The partner of the tailorbird Darzee, she proves less foolish than her husband. Kipling even calls her “a sensible bird,” and she provides Rikki-tikki with valuable assistance in his final battle against Nagaina. When Rikki-tikki wishes aloud that Darzee would distract Nagaina so that he could destroy the eggs in her nest, Darzee’s wife, who “knew that cobra’s eggs meant young cobras later on,” takes up the task that her husband won’t, and provides the needed distraction by feigning an injury to her wing.
Darzee’s Wife Quotes in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
The Rikki-Tikki-Tavi quotes below are all either spoken by Darzee’s Wife or refer to Darzee’s Wife. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Puffin edition of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi published in 1984.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
Quotes
But his wife was a sensible bird, and she knew that cobra’s eggs meant young cobras later on. So she flew off from the nest, and left Darzee to keep the babies warm, and continue his song about the death of Nag. Darzee was very like a man in some ways.
Related Characters:
Rikki-tikki-tavi, Nag, Nagaina, Darzee , Darzee’s Wife
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis:
Rikki-tikki put his paws one on each side of the egg, and his eyes were blood-red. “What price for a snake’s egg? For a young cobra? For a young king cobra? For the last—the very last of the brood? The ants are eating all the others down by the melon bed.”
Related Characters:
Rikki-tikki-tavi (speaker), Nagaina, Darzee’s Wife
Related Symbols:
The Cobra Hole
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Rikki-Tikki-Tavi LitChart as a printable PDF.
Darzee’s Wife Character Timeline in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
The timeline below shows where the character Darzee’s Wife appears in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
While in the garden Rikki-tikki encounters Darzee the tailorbird and his wife , who are mourning the loss of one of their babies. It fell out of...
(full context)
Darzee’s wife , however, understands that Rikki-tikki is acting for the good of the whole garden—because cobra...
(full context)
...smashing the unborn cobras within. He’s down to three eggs when he is interrupted by Darzee’s wife , shrieking that Nagaina has gone into the house and “means killing.”
(full context)