In the story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," Rudyard Kipling spends a great deal of time on the exposition of the story. The exposition portion of a story is the part where the author describes the setting and introduces the main character. During this part of the story, readers start to like the main character and understand the character's world. In this story, we get to know Rikki's personality as a friendly and curious mongoose. The family has given him the run of their bungalow because the father knows he can help keep their child safe. Life is happy for Rikki at the bungalow, and no conflict has been introduced yet. However, when Rikki goes out to explore the garden, he hears "very sorrowful voices in the thornbush." This is the part of the story we call the inciting incident. This kicks off the rising action of the story by introducing a conflict, a problem the main character has to solve or a goal the character wants to achieve. 

The first part of the rising action is when Darzee explains that Nag has eaten one of the tailorbirds' babies. The next part of the rising action is when Rikki meets Nag. We have already heard that Nag has caused harm to Darzee's family; now Nag appears with "a low hiss--a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-Tikki jump back two clear feet." The author now starts building suspense by introducing the antagonist to his protagonist. Nag represents the conflict, the problem Rikki will solve by the end of the story. We start to feel more tension and wonder how Rikki will be able to overcome this snake and help the people and the animals in the garden. Nag's relationship to the conflict and the description of him as a murdering menace show that his appearance is part of the rising action.