Suspense can be found in most of the mongoose's battles
with the snakes in Rudyard Kipling's enduring children's tale, "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi."
Rikki's initial battle comes in the garden when he meets up with both Nag and Nagaina.
It is his first fight with a snake, and Kipling allows the reader to wonder how the
mongoose will react. As Nag tries to keep Rikki's attention, Nagaina moves in from the
rear for the kill. But Rikki is too quick.
He 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. She had crept up
behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him; and he heard her savage hiss as the
stroke missed. He 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. He bit, indeed, but did not
bite long enough, and he jumped clear of the whisking tail, leaving Nagaina torn and
angry.
The final battle is
highly suspenseful, since Rikki decides to pursue Nagaina into her underground nest,
from where most mongooses would never return.
"It is all over with Rikki-tikki! We must sing
his death song. Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead! For Nagaina will surely kill him
underground."
But Rikki
emerged victorious, and he lived happily ever after in the Englishman's
bungalow.
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