This is the story of the great war that Rikki-tikki-tavi fought single-handed, through the bath-rooms of the big bungalow in Segowlee cantonment. Darzee, the Tailorbird, helped him, and Chuchundra, the musk-rat, who never comes out into the middle of the floor, but always creeps round by the wall, gave him advice, but Rikki-tikki did the real fighting.
- Rudyard Kipling, ‘Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’ in The Jungle Book (1894) [full text]
Fun fact: A friend gave me the nickname Rikki after our middle school English class read Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
