I look out and all I can see is clouds, no more trees and flowing rivers. I used to listen to birds sing and now I can hear the songs of Gabriel and Raphael. Paradise it might be, yes paradise it is. I look down and I can see the greens where my Mumtaz prowls alone. The human clan called it a reserved forest, a sanctuary for my family and kin. How was I to know that it was a place for them to gather us all as targets for their sport of death? If only I knew I would have taken Mumtaz and gone to the hills far away from this merciless clan.
I was walking by the river with Mumtaz at my side, looking at the moon and stars in the sky. The night was so beautiful and the cold breeze had a fragrance of the flowers nearby. I thought I will tell her my feelings tonight; I had fallen in love with her and wanted to spend my life with her. Her beauty I can't start to describe, her color was so full, and her touch was so warm. She walked with a grace that she would make the whole clan turn its heads. She had told me she liked being with me and I made her feel safe. Was it some kind of a sign for me? Did she feel the same way that I did? I would know now. I looked into her eyes and told her that I loved her. I told her that she takes my breath away and being with her feels like being in heaven. I saw her lips move but I could not hear anything. I felt a pain go through my heart. The stars stopped shining; I couldn't smell the breeze no more and the moon started to go dull. I saw tears in her eyes and they looked like tears of pain. I fell to the ground and gave the green grass a red stain. My spirit was leaving and Mumtaz was not safe. I begged her to leave me and hide in the bushes. She saw me die a slow death and the last sight I saw was the tears in her eyes. Did she love me, will she miss me? I would never know. The dreams I saw of a life with her all went up in smoke. I still had some life in me when my killers came looking for their prize. They dragged me along the ground and threw me into the back of a truck. I used to be the brave and powerful. Mumtaz felt safe with me and here I was helpless and weak. Insulted and humiliated as I crawl towards my death. She saw me being taken away and followed the truck to save me. Little did she know that I was already on my way to paradise. They pulled my body out and gave it to someone called "The Artist". The art he specialized in was pulling the skin off my body and making floor mats out of it. As Mumtaz saw, he pulled my skin off. She loved to cuddle up in my arms and feel the heat of my body. She loved the feel of my fur and my soft hair. The Artist stripped me off my skin and threw my flesh and bones aside. They would sell it all not even a strand of hair as memory for Mumtaz. She could not take it any longer and ran away. I saw her weep by the river as I flew up to the sky.
What did I do to you that I die such a death? I could have spent a life time with Mumtaz and now in paradise I rest. You teach your kids that Sher Khan was a villain. You tell them he hates your clan. I never raged a war against you, then for this hatred who should be blamed. Nature made me for the kill but I don't kill for greed. I live by the laws of the jungle and have a life like your clan. I look down again on your clan below and I see a stunning scene. You kill your own for money, power or plain pleasure. And I realize the impossibility of the situation. A clan that can't take care of its own brothers, why would they have cared for me? So here I am, Sher Khan waiting in paradise for Mumtaz who might come soon. I will wait for the day your eyes fall on her, so that I can listen to her answer and live with her in heaven. Sher Khan the king of Jungle, I wait in paradise to live again.
