balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind,
and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake s eyes that never
change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of.
Who is Nag? said he. I am Nag. The great God Brahm put his mark upon
all our people, when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off
Brahm as he slept. Look, and be afraid!
He spread out his hood more than ever, and Rikki-tikki saw the
spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part
of a hook-and-eye fastening. He was afraid for the minute, but it is
impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time, and
though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before, his mother had fed
him on dead ones, and he knew that all a grown mongoose s business in
life was to fight and eat snakes. Nag knew that too and, at the bottom
of his cold heart, he was afraid.
Well, said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, marks
or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a
nest?
Nag was thinking to himself, and watching the least little movement in
the grass behind Rikki-tikki. He knew that mongooses in the garden
meant death sooner or later for him and his family, but he wanted to get
Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little, and put it
on one side.
Let us talk, he said. You eat eggs. Why should not I eat birds?
Behind you! Look behind you! sang Darzee.
Rikki-tikki knew better than to waste time in staring. 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. 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.
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