Wolf Scouts The Cub Scout follows Akela. Akela represents bravery, determination, experience, honesty, and authority. About the Program Badge Requirements Electives Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of scouting, created the Cub Scout section for children from 7-11, he used the The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling as the symbolic framework for cubs. "Deep in the forest of India, where few human beings have ever been able to penetrate, lives the pack of Seeonee, wolf-folk known as the free people. They are free because they have a law which they keep faithfully, the law of the pack, which is as old as the jungle and as wise as nature itself. The leader of the pack is a large, grey lone wolf called Akela, who leads them in the hunt and brings them home safe and sound, keeping them safe from harm. All the wolves listen to him because they know that the leader of the pack represents the law and keeping the law is the only thing that keeps them together and preserves their dignity as a free people, admired by all for their cohesion, solidarity, fairness and honesty. In a cave in the hills of Seeonee there lives one of the families of the pack, father wolf, Raksha the mother wolf, and their litter of four cubs. One day a small child came to their cave, lost in the jungle fleeing from Shere Khan, the lame tiger who is chasing him and claiming the baby as a prey. Raksha defended the child from Shere Khan and from the jackal Tabaqui, the dish-licker who was always close behind the tiger to scavenge the leftovers of the hunt. Raksha welcomed the "man-cub" like another of her own children and she called him Mowgli, the frog, because of his hairless body.... Each full moon the pack meets at the Council Rock, where their leader (Akela) sits on a hilltop covered with stones and boulders. All the parents show their new cubs to the pack in the "looking-over", so that the other wolves will know and protect them until they are able to hunt for themselves..." Raksha presented Mowgli to the wolves at the Council Rock and Mowgli was accepted thanks to Bagheera, the black panther, who offered a newly killed bull in exchange for the life of Mowgli. Mowgli lived happily in the jungle like just one more wolf cub, under the loving care of Bagheera and the severe but tender teaching of Baloo. The story of the Jungle Book explains to Cub Scouts what the Pack is, how the decisions are taken by the Council Rock and how they can progress like Mowgli, guided by Akela, doing many hunts (activities) and respecting the law of the Pack. You should rediscover the beauty of the Jungle Book and see how it corresponds to Scouting for children.