# Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is a short story in the 1894 short story collection The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling about adventures of a valiant young Indian grey mongoose. It has often been anthologized and published several times as a short book. Book 5 of Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection, includes the mongoose and snake story, an inspiration for the "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" story.

## Plot

Nearly drowned from an intense seasonal thunderstorm, a curious and adventurous mongoose - later named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi for his chattering vocalizations - is rescued by a small British family, a man and wife and their son Teddy residing in a large home and garden in India. After Rikki revives he explores the house and quickly endears himself to the family. He spends his first night there cuddling with Teddy as he sleeps; the wife fears that Rikki will bite Teddy, but the man assures her that Teddy is safer with Rikki than if he had a bloodhound to watch him.
The next morning, Rikki explores the house and garden where he befriends other creatures including Darzee, a carefree tailor bird and his sensible wife, and Chuchundra, a timid muskrat. But he soon encounters two cobras named Nag and his mate Nagaina who are highly protective of what they deem to be their territory, and now fear Rikki as a threat to their unborn children. Scared at first, Rikki soon remembers that a mongoose's purpose is to fight and kill snakes, and fends them both off after a brief skirmish; after they slip away, Rikki realizes he now has his work cut out for him, not only with the fact that he cannot take on two cobras at once, but also that there's no herbal antidote for a cobra's bite.
Later that day, a dust-brown snakeling named Karait threatens Teddy. Unaware that the smaller snake is even more dangerous than a cobra, Rikki fights and kills Karait, and then presents its body to the man as proof of the mongoose's victory. That night, Rikki goes for his nightly walk and overhears Nag and Nagaina scheming to kill the family to take over the house for their hatchlings and drive Rikki away. Nag enters the house's bathroom before dawn waiting for the kill. But Rikki is able to sneak up on Nag and makes the first move ambushing him from above in the darkness, tightly biting down on his hood. The ensuing struggle awakens the man, who shoots and apparently kills Nag with a shotgun.
The next day, a mourning Nagaina swears vengeance, and on Rikki's direction, Darzee's wife diverts Nagaina as Rikki goes and destroys all but one of the cobra eggs. But the subterfuge is temporary as Nagaina goes to the house veranda and threatens to strike Teddy while his parents helplessly watch. Holding the last cobra egg, Rikki taunts and distracts Nagaina as Teddy is pulled to safety, and tells her that Nag was already dead when the man shot him. As they fight, Nagaina grabs her egg and quickly retreats, but Rikki chases her down a cobra hole. Fearing the worst, Darzee mourns Rikki's death via song, but moments later when Rikki emerges and declares Nagaina dead, Darzee changes his tune from sadness to elation.
With the immediate danger neutralized, Rikki dedicates himself to protecting his new home, ensuring that no snake would dare show its head within its walls.

## Adaptations

Director Alexandra Snezhko-Blotskaya shot an animated short film of this story titled Рикки-Тикки-Тави (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) in 1965 in the Soviet Union, at the film studio Soyuzmultfilm, changing the nationality of the family from British to Indian. Ten years later, Chuck Jones adapted it for a half-hour television special in the United States, with Orson Welles narrating and providing the voice of Nag. The same year, Aleksandr Zguridi and Nana Kldiashvili directed a live-action feature film entitled Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
In the anime television series, Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a supporting character who is the pet of an Indian family and is a heroic defender of them.
In the CGI series The Jungle Book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is an occasional character who is a friend of Mowgli.
The story was adapted as a picture book of the same name in 1997 by Jerry Pinkney.
Donovan’s album Open Road has the song Riki Tiki Tavi, which has lyrics based on the story.