Rikki-tikki smashed two eggs, and tumbled backward down the melon-bed with the third egg in his mouth, and scuttled to the verandah as hard as he could put foot to the ground. Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy striking distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph. —"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," Rudyard Kipling How does the cobra egg that Rikki-tikki carries in his mouth help move the plot forward? The egg gives him energy to fight. He uses the egg to tempt Nagaina away from Teddy. He rolls the egg toward Nagaina as bait. He smashes the last egg to make Nagaina angry.