wolf was then joined by his comrades as they once again sang in one voice:
"And the Tiger may be king when he fights alone
But the Tiger fears the pack,
"To the moon we'll lift our voices," Once more, the night sky was filled with the mournful tune of the howling chorus."In a fearful harmony
"No one but us rejoices at
The song of the Seeonee,"
  The song had hardly finished when the rest of the Pack lent their voices to the singing group. Mowgli and his family also joined in the howling pandemonium, their howls echoing across the valley, causing the nocturnal folk to cease their own songs, and the herds of deer and antelope to halt their grazing, nervous eyes and ears scanning in all directions in alarm at the haunting melody that seemed to come from all directions in the darkness, their hearts racing furiously as though running to evade an unseen killer. Mowgli's heart, on the other hand, was beating like a drum from the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and happiness as he sang along with the Seeonee Pack, surrounded by his brethren, his family. He was home.

**** "The Song of the Seeonee" is a deleted song from the 1967 Disney film, written by Terry Gilkyson. Of course, it can be found on YouTube under the same name. It was one of many songs that never saw the light of day, as it was considered too dark and closer to the original books. Part of me wanted to add this song into Ch. 3 of Red Dogs during the start of the Council Meeting (so in a way, this is kind of an extended version of that part..). Just like Mowgli's wolf family, I thought it deserved more attention than the film gave credit for, which is not at all... :P