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Updated: September 6, 2025
'When the house is emptied of people, said Nagaina to her husband, 'he will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt for Rikki-tikki together. 'But are you sure that there is anything to be gained by killing the people? said Nag. 'Everything.
His father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki had sprung, jumped on the snake's back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away.
Nag is everywhere, Rikki-tikki. You should have talked to Chua in the garden. 'I didn't so you must tell me. Quick, Chuchundra, or I'll bite you! Chuchundra sat down and cried till the tears rolled off his whiskers. 'I am a very poor man, he sobbed. 'I never had spirit enough to run out into the middle of the room. H'sh! I mustn't tell you anything. Can't you hear, Rikki-tikki?
The motto of all the mongoose family is 'Run and find out'; and Rikki-tikki was a true mongoose. He looked at the cotton-wool, decided that it was not good to eat, ran all round the table, sat up and put his fur in order, scratched himself, and jumped on the small boy's shoulder. 'Don't be frightened, Teddy, said his father. 'That's his way of making friends. 'Ouch!
"Don't kill me," said Chuchundra, almost weeping. "Rikki-tikki, don't kill me!" "Do you think a snake-killer kills muskrats?" said Rikki-tikki scornfully. "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes," said Chuchundra, more sorrowfully than ever. "And how am I to be sure that Nag won't mistake me for you some dark night?" "There's not the least danger," said Rikki-tikki.
Rikki-tikki listened. The house was as still as still, but he thought he could just catch the faintest scratch-scratch in the world, a noise as faint as that of a wasp walking on a window-pane, the dry scratch of a snake's scales on brickwork. 'That's Nag or Nagaina, he said to himself; 'and he's crawling into the bath-room sluice. You're right, Chuchundra; I should have talked to Chua.
It gave him confidence in himself, and when Teddy came running down the path, Rikki-tikki was ready to be petted. But just as Teddy was stooping, something wriggled a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: "Be careful. I am Death!" It was Karait, the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra's.
As Rikki-tikki went up the path, he heard his "attention" notes like a tiny dinner gong, and then the steady "Ding-dong-tock! Nag is dead dong! Nagaina is dead! Ding-dong-tock!" That set all the birds in the garden singing, and the frogs croaking, for Nag and Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds. "He saved our lives and Teddy's life," she said to her husband.
'Now, if I kill him here, Nagaina will know; and if I fight him on the open floor, the odds are in his favour. What am I to do? said Rikki-tikki-tavi. Nag waved to and fro, and then Rikki-tikki heard him drinking from the biggest water-jar that was used to fill the bath. 'That is good, said the snake. 'Now, when Karait was killed, the big man had a stick.
He may have that stick still, but when he comes in to bathe in the morning he will not have a stick. I shall wait here till he comes. Nagaina do you hear me? I shall wait here in the cool till daytime." There was no answer from outside, so Rikki-tikki knew Nagaina had gone away.
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