The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling Chapter 9 Page 29

hood, pinning him to the floor. In a flash, Kaa’s weight was upon the writhing body, paralysing it from hood to tail.

The red eyes burned, and the six spare inches of the head struck furiously right and left.

“Kill!” said Kaa, as Mowgli’s hand went to his knife.

“No,” he said, as he drew the blade; “I will never kill again save for food. But look you, Kaa!” He caught the snake behind the hood, forced the mouth open with the blade of the knife, and showed the terrible poison-fangs of the upper jaw lying black and withered in the gum. The White Cobra had outlived his poison, as a snake will.

“THUU” (“It is dried up” — Literally, a rotted out tree-stump),