But just as Teddy was stooping, something flinched a little in the dust, and a tiny voice said: ‘Be careful. I am death!’ It was
Karait, the dusty brown snakeling that lies for choice on the dusty earth; and his bite is as dangerous as the cobra’s. But he is so small that nobody thinks of him, and so he does more harm to people. Rikki-tikki’s eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his family. . . . Karait struck out. Rikki jumped sideways and tried to run in, but the wicked little dusty gray head lashed within a fraction of his shoulder. . . . Teddy shouted to the house: ‘Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a snake.’ . . . —“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” Rudyard Kipling Which text clue helps you identify the protagonist? Rikki-Tikki tries to protect Teddy from Karait. Teddy calls out to his parents. Karait says, “Be careful. I am death!” Rikki-Tikki’s eyes grow red.
