"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" is a short story in the 1894 short story collection The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling about adventures of a valiant young Indian grey mongoose. [1] It has often been anthologized and published several times as a short book. Book 5 of Panchatantra , an ancient Indian collection, includes the mongoose and snake story, an inspiration for the "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" story.
Nearly drowned from an intense seasonal thunderstorm, a curious and adventurous mongoose - later named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi for his chattering vocalizations - is rescued by a small British family, a man and wife and their son Teddy residing in a large home and garden in India. After Rikki revives he explores the house and quickly endears himself to the family. He spends his first night there cuddling with Teddy as he sleeps; the wife fears that Rikki will bite Teddy, but the man assures her that Teddy is safer with Rikki than if he had a bloodhound to watch him.
The next morning, Rikki explores the house and garden where he befriends other creatures including Darzee, a carefree tailor bird and his sensible wife, and Chuchundra, a timid muskrat. But he soon encounters two cobras named Nag and his mate Nagaina who are highly protective of what they deem to be their territory, and now fear Rikki as a threat to their unborn children. Scared at first, Rikki soon remembers that a mongoose's purpose is to fight and kill snakes, and fends them both off after a brief skirmish; after they slip away, Rikki realizes he now has his work cut out for him, not only with the fact that he cannot take on two cobras at once, but also that there's no herbal antidote for a cobra's bite.
Later that day, a dust-brown snakeling named Karait threatens Teddy. Unaware that the smaller snake is even more dangerous than a cobra, Rikki fights and kills Karait, and then presents its body to the man as proof of the mongoose's victory. That night, Rikki goes for his nightly walk and overhears Nag and Nagaina scheming to kill the family to take over the house for their hatchlings and drive Rikki away. Nag enters the house's bathroom before dawn waiting for the kill. But Rikki is able to sneak up on Nag and makes the first move ambushing him from above in the darkness, tightly biting down on his hood. The ensuing struggle awakens the man, who shoots and apparently kills Nag with a shotgun. [2]
The next day, a mourning Nagaina swears vengeance, and on Rikki's direction, Darzee's wife diverts Nagaina as Rikki goes and destroys all but one of the cobra eggs. But the subterfuge is temporary as Nagaina goes to the house veranda and threatens to strike Teddy while his parents helplessly watch. Holding the last cobra egg, Rikki taunts and distracts Nagaina as Teddy is pulled to safety, and tells her that Nag was already dead when the man shot him. As they fight, Nagaina grabs her egg and quickly retreats, but Rikki chases her down a cobra hole. Fearing the worst, Darzee mourns Rikki's death via song, but moments later when Rikki emerges and declares Nagaina dead, Darzee changes his tune from sadness to elation.
With the immediate danger neutralized, Rikki dedicates himself to protecting his new home, ensuring that no snake would dare show its head within its walls.
Director Alexandra Snezhko-Blotskaya shot an animated short film of this story titled Рикки-Тикки-Тави (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) in 1965 in the Soviet Union, at the film studio Soyuzmultfilm, [3] changing the nationality of the family from British to Indian. Ten years later, Chuck Jones adapted it for a half-hour television special in the United States, with Orson Welles narrating and providing the voice of Nag. [4] The same year, Aleksandr Zguridi and Nana Kldiashvili directed a live-action feature film entitled Rikki-Tikki-Tavi . [5]
In the anime television series, Jungle Book Shōnen Mowgli , Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a supporting character who is the pet of an Indian family and is a heroic defender of them.
In the CGI series The Jungle Book , Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is an occasional character who is a friend of Mowgli.
The story was adapted as a picture book of the same name in 1997 by Jerry Pinkney.
Donovan’s album Open Road has the song Riki Tiki Tavi, which has lyrics based on the story. [6] [7]
This is a bibliography of works by Rudyard Kipling, including books, short stories, poems, and collections of his works.
