| Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922. | | | | Darzee’s Chaunt |
| | (Sung in honour of Rikki-tikki-tavi)
SINGER and tailor am I— | |
| Doubled the joys that I know— | |
| Proud of my lilt to the sky, | |
| Proud of the house that I sew— | |
| Over and under, so weave I my music—so weave I the house that I sew. | 5 |
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| Sing to your fledglings again, | |
| Mother, O lift up your head! | |
| Evil that plagued us is slain, | |
| Death in the garden lies dead. | |
| Terror that hid in the roses is impotent—flung on the dunghill and dead! | 10 |
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| Who hath delivered us, who? | |
| Tell me his nest and his name. | |
| Rikki, the valiant, the true, | |
| Tikki, with eyeballs of flame, | |
| Rik-tikki-tikki, the ivory-fangèd, the Hunter with eyeballs of flame. | 15 |
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| Give him the Thanks of the Birds, | |
| Bowing with tail-feathers spread! | |
| Praise him in nightingale-words— | |
| Nay, I will praise him instead. | |
Hear! I will sing you the praise of the bottle-tailed Rikki, with eyeballs of red!
(Here Rikki-tikki interrupted, and the rest of the song is lost.) | 20 | | | |
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