"The Jungle Book" is a book of storied linked by their themes and written by the English author and Nobel Prize winner Rudyar Kipling. They were published in magazines between 1893 and 1894. In the magazine editions the stories contained original illustrations, some of which were made by the author’s father.
Even though the stories were written while Kipling lived in Vermont, his inspiration emerged for his childhood spent in India. It is assumed that the stories were written for his daughter who passed away when she was six, shortly after the first book came out.
The book has two parts, 14 chapters which are actually 14 stories. Every part contains 7 stories. In the first part we have the chapters: "Mowgli’s Brothers", "Kaa’s hunting", "Road Song of the Bandar-Log", "Tiger! Tiger!", "Mowgli’s Song", "The White Seal" and in the second are chapters: "Lukannon", "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", "Darzee’s Chaunt", "Toomai of the Elephants", "Shiv and the Grashopper", "Her Majesty’s Servants" and "Parade-Song of the Camp Animals".
In this story the author takes us to a small summerhouse of an English family in India. Rikki Tikki Tavi almost died in a flood and Teddy’s family takes care of him. Rikki is grateful and loyal to his saviors but soon he finds out that they are in danger because of the upcoming cobra invasion.
Genre: book of stories
Time: unspecified
Place: India
Theme: life of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi after becoming a member of another family
Moral: Loyalty and sacrifice for those who we love will always be rewarded
Book Summary
Rikki Tikki Tavi was a mongoose who led a war in a bathroom of a summerhouse. He was assisted by Darzee, a bird, and his consultant was a frightful rat Chuchundra who never left his room. All the credits were still Rikki’s.
Rikki-Tikki was a mongoose, his fur and tail were like a cat’s and his head was similar to a weasel’s head. He could scratch any part of his body and his nose and eyes were purple. He lived with his parents in a pond until one day a flood took his away from them. During the flood he managed to catch some grass and he held onto it until he passed out. When he gained conscious he heard a little boy Teddy telling his mom that he found a dead mongoose. His mother told him that he might be alive and that they should take him to the house to dry him off.
A big English man took him into his hand and told everyone not to scare him because he wanted to observe his behavior. Mongooses were rarely scared of anything because they were very curious.
Rikki-Tikki befriended the whole family and started researching the house. He loved sleeping in Teddy’s bed even though his mother didn’t like it because she was scared that he was going to bite Teddy. For lunch he had a banana and an egg and he hoped if he stayed a good mongoose that he will be able to stay with the family.
After breakfast he went to the garden and was impressed. He thought of it as his perfect hunting ground. He met Darzee, the bird, and his wife. They were unhappy because one of their children fell off the nest and got eaten by Nag, a cobra. They stopped talking when they heard something in the grass. Even Rikki got scared. It was Nag.
Rikki Tikki was scared just for a moment and Nag didn’t want to admit that he was also scared of him. Nag knew that a mongoose in the garden meant death for him and his family so he decided to make a deal with him. While they were talking Nagaina, a female cobra and Nag’s mate, tried to attack Rikki but Darzee warned him and he jumped as high as he could. He jumped onto Nagaina’s back but didn’t know how to use his position so the cobras disappeared soon.
Rikki was so angry that his eyes turned red. He decided to sit in the grass and gave up on the cobras because he was convinced he can’t fight two animals at the same time. He knew that he was young and that he was going to get better with time and it installed confidence in him.
He decided to take a break when he heard a small snake Karaita. He was as poisonous as a cobra but he was very small so no one took him serious. His eyes got red and he attacked Karait. He fought him and won. Teddy’s parents were very grateful because he protected their son. In the beginning Rikki wanted to eat the snake but then he gave up. He took a break and watched Teddy’s father hit Karait and he didn’t really know why he was doing it.
That night Rikki could eat whatever he wanted. After he got full, Teddy took him to bed and asked him to sleep under his chin. When Teddy fell asleep Rikki decided to see what was going on around the house. He met Chuchundra who begged him not to kill him. Chuchundra was a muskrat and told him that Nag was everywhere around them. Rikki asked Chuchundra to tell him everything he knows.
Chuchundra started crying and when they were talking they heard noises. Rikki Tikki knew it was Nag and Nagaina. Rikki realized that Nag was trying to enter the house by the pipe in the bathroom. Rikki checked Teddy’s room and found nothing there so he knew that Nag was trying to get to Teddy’s mother’s bathroom.
Their plan was to empty the house so they could chase away Rikki and be in charge of the garden again. Soon they will have kids so they needed the extra space. They planned on doing that by killing the family which will cause Rikki to leave.
He heard everything and waited for Nag to fall asleep and Nagaina to leave so that he could attack. When it happened Rikki jumped onto Nag and Teddy’s father came to help him by shooting Nag. The mother was pale but happy. Teddy’s parents were grateful again.
When he got some rest, Rikki started planning his attack on Nagaina. He knew that fighting her would be even harder. Then he heard Darzee singing the victory song and he thought it was inappropriate. He asked him if he knew where NAgaina was and Darzee told him she was grieving at the junkyard where Nag was thrown. Darzee also told him that Nagaina put her eggs near the watermelons.
Rikki told Darzee to fake that he hurt his wing to lure Nagaina away from the watermelons where her eggs were. DArzee was a bit sad when he heard Rikki’s intentions with the eggs because he and his wife lost their children. Darzee’s wife was much smarter so she lured Nagaina while Rikki destroyed the eggs. There were only three left when DArzee’s wife told him that Nagaina was inside the house.
Rikki broke two more eggs and took the third with him. When he came to the house the family was seated and NAgaina threatened to kill them. Rikki told her that he wants to fight her but she declined. Then he showed her the last egg.
Nagaina was hurt and she moved and Teddy’s father took advantage of it to save his son. Rikki and NAgaina took their battle outside. Rikki had completely forgot about the egg and Nagaina grabbed it and went to her hole. Darzee’s wife stopped her for a while to give Rikki time to catch up with her. Rikki grabbed her tail and went into her hole with her. Everyone thought that he won’t make it alive and DArzee already started singing a sad song when Rikki went out and said that it was all over. After that he slept the whole afternoon. The red ants heard him and decided to check whether he was telling the truth.
Rikki told Darzee to tell another bird to spread the news about the cobra’s death. All of the animals cheered together.
Rikki came back into the house were the family waited for him. Teddy’s mother was very grateful and that night he could eat whatever he wanted. Later he slept on Teddy’s shoulder when his mother entered the room. He told her not to worry because he will never abandon them. There was never another cobra in the garden.
Characters: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the family - English father, mother Alice and Teddy, Darzee, Chuchundra, Nag, Nagaina, Karait, Darzee’s wife
Characters analysis
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - was a small mongoose who, because of gratitude, kept one family safe from cobras. He lived with his parents until a flood took him away. He barely survived and the family started taking care of him. He was curious and very brave. He saved his new family twice from cobra’s attacks. He was grateful because they gave him a home. When everything was done and the snakes were dead he kept on guarding the family.
Rudyard Kipling Biography
Rudyard Kipling is an English writer born in 1865 in Bombay. His father was a professor in an art school. Even though he spent his early childhood in India he went to school in England. When he finished he studies he went back to India and worked as a journalist.
Rudyard led an exciting life filled with journeys and interesting situations. In 1894, he published his most popular work “The jungle book” which got its sequence as “The jungle book 2”.
From 1902, and in his life was connected to England where he played an important role in the political and cultural life of his time. In 1907, he got a Nobel prize.
He was a supporter of order and discipline and he carried it as life lessons into his work. He considered that the law about British colonization was good and despite his literate work he was judged for being a supporter of the British imperialism.
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