That was the time I saw a mongoose and a cobra fight to death in the garden, while I sat directly above them in the banyan tree.It was an April afternoon. And the warm breezes of approaching summer had sent everyone, including Grandfather, indoors. I was feeling drowsy myself and was wondering if I should go to the pond behind the house for a swim, when I saw a huge black cobra gliding out of a clump of cactus and making for some cooler part of the garden. At the same time a mongoose (whom I had often seen) emerged from the bushes and went straight for the cobra.
In a clearing beneath the tree, in bright sunshine, they came face to face.
Cobra knew only too well that the grey mongoose, three feet long, was a superb fighter, clever and
aggressive But the cobra was skilful and experienced fighter too. He could move swiftly and strike with the speed of light, and the sacs behind his long, sharp fangs were full of deadly venom.
It was to be a battle of champion
Hissing defiance defiance, his forked tongue darting in and out, the cobra raised three of his six feet off the ground, and spread his broad, spectacled hood. The mongoose bushed his tail. The long hair on his spine stood up (in the past,
the very thickness of his hair had saved him from bites that would have been fatal to others).
Though the combatants were unaware of my presence in the banyan tree, they soon became aware of the arrival of two other spectators. One was a myna, and the other a jungle crow (not the wily urban crow). They had seen these preparations for battle, and had settled on the cactus to watch the outcome. Had they been content only to watch, all would have been well with both of them.
The cobra stood on the defensive, swaying slowly from side to side, trying to mesmerize the mongoose into marking a false move. But the mongoose knew the power of his opponent's glassy, unwinking eyes, and refused to meet them.
Instead he fixed his gaze at a point just below the cobra's hood, and opened the attack.
Moving forward quickly until he was just within the cobra's reach, he made a feint to one side. Immediately the cobra struck. His great hood came down so swiftly that I thought nothing could save the mongoose. But the little fellow
jumped neatly to one side, and darted in as swiftly as the cobra, biting the snake on the back and darting away again out of reach.
The moment the cobra struck, the crow and the myna hurled themselves at him, only to collide heavily in mid-air. Shrieking at each other, they returned to the cactus plant.
A few drops of blood glistened on the cobra's back. The cobra struck again and missed. Again the mongoose sprang aside, jumped in and bit. Again the birds dived at the snake, bumped into each other instead, and returned shrieking
to the safety of the cactus.
The third round followed the same course as the first but with one dramatic difference. The crow and the myna, still determined to take part in the proceedings, dived at the cobra, but this time they missed each other as well as
their mark. The myna flew on and reached its perch, but the crow tried to pull up in mid-air and turn back. In the second that it took him to do this, the cobra whipped his head back and struck with great force, his snout thudding
against the crow's body.
I saw the bird flung nearly twenty feet across the garden, where, after fluttering about for a while, it lay still. The myna remained on the cactus plant, very wisely refrained from interfering again
The cobra was weakening, and the mongoose, walking fearlessly up to it, raised himself on his short legs, and with lightning snap had the big snake by the snout. The writhed and lashed about in a frightening manner, and even coiled itself about the mongoose, but all to no avail. The little fellow hung grimly on, until the snake had ceased to struggle. He then smelt along its quivering length, and gripping it round the hood, dragged it into the bushes. The myna dropped cautiously to the ground, hopped about, peered into the bushes from a safe distance, and then, with a shrill cry of congratulation, flew away.
When I had also made a cautious descent from the tree and returned to the house, I told Grandfather of the fight I had seen. He was pleased that the mongoose had won. He had encouraged it to live in the garden, to keep away
the snakes, and fed it regularly with scraps from the kitchen. He had never tried taming it, because wild mongoose was more useful than a domesticated one
clump of cactus
To know the meaning of the word snout click here
Answer the following questions
What was the incident that triggered a long lasting excitement for the boy in that summer?
How did the cobra regard his opponent? Where they true warriors?
How did the mongoose manage to escape from the snake’s bite?
Who were the new spectators?
Why were the combatants unaware of the presence of the boy?
How did the mongoose resist the tricky move of the cobra to mesmerize it?
What did the spectators do when they saw the cobra struck?
How did the cobra push itself into trouble?
Why is the myna said to be wise?
Go through the Activity 1 in page 20 of English reader
Complete the table given in Activity 3 page no.17.
