Rikki Tikki Tavi
This is the species of animal that Rikki-tikki-tavi is.
What is a mongoose?
The cruel decree issued by the young, arrogant lord of the village banished anyone who reached this milestone.
What is turning seventy-one years old (or being elderly)?
The author and narrator who recounts his experiences running sled dogs in the wilderness.
Who is Gary Paulsen?
The genre in which this story was originally written and broadcast as an episode of The Twilight Zone.
What is Sci-Fi or drama?
The opening part of a plot that introduces the setting, main characters, and basic situation.
What is the exposition?
The main pair of venomous cobras Rikki-tikki must protect the family from.
Who are Nag and Nagaina?
Instead of leaving his mother on the mountain, the devoted son hid her in this location beneath his house.
What is a secret underground room (or hidden cellar)?
The author was out running with these animals on the morning of this incident.
What are sled dogs?
The sudden event that triggers confusion and fear among the residents on Maple Street.
What is a mysterious power failure (lights flickering on and off or blackout/loss of electricity and machinery)?
The turning point or moment of greatest tension and emotional intensity in a narrative.
What is the climax?
Darzee, the tailorbird, helps Rikki-tikki, but his wife does this to distract Nagaina.
What is pretending to have a broken wing?
The first impossible demand made by Lord Higa to conquer the village involved making a rope made of this material.
What is a rope of ash?
A brutal event the author witnesses in the woods between a pack of wolves and this animal changes his view of nature's indifference.
What is a doe (or deer)?
The young boy whose references to comic books and science fiction stories plant the suspicion of an alien invasion in the neighbors' minds.
Who is Tommy?
The series of conflicts, complications, and crises that build toward the climax.
What is the rising action?
Rikki-tikki uses this item as leverage to distract Nagaina from striking Teddy at the breakfast veranda.
What is Nagaina's last remaining unhatched egg?
The mother solved the puzzle of threading a silk thread through a crooked log by using this insect and a drop of honey.
What is an ant?
The author compares his mistake of judging nature by human moral standards to what word.
What is "gulled"?
This man becomes a major suspect in the story for two reasons: he has a ham radio, and a neighbor saw him doing this late at night.
Who is Steve?
The stage of plot immediately following the climax where loose ends are tied up and tension winds down.
What is the falling action?
Nag was lying in wait for Teddy's parents in this part of the house.
What was in the bathroom?
The theme of "The Wise Old Woman" and core lesson the young lord learned that led him to abolish the cruel decree.
What is that the elderly possess wisdom and value that youth cannot replace?
The harsh, unvarnished reality of nature versus the romanticized "Disney" view of the wilderness is the central focus of this story.
What is theme?
The conflicts revealed in this story. (You must give both conflicts.)
What are fear and suspicion?
The specific event that shatters the status quo and sets up the "rest of the story."
What is climax?