He held on savagely , and stuck out his feet to act as brakes on the dark slope of the hot , moist earth . Then the grass by the mouth of the hole stopped waving , and Darzee said , `` It is all over with Rikki-tikki ! We must sing his death song . Valiant Rikki-tikki is dead ! For Nagaina will surely kill him underground . '' So he sang a very mournful song that he made up on the spur of the minute , and just as he got to the most touching part , the grass quivered again , and Rikki-tikki , covered with dirt , dragged himself out of the hole leg by leg , licking his whiskers . Darzee stopped with a little shout . Rikki-tikki shook some of the dust out of his fur and sneezed . `` It is all over , '' he said . `` The widow will never come out again . '' And the red ants that live between the grass stems heard him , and began to troop down one after another to see if he had spoken the truth . Rikki-tikki curled himself up in the grass and slept where he was -- slept and slept till it was late in the afternoon , for he had done a hard day 's work . `` Now , '' he said , when he awoke , `` I will go back to the house . Tell the Coppersmith , Darzee , and he will tell the garden that Nagaina is dead . '' The Coppersmith is a bird who makes a noise exactly like the beating of a little hammer on a copper pot ; and the reason he is always making it is because he is the town crier to every Indian garden , and tells all the news to everybody who cares to listen . As Rikki-tikki went up the path , he heard his `` attention '' notes like a tiny dinner gong , and then the steady `` Ding-dong-tock ! Nag is dead -- dong ! Nagaina is dead ! Ding-dong-tock ! '' That set all the birds in the garden singing , and the frogs croaking , for Nag and Nagaina used to eat frogs as well as little birds .
When Rikki got XXXXX the house , Teddy and Teddy 's mother -LRB- she looked very white still , for she had been fainting -RRB- and Teddy 's father came out and almost cried over him ; and that night he ate all that was given him till he could eat no more , and went to bed on Teddy 's shoulder , where Teddy 's mother saw him when she came to look late at night .
So as between for like of that till to with