The Jungle Book, part 13 · page 21 2101“What is the matter?” asked Rikki-tikki.102“We are very miserable,” said Darzee.103“One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday and Nag ate him.”104“H’m!” said Rikki-tikki, “that is very sad--but I am a stranger here.105Who is Nag?”106Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss--a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet.107Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail.108When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake’s eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of.109“Who is Nag?” said he.110“I am Nag.111The great God Brahm put his mark upon all our people, when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept.112Look, and be afraid!”113He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening.114He was afraid for the minute, but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose’s business in life was to fight and eat snakes.115Nag knew that too and, at the bottom of his cold heart, he was afraid.116“Well,” said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, “marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest?”117Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki.118He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard.119So he dropped his head a little, and put it on one side.checked by a teacher120“Let us talk,” he said.121“You eat eggs.122Why should not I eat birds?”123“Behind you!124Look behind you!” sang Darzee.checked by a teacher125Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring.126He jumped up in the air as high as he could go, and just under him whizzed by the head of Nagaina, Nag’s wicked wife.127She had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him.128He heard her savage hiss as the stroke missed.129He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return stroke of the cobra.130He bit, indeed, but did not bite long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving Nagaina torn and angry.131“Wicked, wicked Darzee!” said Nag, lashing up as high as he could reach toward the nest in the thorn-bush.132But Darzee had built it out of reach of snakes, and it only swayed to and fro.133Rikki-tikki felt his eyes growing red and hot (when a mongoose’s eyes grow red, he is angry), and he sat back on his tail and hind legs like a little kangaroo, and looked all round him, and chattered with rage.134But Nag and Nagaina had disappeared into the grass.135When a snake misses its stroke, it never says anything or gives any sign of what it means to do next.136Rikki-tikki did not care to follow them, for he did not feel sure that he could manage two snakes at once.137So he trotted off to the gravel path near the house, and sat down to think.138It was a serious matter for him.139If you read the old books of natural history, you will find they say that when the mongoose fights the snake and happens to get bitten, he runs off and eats some herb that cures him.140That is not true.141The victory is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot--snake’s blow against mongoose’s jump--and as no eye can follow the motion of a snake’s head when it strikes, this makes things much more wonderful than any magic herb.142Rikki-tikki knew he was a young mongoose, and it made him all the more pleased to think that he had managed to escape a blow from behind.143It gave him confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted.1 2← previousThe Jungle Book, part 12next →The Jungle Book, part 14↑ back to The Jungle BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/13/page/2/