Shere Khan
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Shere Khan is a fictional tiger of the Indian jungle, named after a Pashtun Prince (Sher Khan Nasher) Kipling encountered on his trips to Afghanistan,[citation needed] although there is a Hindi word sher (शेर, pronounced [ʃer]) meaning "lion" (or "tiger").[1] Shere Khan is the chief enemy in two of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories featuring Mowgli. Shere Khan should be pronounced "Skere Khan" according to one of Rudyard Kipling's notes, however in movie adaptations his name has always been pronounced as it is written.
The original Jungle Book stories
Despite being born with a crippled leg (and thus lacking the "fearful symmetry" of William Blake's Tyger), and derisively nicknamed Lungri[2] (The Lame One) by his own mother, Shere Khan is arrogant and regards himself as the rightful lord of the jungle. It seems, however, that the only creature who looks up to him is Tabaqui, the cowardly, despised golden jackal.
In "Mowgli's Brothers", Shere Khan's failed attempt to hunt humans causes a human "cub" to stray from his parents. By the time Shere Khan catches up with the infant it has already been adopted by the Indian wolves Raksha and Father Wolf, who have named it Mowgli. Despite Shere Khan's bluster, Mowgli is accepted into Akela's wolf pack and protected by Bagheera and Baloo. Furious at losing his kill, the tiger swears that the cub will be his some day.
Over the next decade, while Mowgli is growing up, Shere Khan infiltrates the wolf pack by promising the younger wolves rich rewards once Akela is deposed. His plan comes to a head when the young wolves maneuver Akela into missing his kill, and the pack council meets to expel him.
At the meeting Shere Khan threatens that if the wolves do not give him Mowgli he will take over their hunting territory. Having been warned by Bagheera, however, 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 lamed in a riot. When Mowgli scoffs at these fanciful tales the villagers decide to put him to work herding buffalo to keep him out of trouble.
While he is doing so he 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 stampede the buffalo, which trample him to death.
Mowgli then sets out to fulfill his promise by skinning Shere Khan, but while he is doing so 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 assumes that this will be an end of the matter, since in the jungle quarrels are usually settled quickly, but when he returns to the village with the buffalo the villagers drive him away, accusing him of witchcraft. Furious at being driven out of not one but 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 of his anger and confusion.
Thus Shere Khan's story comes to an end, but the consequences of Mowgli's actions in defeating him continue to affect Mowgli and his adopted parents. In the story "Letting In the Jungle" in The Second Jungle Book Mowgli discovers that the villagers are preparing to burn Messua and her husband to death for harbouring a witch-boy, and so he 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.
The Disney version
In Disney's 1967 animated adaptation of The Jungle Book, Shere Khan is the major villain, entering the story about three-quarters of the way through. His seductive, purring voice was supplied by the late George Sanders and by Carlos Petrel in the Spanish version of the movie. He was designed and animated by animator Milt Kahl. Khan is not depicted as being lame — quite the contrary, he is powerful, deadly, and sophisticated. His mere presence in the jungle compels the wolf pack to send Mowgli away, since Shere Khan will kill him because he is human; Man's gun and Man's fire are the only things Shere Khan fears. He avoids falling victim to Kaa's hypnotic powers, though whether from experience, observation, or immunity is unclear.
In the climactic battle of the movie, Shere Khan finds Mowgli and gives him a ten second head-start. Once he reaches ten, Baloo grabs his tail and holds him back. Shere Khan chases Mowgli, who is being carried away by the vultures, while dragging Baloo behind him. Baloo proves such an impediment to Khan that he decides to fight Baloo until the vultures arrive and distract him. Mowgli finds a burning branch from a lightning-struck tree and ties it to Khan's tail. When a vulture's comment prompts Khan to notice the branch, he attempts to put the fire out and attempts to flee when he fails.
In the sequel, The Jungle Book 2, Shere Khan returns to the jungle, humiliated and determined to kill Mowgli, this time as revenge. He fails, and becomes trapped under a stone tiger head in a ruinous palace. He isn't killed, but misses the opportunity to kill Mowgli once again.
Shere Khan was included in the cast of characters in the Disney Afternoon series Tale Spin, being cast as the richest corporate magnate in the harbor town of Cape Suzette. He was a nominal villain, and was voiced by the late Tony Jay, who provided a voice remarkably similar to George Sander's rendition.
Shere Khan also appeared as a main character in the Disney Channel series Jungle Cubs, where he was portrayed as a tiger cub, more a bully than a predator, but nonetheless friends with the other characters. In this show, Shere Khan is voiced by James Marsden. Funnily enough, the producers wanted Khan to keep his British accent for the show, but later changed their mind and Shere Khan ended up with an American accent, completely different from that of his adult version.
Notes
- ^ see http://www.shabdkosh.com/en2hi/search.php?ts=1221774293378&e=शेर – according to Erika Klemm: Hindi-deutsches Wörterbuch (Leipzig 1971) शेर means "lion" and "tiger" as well
- ^ In Hindi lungri is the adjective's female form. The corresponding male form would be lungra, लंगड़ा. See http://www.shabdkosh.com/en2hi/search.php?e=lame&f=0 or http://www.shabdkosh.com/en2hi/search.php?ts=1221775873709&e=%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%9C%E0%A4%BE
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