Rikki-Tikki-Tavi from The Jungle Book Resources

The complete text of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" minus the illustrations. Like most things in life, it's available for free online (only this time it's completely legal).

At Biography.com, you can choose to either watch or read a biography of Rudyard Kipling. Ah, choices.

Some information on mongooses of the world. Yeah, they're pretty awesome.

A profile detailing the Indian Cobra. Too bad so many stories give these guys a bad rap, because they're such interesting creatures.

Sure, the Indian Cobra is the star of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," but we should remember the common krait too. This little brown snake can be equally dangerous.

An article discussing the pros and cons of having a mongoose for a pet. You read that right.

Chuck Jones is pretty famous in the world of animation for his work with the Looney Tunes. He also animated three of Rudyard Kipling's short stories, one of which was…oh, what was it called? Something about Rick….

This essay discusses the "latent presence of imperialism" in Kipling's The Jungle Books and throws in some talk about "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." An excellent essay, but fair warning, the author had an academic audience in mind while writing.

Not just an article but an entire book dedicated to the subject of post-colonial theory as seen in animal stories. Serious, it exists in print and everything.

This article considers how Rudyard Kipling used his inner child to write "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Hope his inner child got an allowance for its consulting work.

This article discusses the importance of movement and stillness in the Russian animated version of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Who knows, it might just influence the way you read the short story.

Watch the Chuck Jones classic in its entirety. It's narrated by Mr. Citizen Kane himself, Orson Wells.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Watch as a mongoose goes rikki-tikki on a cobra in real life. These little critters are quick.

A National Geographic Channel special on king cobras. Granted, Nag and Nagaini were both Indian Cobras, but this is too good to pass up.

Jane Aker provides an excellent audio book rendition of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Great for short car trips.

Storynory provides children with free audio books. The audio book is of good quality, but the website layout can be a pain to navigate.

Part 1

Part 2

Donovan takes the story of "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and turns it into a hippy political anthem set to a guitar's strum. He titles his song "Riki-Riki-Tavi," dropping the two Ks so as not to confuse Google.

Fair to Midland's album Arrows and Anchors has a track titled "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" in honor of the titular mongoose. We've included a link to the lyrics because the singer is—shall we say?—incoherent. 

Here's the author himself, Rudyard Kipling.

We could provide alliterative praise for this illustration all day. It's one of our favorites featured in the original Jungle Book.

An work of art we found in the Interwebs. It's definitely going for that epically epic vibe.

Check out this beautiful still from the Russian "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." With an art style like that, Chuck Jones has some serious competition for best adaptation.