The Jungle Book, part 14 · page 21 2101Goodness!102I must go and see Darzee,” he said.103Without waiting for breakfast, Rikki-tikki ran to the thornbush where Darzee was singing a song of triumph at the top of his voice.104The news of Nag’s death was all over the garden, for the sweeper had thrown the body on the rubbish-heap.105“Oh, you stupid tuft of feathers!” said Rikki-tikki angrily.106“Is this the time to sing?”107“Nag is dead--is dead--is dead!” sang Darzee.108“The valiant Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast.109The big man brought the bang-stick, and Nag fell in two pieces!110He will never eat my babies again.”111“All that’s true enough.112But where’s Nagaina?” said Rikki-tikki, looking carefully round him.113“Nagaina came to the bathroom sluice and called for Nag,” Darzee went on, “and Nag came out on the end of a stick--the sweeper picked him up on the end of a stick and threw him upon the rubbish heap.114Let us sing about the great, the red-eyed Rikki-tikki!”115And Darzee filled his throat and sang.116“If I could get up to your nest, I’d roll your babies out!” said Rikki-tikki.117“You don’t know when to do the right thing at the right time.118You’re safe enough in your nest there, but it’s war for me down here.119Stop singing a minute, Darzee.”120“For the great, the beautiful Rikki-tikki’s sake I will stop,” said Darzee.121“What is it, O Killer of the terrible Nag?”122“Where is Nagaina, for the third time?”123“On the rubbish heap by the stables, mourning for Nag.124Great is Rikki-tikki with the white teeth.”125“Bother my white teeth!126Have you ever heard where she keeps her eggs?”127“In the melon bed, on the end nearest the wall, where the sun strikes nearly all day.128She hid them there weeks ago.”129“And you never thought it worth while to tell me?130The end nearest the wall, you said?”131“Rikki-tikki, you are not going to eat her eggs?”132“Not eat exactly; no. Darzee, if you have a grain of sense you will fly off to the stables and pretend that your wing is broken, and let Nagaina chase you away to this bush.133I must get to the melon-bed, and if I went there now she’d see me.”134Darzee was a feather-brained little fellow who could never hold more than one idea at a time in his head.135And just because he knew that Nagaina’s children were born in eggs like his own, he didn’t think at first that it was fair to kill them.136But his wife was a sensible bird, and she knew that cobra’s eggs meant young cobras later on.137So she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, and continue his song about the death of Nag.138Darzee was very like a man in some ways.139She fluttered in front of Nagaina by the rubbish heap and cried out, “Oh, my wing is broken!140The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it.”141Then she fluttered more desperately than ever.142Nagaina lifted up her head and hissed, “You warned Rikki-tikki when I would have killed him.143Indeed and truly, you’ve chosen a bad place to be lame in.”144And she moved toward Darzee’s wife, slipping along over the dust.145“The boy broke it with a stone!” shrieked Darzee’s wife.146“Well!147It may be some consolation to you when you’re dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy.checked by a teacher148My husband lies on the rubbish heap this morning, but before night the boy in the house will lie very still.149What is the use of running away?150I am sure to catch you.151Little fool, look at me!”152Darzee’s wife knew better than to do that, for a bird who looks at a snake’s eyes gets so frightened that she cannot move.153Darzee’s wife fluttered on, piping sorrowfully, and never leaving the ground, and Nagaina quickened her pace.154Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he raced for the end of the melon patch near the wall.155There, in the warm litter above the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam’s eggs, but with whitish skin instead of shell.156“I was not a day too soon,” he said, for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could each kill a man or a mongoose.157He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young cobras, and turned over the litter from time to time to see whether he had missed any.158At last there were only three eggs left, and Rikki-tikki began to chuckle to himself, when he heard Darzee’s wife screaming:1 2← previousThe Jungle Book, part 13next →The Jungle Book, part 15↑ back to The Jungle BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg236/14/page/2/