1 (i)
(ii) To show its readiness for the fight, the cobra hissed defiance, its forked tongue darting in and out. It raised three of its six feet off the ground, and spread its broad, spectacled hood. The bushing of its tail and the standing up of the long hair on its spine showed that the mongoose was also ready for the fight.
2 The other two spectators were a crow and a myna. They settled on a cactus to watch
the outcome. But they did not just watch. They tried to join the fight by hurling themselves at the cobra.
3
4 (i) In the end, the crow was flung nearly twenty feet across the garden by a blow from the cobra’s snout. The crow fluttered about for a whole and then lay still.
(ii) Finally, the myna dropped cautiously to the ground, hopped about, peered into the bushes from a safe distance, and then, with a shrill cry of congratulation, flew away.