Great Lessons Come in Small (Mongoose-sized) Packages

This is the story of the great war between good and evil. Well, kind of. It starts in a much smaller package,  a simple metaphor that 7^th graders always bought into when we read Rudyard Kipling’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” (1894), even if they did so unknowingly. 

(taken from http://www.mysteryplayground.net/2013/12/rikki-tiki-tavi.html)

I was first introduced to this story many years ago as an elementary school student—perhaps third or fourth grade when I devoured Kipling's The Jungle Book (not Disney) and Just So Stories. Soon after discovering the story of the mongoose, I was lounging about trying to avoid the Las Vegas heat on a Saturday afternoon, when to my surprise, Chuck Jones’s animated version of the story,(narrated by Orson Welles) came on. My Looney Tunes and Grinch addictions had already established my Chuck Jones obsession. Like a bird transfixed by Nag, I was glued to the TV.

Fast forward 30 years and my students were equally hooked by this story of deadly snakes and little Rikki. Most students admit they like it, even if they pretend not to pay attention. One of the last years I had 7^th graders, I asked one class—the majority of them reluctant readers—why they liked this story so much. Predictably, many of them said that they liked snakes or the fighting. One girl, Cecilie, shyly spoke up and said she thought the story was an embodiment of good versus evil.

Wow! Where did that come from?

As I’ve thought about that particular conversation, and discussed similar themes with my (new) science fiction and fantasy literature class this semester, I know she’s right. This theme of good triumphing over evil is a universal draw for kids of all ages, even if they parade as adults; it’s a story so old it’s the essence of our existence. Well, at least some people think so. 

(lifted from http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-emperors-new
-groove/picks/results/554659/whos-sholder-angel-devil-like-better)

Regardless, it really makes for great classroom, boardroom, or break room discussion. My personal favorite literary battle of good over evil is Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings because of its simple complexities: small and simple and good upsets the suffocating reaches of evil. However, I think that a mongoose fighting to defend “his people” from the pure evil nature of these cobras Nag and Nagaina and the brown snake Karait is the same basic story on a simpler scale. And when it comes to external conflicts, it’s one that just about everyone can get behind. Whether you are talking about dark lords, whaling, video games, cowboys, or playground bullies, everyone roots for the “good guy,” right? It’s only natural.

P.S. Watching snakes is pretty cool, even if they give you the heebie jeebies. On a 7^th grade field trip to the London Zoo, my friends and I witnessed two king cobras attacking and then dining on a handful of white rats. When it’s evil vs. evil, nobody involved wins…except possibly some 7^th grade boys snickering behind protective glass.