Teddy shouted to the house: "Oh, look here! Our mongoose is killing a snake"; and Rikki-tikki heard a scream from Teddy's mother
. His father ran out with a stick, but by the time he came up, Karait had lunged out once too far, and Rikki-tikki had sprung, jumped on the snake's back, dropped his head far between his fore-legs, bitten as high up the back as he could get hold, and rolled away. That bite paralysed Karait, and Rikki-tikki was just going to eat him up from the tail, after the custom of his family at dinner, when he remembered that a full meal makes a slow mongoose, and if he wanted all his strength and quickness ready, he must keep himself thin. —“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,”
Rudyard Kipling
Select the two best questions to ask Rikki-tikki in an interview.
Did Teddy’s father run out with a stick?
What did you think when you heard Teddy’s mother scream?
Do you eat snakes?
How does it feel to know you protected Teddy and the family?
Is it your family’s custom to eat the snake’s tail first?
