Q 01/05

How does Teddy's father end the midnight struggle between Rikki-tikki and Nag?

A) With a shotgun blast

B) With blows from a stick

C) With a slash of a sabre

D) With a pan of hot coals

Answer · why

A) With a shotgun blast

With a shotgun blast: woken by the crashing, the big man fires both barrels into Nag. The shock knocks Rikki-tikki senseless and singes his fur, yet h...

Q 02/05

What does Teddy suggest doing when he finds Rikki-tikki lying half-drowned on the garden path?

A) Holding a funeral

B) Fetching a doctor

C) Building a little cage

D) Calling the gardener

Answer · why

A) Holding a funeral

Holding a funeral is Teddy's idea, because he takes the limp mongoose for dead. His mother insists on drying the animal first, and it soon sneezes awa...

Q 03/05

In 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi', what does Kipling give as the motto of the whole mongoose family?

A) Look before you leap

B) Run and find out

C) Eyes open, tail up

D) Never turn your back

Answer · why

B) Run and find out

Run and find out sums up Rikki-tikki, who is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. That is why the narrator calls a mongoose the hardest thing in...

Q 04/05

In Kipling's story, where does the mongoose hero Rikki-tikki-tavi get his unusual three-part name?

A) A Hindi word for brave

B) Teddy's favorite nursery rhyme

C) A general his mother served

D) His chattering war cry

Answer · why

D) His chattering war cry

His chattering war cry, a rattling burst he lets out while scuttling through long grass, gives Rikki-tikki-tavi the name. He sounds it again whenever ...

Q 05/05

In 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi', how does Darzee's wife trick Nagaina into chasing her along the garden path?

A) By singing Nag's death song

B) By pecking at her tail

C) By faking a broken wing

D) By dropping twigs on her

Answer · why

C) By faking a broken wing

By faking a broken wing, she flutters along the ground just ahead of the cobra. She even blames Teddy for throwing the stone, which makes Nagaina vow ...