How are Rikki and the two cobras alike?

Very much in the manner of the brave, valiant but small defender of the British Colonial family who have adopted him as their pet, and the malign intentions of the two cobra's, Nag and Nagina. Rikki is very much the heroic defender, and the only animal in the family garden who is brave enough to take on the snakes, whereas the two cobra's resent the presence of humans on what they regard to be their territory. In some respects it is possible to have sympathy with the snakes for this reason, and also with Nagina after her mate Nag is shot dead by the father of the household, leaving her grief-stricken, but this tends to be outweighed by the extremely cruel and malicious way in which they plan to terrorise the family, picking upon the son Teddy as a likely vulnerable victim. Nagina suffers a double tragedy after Rikki destroys her brood of eggs following Nag's death, but he has to do this to prevent a new generation of cobras from hatching out and going on to pose a threat.

In real life, cobras tend to actually be afraid of people and to avoid them as much as possible, only attacking if they feel themselves to be in danger.