EpicEiniosaurus

So instead of doing literally anything more productive today, I’ve decided to go down the most random and inconsequential rabbit hole. I was thinking this morning about obscure media that shaped my childhood and remembered that I used to love Rudyard Kipling’s short story Rikki Tikki Tavi, specifically the version adapted for children and illustrated by author Jerry Pinkney (I had a DVD that had the visuals from the book and also included narration by Michael York). For those unfamiliar, Rikki Tikki Tavi is the story of the titular main character mongoose and his adventures in the garden of a British family in colonial India. One of the minor characters in this story is Chuchundra, whose only narrative role is to tip Rikki off that two cobras, Nag and Nagaina, are planning to kill the people he lives with. Kipling calls Chuchundra a “muskrat”; thus, in the Jerry Pinkney book I grew up with, he’s depicted as a North American muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). Even as a kid, I realized