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.
He was a mongoose, rather like a little cat in his fur and his tail, but quite like a weasel in his head and his habits. His eyes and the end of his restless nose were pink. He could scratch himself anywhere he pleased

Once upon a time there were three Princesses who were all three young and beautiful; but the youngest, although she was not fairer than the other two, was the most loveable of them all. About half a mile from the palace in which they lived there stood a castle, which was uninhabited and almost a ruin, but the garden which surrounded it was a mass of blooming flowers, and in this garden the youngest Princess used often to walk. One day when she was pacing to and fro under the lime trees, a black crow hopped out of a rose-bush

An honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant tohim a great many years, but was now growing old and every day more andmore unfit for work. His master therefore was tired of keeping him andbegan to think of putting an end to him; but the ass, who saw thatsome mischief was in the wind, took himself slyly off, and began hisjourney towards the great city, “For there,` thought he, “I may turnmusician.`
After he had travelled a little way, he spied a dog lying by theroadside and panting as if he were tired. “What makes you

It was seven o`clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day`s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose dropped across her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moon shone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived. “Augrh!” said Father Wolf. “It is time to hunt again.” He was going to spring down hill when a little shadow with a bushy tail crossed the

Once upon a time there lived an old couple who had three sons; the two elder were clever, but the third was a regular dunce. The clever sons were very fond of their mother, gave her good clothes, and always spoke pleasantly to her; but the youngest was always getting in her way, and she had no patience with him. Now, one day it was announced in the village that the King had issued a decree, offering his daughter, the Princess, in marriage to whoever should build a ship that could fly. Immediately the two elder brothers determined to try

A shepherd`s dog had a master who took no care of him, but often lethim suffer the greatest hunger. At last he could bear it no longer; sohe took to his heels, and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood.On the road he met a sparrow that said to him, “Why are you so sad, myfriend?` “Because,` said the dog, “I am very very hungry, and havenothing to eat.` “If that be all,` answered the sparrow, “come with meinto the next town, and I will soon find you plenty of food.` So onthey went together into the

All that is told here happened some time before Mowgli was turned out of the Seeonee Wolf Pack, or revenged himself on Shere Khan the tiger. It was in the days when Baloo was teaching him the Law of the Jungle. The big, serious, old brown bear was delighted to have so quick a pupil, for the young wolves will only learn as much of the Law of the Jungle as applies to their own pack and tribe, and run away as soon as they can repeat the Hunting Verse-“Feet that make no noise; eyes that can see in the

There was once upon a time a man who understood all sorts of arts; he served in the war, and bore himself bravely and well; but when the war was over, he got his discharge, and set out on his travels with three farthings of his pay in his pocket.
`Wait,` he said; `that does not please me; only let me find the right people, and the King shall yet give me all the treasures of his kingdom.`
He strode angrily into the forest, and there he saw a man standing who had uprooted six trees as if they were straws. He

Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great dearth fell on the land, he could no longer procure even daily bread. Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife: “What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children, when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?` “I`ll tell you

Now we must go back to the first tale. When Mowgli left the wolf`s cave after the fight with the Pack at the Council Rock, he went down to the plowed lands where the villagers lived, but he would not stop there because it was too near to the jungle, and he knew that he had made at least one bad enemy at the Council. So he hurried on, keeping to the rough road that ran down the valley, and followed it at a steady jog-trot for nearly twenty miles, till he came to a country that he did not