I spoke too soon; been thinking about RTT and it is subtler (and I have more appreciation for Kipling's crafting)... - (at the bush) RTT lion, Nagaina lion, Na

I spoke too soon; been thinking about RTT and it is subtler (and I have more appreciation for Kipling's crafting)... - (at the bush) RTT lion, Nagaina lion, Nag vulpine lion (...he wanted to get Rikki-tikki off his guard. So he dropped his head a little ... "Let us talk,"...) - (bath-room) RTT lion, Nag lion - (melon patch) RTT lion, Darzee's wife fox - (verandah) RTT lion, Nagaina vulpine lion (I will go away and never come back; He had forgotten the egg. ... and Nagaina came nearer and nearer to it...) - (rat-hole) RTT lion, Nagaina lion I guess most likely in real life would've been the negative-sum end of a chess game: RTT and Nagaina would've killed each other's family before meeting, but Kipling does anticipate this, and has Darzee's wife report that Nagaina didn't follow her to the bush (maybe having been vulpine enough to be suspicious of Darzee's wife's "broken" wing; maybe just having seen the humans on the verandah?) For someone whose current reputation is jingoistic, Kipling's female characters (pace Teddy's mother) here are more formidable than their mates.