Nagaina By Rudyard Kipling

Nagaina is a cobra in the story ‘’Rikki-tikki-tavi,’’ by Rudyard Kipling. She is married to Nag and they are the two main antagonists in the story. She lives in the garden of a bungalow in India. Her personality is one that can not be trusted. Throughout the story, she shows that she is smart, dangerous, and protective. At the beginning of the story, Nagaina shows her smarts. She and Nag are known for being clever and quick. She gives Rikki, (a mongoose taken in by the family in the bungalow) a scare with her clever team up with Nag when ‘’He jumped into the air as high as he could go, and just under him wizzed the head of Nag’s wicked wife. She had crept up behind him as he was talking, to make an end of him.’’ (19) Nagaina’s sly, clever attitude keeps the other animals of the garden on the lookout for her tricks.
Cobras are naturally dangerous to other animals and humans because they are born with extremely deadly venom, but they are also big and strong compared to other snakes. The venom and speed of Nagaina make her a very large threat to the family in the bungalow and the animals of the garden. The family take her and her husband very seriously because they are so dangerous. One part of the story really emphasizes the threat she is to the family when Darzee’s wife, (a little bird from the garden) says ‘’Rikki-Tikki, I have led Nagaina toward the house and she has gone into the veranda, and “oh, she means killing!’’