Mowgli is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mowgli stories featured among Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories. He is a feral boy from the Pench area in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" and then became the most prominent character in the collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.
The Jungle Book is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. Most stories are set in a forest in India; one place mentioned repeatedly is "Seeonee" (Seoni), in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
Kaa is a fictional character from The Jungle Book stories written by Rudyard Kipling. In the books and many of the screen adaptations, Kaa is an ally of protagonist Mowgli, acting as a friend and trusted mentor or father figure alongside Bagheera and Baloo. However, Disney's screen adaptations portray him as a secondary antagonist who attempts to eat Mowgli.
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, also known as The Jungle Book, is a 1994 American adventure film co-written and directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Edward S. Feldman and Raju Patel, from a story by Ronald Yanover and Mark Geldman. Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures, it is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book, and of the Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) by Rudyard Kipling. Unlike its counterparts, the animal characters in this film do not talk.
Nag or NAG may refer to:
"Mowgli's Brothers" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. Chronologically, it is the first story about Mowgli although it was written after "In the Rukh", in which Mowgli appears as an old man.
"Kaa's Hunting" is an 1893 short story by Rudyard Kipling featuring Mowgli. Chronologically the story falls between the first and second halves of "Mowgli's Brothers", and is the second story in The Jungle Book (1894) where it is accompanied by the poem "Road Song of the Bandar-log".
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Jungle Book or Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book is a 1942 independent Technicolor action-adventure film by the Korda brothers, loosely adapted from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894). The story centers on Mowgli, a feral young man who is kidnapped by villagers who are cruel to the jungle animals as they attempt to steal a dead king's cursed treasure. The film was directed by Zoltán Korda and produced by his brother Alexander, with the art direction by their younger brother Vincent. The screenplay was written by Laurence Stallings. The film stars Indian-born actor Sabu as Mowgli. Although the film is in the public domain, the master 35mm elements are with ITV Studios Global Entertainment. An official video release is currently available via The Criterion Collection.
The Ricky-Tick was an influential 1960s rhythm & blues club in Windsor, Berkshire, England, host to many important acts such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Cream. It was set up as an R&B venue after founders Philip Hayward and John Mansfield saw the success in early 1962 of the Ealing Club. At the close of the Ricky-Tick Philip Hayward went on to open Pantiles Club & Restaurant in Bagshot, Surrey.
Rudyard Kipling's The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo is a 1997 American adventure film starring Jamie Williams as Mowgli, with Roddy McDowall and Billy Campbell in supporting roles. It is a live action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. The film was adapted for the screen by Bayard Johnson and Matthew Horton.
The Indian grey mongoose or Asian grey mongoose is a mongoose species native to the Indian subcontinent and West Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
The Jungle Book is a 3D CGI animated television series co-produced by DQ Entertainment International, MoonScoop, Ellipsanime Productions, ZDF, ZDF Enterprises, TF1 and Les Cartooneurs Associés. It is based on the Rudyard Kipling book of the same name.
Mowgli's Brothers is a 1976 television animated special directed by American animator Chuck Jones. It is based on the first chapter of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. The special was narrated by Roddy McDowall, who also performs the voices of all the male characters in the film. June Foray was the voice of Raksha, the Mother Wolf. It originally aired on CBS on February 11, 1976.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a 1997 retelling of Rudyard Kipling's classic story by Jerry Pinkney about a mongoose that protects a family from two cobras. The book won a Caldecott honor in 1998 for its illustrations.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a 1975 Soviet family film directed by Nana Kldiashvili and Aleksandr Zguridi. It is based on the 1894 short story of the same name by Rudyard Kipling.
Filmmakers and others have made many adaptations of The Jungle Book stories by Rudyard Kipling. The stories, inspired by Kipling's life in India, were published in the 1894 The Jungle Book and its 1895 sequel, The Second Jungle Book.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi may refer to:
Rikki Tikki Tavi public domain audiobook at LibriVox 
