`` What is the matter ? '' asked Rikki-tikki . `` We are very miserable , '' said Darzee . `` One of our babies fell out of the nest yesterday and Nag ate him . '' `` H 'm ! '' said Rikki-tikki , `` that is very sad -- but I am a stranger here . Who is Nag ? '' Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering , for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss -- a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet . Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag , the big black cobra , and he was five feet long from tongue to tail . When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground , he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion tuft balances in the wind , and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake 's eyes that never change their expression , whatever the snake may be thinking of . `` Who is Nag ? '' said he . `` I am Nag . The great God Brahm put his mark upon all our people , when the first cobra spread his hood to keep the sun off Brahm as he slept . Look , and be afraid ! '' He spread out his hood more than ever , and Rikki-tikki saw the spectacle-mark on the back of it that looks exactly like the eye part of a hook-and-eye fastening . He was afraid for the minute , but it is impossible for a mongoose to stay frightened for any length of time , and though Rikki-tikki had never met a live cobra before , his mother had fed him on dead ones , and he knew that all a grown mongoose 's business in life was to fight and eat snakes . Nag knew that too and , at the bottom of his cold heart , he was afraid . `` Well , '' said Rikki-tikki , and his tail began to fluff up again , `` marks or no marks , do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest ? '' Nag was thinking to himself , and watching the least little movement in the grass behind Rikki-tikki .
He knew that mongooses in the garden meant death sooner or later for him and his family , but he wanted to get XXXXX off his guard .
Brahm Darzee Nag Rikki-tikki first fro mongoose one-third spectacle-mark tuft