Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a short story in The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling about the adventures of a valiant young mongoose. The story is a favorite of Kipling fans and is notable for its frightening and serious tone. Some epic features (heightened prosaic style, songs to the hero) add to the standard typology of hero defeating villain. It has often been anthologised and has also been published more than once as a short book in its own right.
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Plot summary
An English family, who have moved to a bungalow in the British Sugauli (former British sp. Segowlee) cantonment in Bihar State, India, discover a young mongoose half drowned from a storm and decide to keep it as a pet. The young mongoose, called Rikki-Tikki, soon finds himself confronted by two dangerous, murderous cobras, Nag (the word is Hindi for "cobra") and his even more dangerous mate Nagaina, who had the run of the garden while the house was unoccupied. After that first encounter with the cobras, Rikki's first true battle is with Karait, a small venomous dust brown snakeling who threatens the boy (Teddy). Although Rikki is inexperienced and the snake, because of its deadly venom and small size, is an even more dangerous foe than a cobra, the mongoose defeats him. At Nagaina's urging, Nag plans to kill the human family to get the house empty again so they can have free run of its garden. She also reminds him that their eggs would hatch soon (as they might the next day) and that their children will need room and quiet. Nag goes to the bathroom to wait to kill the "big man", and goes to sleep while waiting. Rikki grabs Nag by the head above the hood. Nag thrashes about furiously, and the noise wakes the man, who fires both barrels of a shotgun into Nag, blowing him in two pieces and almost hitting Rikki. Nag is thrown on the rubbish heap, where Nagaina mourns for him and vows vengeance. Rikki, well aware of the threat, enlists a tailor bird to distract Nagaina while he searches for her eggs. However, while he finds and destroys most of the brood, Nagaina finds the family at the dinner table and threatens to kill the family's son with her poisonous bite. Alerted to the crisis, Rikki races to his family with the last egg. Once there, Rikki claims he killed Nag himself while showing the egg to distract Nagaina long enough for the man to pull the boy to safety. Nagaina snatches the egg and flees to her hole while Rikki pursues her inside. The underground fight is not described, but after an agonizingly long wait, Rikki comes out of the hole in triumph having killed Nagaina. With that victory, Rikki spends the rest of his days defending the family garden where no snake would dare enter.
Adaptation
A short animated version (25 minutes) first aired on CBS January 9, 1975 was directed by Chuck Jones and narrated by Orson Welles. Family Home Entertainment has released this version of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi on both VHS and DVD formats. The DVD is paired with another of Jones's cartoons, Yankee Doodle Cricket. Another animated short (25 minutes) was produced in the Soviet Union in 1966. The nationality of the family was changed to Indian in this version. In the anime adaptation of The Jungle Book, Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli, Rikki is a supporting character who defends his Indian family. Recently, a direct-to-video adaptation called "The Jungle Book: Rikki Tikki Tavi to the Rescue" was released to DVD. This version portrays Rikki as a blue-furred, vaguely weasel-like creature who hangs out with Mowgli and his friends.
References in culture
- Donovan wrote a song titled "Riki Tiki Tavi" on his album Open Road
- WikkiTikkiTavi is an open source wiki engine.[1]
- Paul Vaderlind, Richard Guy, and Loren Larson wrote a math book titled Inquisitive Problem Solver that references Rikki Tikki Tavi.
- Popular webcomic Sluggy Freelance's character, "Kiki" the ferret, takes the pseudonym "Riki Kiki Taco" when she has delusions of being a heroine.[2]
- In an episode of British sitcom Peep Show, the last question on a quiz machine is 'What animal was Rikki-Tikki Tavi?'
- In Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Door Into Summer the main character sometimes refers to his niece Frederica (Ricky) as Rikki-tikki-tavi.
- The third track on the Poison the Well album Versions is entitled Nagaina, in reference to the snake in the story.
- In the martial arts parody film Kung Pow, Master Tang refers to Ling's father as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
- The name of the "Rikti" Villain faction in the MMORPG video games City of Heroes and City of Villains was inspired by Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. [3]
- The phrase "Most Rikki-Tik"[4] means "quickly" or "immediately"
- In the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, the name of Voldemort's snake is Nagini, which is similar to Nagaina.
- In the comedy series Bottom, Rik Mayall refers to himself as Rikki Tikki Tavi when talking to his aunt
- In George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman the character Octavius is given the pet-name Ricki-Ticki-Tavy by Ann Whitefield.
References
| The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. |
