Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Free public-domain edition — preview in your browser, no account required for the first chapter.
Preview free · sign up to save progress, download to your shelf, and sync with the apps
Already have an account? Sign in
This book offers a deeper exploration of Tarzan's inner world and his struggle for identity, blending thrilling jungle adventures with thought-provoking themes of nature, nurture, and belonging.
Edition details
Book Summary
In this collection of interconnected stories, Tarzan, now a young adult, navigates the complexities of jungle life, grappling with his dual identity as a man raised by apes. Through adventures involving love, rivalry, and encounters with both animals and humans, he explores themes of belonging, curiosity, and the clash between savagery and civilization.
The book follows Tarzan from adolescence to full maturity as he confronts the challenges of the jungle and his own nature. He experiences his first romantic feelings for the she-ape Teeka, leading to rivalry with Taug, and later protects her infant Gazan. Tarzan's curiosity drives him to seek understanding of concepts like God and the moon, and he attempts to raise a human boy, Tibo, among the apes, though the child remains terrified. He battles enemies like the witch-doctor Bukawai and the lion Numa, using his wits and strength to protect his tribe and seek vengeance for wrongs. Tarzan also reflects on his solitude and alienation, feeling caught between the ape world and the human world. The stories culminate in his full acceptance of his role as a protector and trickster, as he frees a lion from a trap and rescues the moon from superstitious villagers, solidifying his unique place in the jungle.
Reading guide
Go deeper in Jungle Tales of Tarzan
Character guides, themes, chapter companions — plus Character Web, narrative arc, and theme heatmap teasers that unlock fully beside the text in BetterReads.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This excerpt marks the dramatic climax because it presents the emotional/psychological peak of impending crisi…
Tarzan
Tarzan belongs to Kerchak's ape tribe yet stands apart from it, his smooth skin and white teeth a constant reminder that he is something other than his brothers. Watching Teeka, he feels desire for the first time, and with it a shame at his own hairless body that no ape would ever understand. His restless intelligence and his rope—plaything turned weapon—make him the story's engine, driving the early tales of courtship, rivalry, and mischief that reveal how much of a man lives inside the beast-raised boy.
Teeka
Teeka is Tarzan's childhood playmate, the one companion who never grew surly as the other young apes did, and her beauty strikes him like a sudden wound. When she takes a mate and bears a child, she becomes a creature of bared fangs and menacing growls, refusing to trust even the friend who once chased her through the lower terraces. Her shift from playfellow to mother and beloved is the quiet hinge on which Tarzan's first experience of adult desire and jealousy turns.
Taug
Taug is the tribe's great bull, a creature of instinctive pride who measures his worth in deeds performed before an audience. He remembers his past defeat at Tarzan's hands, yet the urge to protect his offspring and mate drives him to charge anyway, half from duty and half from the vast jungle egotism that craves a female's admiration. His rage and humiliation at being roped and hung head-downward thirty feet above the ground show how Tarzan's man-made cunning unsettles the old ape order.
Bukawai
Old Bukawai moves through the story as a figure of suspicion and hidden malice, a man whose power rests on superstition and the willingness of others to believe in his magic. His schemes set him against Tarzan and the village, and his presence introduces a human wickedness that the jungle's honest predators never quite match. He matters because he forces Tarzan to reckon with a foe who fights with lies and ritual rather than fang and claw.
Numa
Numa stalks the same trails Tarzan swings above, a constant threat whose hatred for the ape-man is personal and patient. He glares up at his tormentor with round, burning eyes and low growls, but past experience has taught him the futility of long-distance argument, so he turns away into the tangled vegetation. As the jungle's most feared killer, he gives the early tales their edge of real danger and a worthy foil for Tarzan's taunts and rope.
Momaya
Momaya belongs to the village at the jungle's edge, a mother whose world narrows to the safety of her son Tibo. When the boy vanishes into the wild, her grief and determination push her toward the witch doctor Bukawai and whatever dark bargain might bring her child back. Her story runs alongside Tarzan's as a human counterpoint, showing that the jungle's cruelties are felt most sharply by those who love.
Nature vs. Nurture
Tarzan, born to English nobility but raised by apes, embodies the tension between innate human qualities and environmental conditioning, as his noble lineage manifests in instincts and emotions he cannot explain.
Identity and Belonging
Tarzan struggles with his dual identity as a man among apes, feeling alienated from both the ape tribe and the human blacks, and longs for companionship and a sense of place in the jungle.
Savagery vs. Civilization
The book contrasts the raw, instinctual life of the jungle with the cruelties and complexities of human society, often portraying civilized humans as more disgusting or brutal than wild beasts.
Love and Affection
Tarzan experiences various forms of love—romantic longing for Teeka, maternal affection from Kala, and paternal care for Gazan—highlighting the universal need for emotional bonds across species.
Reading tools
BetterReads is more than a book page—e-reader, AI beside the text, audiobooks, and native apps in one system.