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| Book Cover via Amazon.com |
Opinion
Have I mentioned I love short stories? This specific one by Rudyard Kipling was actually in “The Jungle Book” initially but has earned its place as one of the best short stories in all of literature. I think any short story that can take a people from one culture to another and unify them in the understanding of mongoose versus snake is remarkable. I picked this up on Kindle and mostly because I loved this story ever since I was seven years old. I still remember the cartoon.
My initial impressions of this story had to do with just how much better it is than the cartoon in my nostalgia laiden mind. This story is essential for many reasons for me, it is about family, loyalty, and keeping people, you love safe. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a very loyal mongoose you see.
Critiques time and I’m happy to report there are none here for my usual categories involving structure and such. The one that remains is “Whole Story,” and that is because this story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. Rikki-Tiki starts a dialog with someone, and it’s not left in its full ending but dropped. That’s a bit of an annoyance, especially to such a short story. The rest of the tale is well done, you do get a beginning middle and end to the conflict, but that problem with the last part is it leaves the reader believing more is coming, and there isn’t anything else.
So now let’s go into what I loved about this story. Firstly, it’s well written. Rikki-Tikki has a full arch for such a small mongoose, and he grows in understanding and knowledge. He also faces some serious challenges. He has to learn how to acclimate to his humans, and he has to learn how to work with those in the garden.
Next, I did not see any issue with the text. The grammar, margins, spacing, and structure of the story as far as punctuation looked good to me. If you follow my reviews, you know just what a stickler I am about pointing out what I see, and I didn’t see any errors or problems. That said, I did see other Amazon reviews that said the Kindle copy has text issues, etc. I can happily say that on my end, I did not see it on the day I read and reviewed the story. So, those might have been earlier issues, but as of this month, at least the copy looks good.
Another thing I enjoy is the fact that Rikki Tikki isn’t someone who just nails being a mongoose on the first try. He’s not the Tom Brady of mongoosary. He has to work at learning what his purpose is. He fails in a broad sense almost right away, and he nearly fails a second time with another adversary. Moreover, yet, Rikki Tikki works on improving himself and observing. That final bit with Nag where he’s learning what to watch for, it’s done with purpose and planning. I have to admire how Rikki is written in this way. It’s the kind of lesson you can give to your kids about patience and planning work better than rushing into things.
Lastly, this is a beautiful story for the family, but also has elements that are just for adults and items that are just for children. The character of Nag, for example, he can be a lesson piece to children about what greed and mismanagement of plans will lead to. He also can be someone as an adult; we can realize we may or may not want to be like when it comes to business or dealing with others. Nag and his wife had wiped out nearly every frog in the garden, and had caused havoc and had the nerve to want to kill everyone in the house. While yes we should try to work on improving our situations, striking out at others and harming those around you, will win you no friends. Rikki had friends because he worked with everyone in the garden. Nag and his wife, however, we're stuck.
Score
So what do I give this legendary short story that has so much worth and purpose? A lovely 94/100 is the score according to the math! Pick this up on Amazon the next time you want to read about impressive literary figures, or want a short story to tide over your morning.
