Rikki-tikki-tavi

==**QUICK WRITE**: Conflict is part of our real lives. For example, most people face bullies at some time in their lives. If you were facing a bully, what would you do? Would you fight? Would you run away? Would you try to negotiate? In your journal, describe how you think you would react. == ==



== =**LITERARY FOCUS **=

**Conflict **
==All stories are built on some kind of conflict. Usually a conflict results when a character wants something really badly but has a hard time getting it. Think of the stories in movies and on TV, and you'll be able to find a conflict in every one of them. Conflict is worked out in the series of related events called **plot**. ==

**Vocabulary﻿ **
= ﻿__cowered__ v.: crouched and trembled in fear.Darzee, who is a coward, cowered before the snakes. Rikki cowered before no one. = = __valian__t adj.: brave and determined. Rikki is a valiant hero. Would other snakes think the snakes are valiant too? = = __c____onsolation__ n.: comfort. Snakes get no consolation from Rikki. Rikki’s consolation comes from a safe, peaceful garden. = = __impotent__ adj.: powerless. With all but her last egg destroyed, Nagaina felt impotent against Rikki. __immensely__ adv.: enormously. Rikki is immensely brave. The snakes are immensely powerful. =

[[image:mongoose.jpg align="right"]] Plot summary
==An English family who have moved to a bungalow in the jungles of India-Sagauli (former British sp. //Segowlee//) cantonment in Bihar State, India discover a mongoose half drowned from a storm. They revive it and decide to keep it as a pet. The young mongoose, named Rikki-Tikki by its new owner, 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 Krait, a dust brown snakeling, who threatens the young boy Teddy. Although the snake, because of its deadly venom and small size, is an even more dangerous foe than a cobra, the mongoose kills him. The grateful family pet and praise "our mongoose".== ==At Nagaina's urging, Nag plans to kill the human family to empty the house so the cobras can again rule the 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". Rikki follows Nag and bites the cobra 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 then thrown on the rubbish heap, where Nagaina mourns for him and vows vengeance.== ==Rikki, well aware of the threat, tries to enlist the tailor bird, Darzee, a "feather-brained little fellow", to distract Nagaina while he searches for her eggs, but is instead aided by Darzee's sensible wife. As Rikki finds and destroys most of the brood (biting off the tops of the eggs and crushing the young cobras), Nagaina corners the family at the breakfast table on the garden verandah ("they sat stone-still, and their faces were white") and threatens to kill Teddy with her venomous bite. Alerted by Darzee's wife, Rikki races to the verandah with the last egg in his mouth. His appearance with the last remaining egg distracts Nagaina long enough for the man to pull the boy to safety. Nagaina snatches the egg and flees to her hole, with Rikki in pursuit. The underground fight is not described, but after an agonizingly long time, Rikki comes out of the hole in triumph, having killed Nagaina. After this victory, Rikki spends the rest of his days defending the family garden where no snakes dare to enter.==

LINKS:

[]

@http://www.quia.com/profiles/nbryan42 (Battleship)