The Mongoose
「猫鼬」

　　Many years ago I read a delightful story called 'Rikki – tikki - tavi' by Rudyard Kipling, an English writer. It was about a mongoose that killed a king cobra to save the lives of his human family. The king cobra is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. A mongoose is not immune to the poison of snakes. It simply takes care not to be bitten. It can move so fast that it is able to get out of the way as a snake strikes. Snakes are not the only animals a mongoose kills. It also kills rats, mice, and many other kinds of small animals. Often I wish I had a mongoose living in my garden like Kipling's story!