Certainly, the biggest public relations to a mongoose were created by Rudyard Kipling when published in 1895 the «Second book of the jungle». Except the next portion of stories about Maugli was there and the fairy tale on brave Ricky-Tikki-Tavi which at first rescued and the Indian family sheltered, and then already it rescued this family from the whole brood of cobras. 
Egyptian mongoose of Anna Liflyand, commons.wikimedia.org
The fairy tale is the fairy tale, but many lines of a mongoose Kipling displayed correctly.
This small animal is really well tamed. In the Old Indian collection of parables and fables "Panchatantra" there is even a history how at one woman the son was born and… mongoose. Mother always was rather afraid that the shaggy sonny can offend the brother. And once happened so that brothers remained together without supervision. Here in a room the venomous snake crept, and the mongoose safely rushed to fight. It tore a snake as a hot-water bottle, and with the blood-stained muzzle ran to meet mother. That, having seen blood, incorrectly estimated a situation and пришибла a mongoose a jug. Generally, tragic and instructive story…
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screen, Shot from "Ricky-Tikki-Tavi" m-f (1965). -
скан, From R. Karrington’s book "Mammals", M: World, 1974. -
screen, Shot from "Ricky-Tikki-Tavi" m-f (1965). -
скан, From the book U.Budge «Ancient Egypt: spirits, idols, gods» — M: JSC Tsentrpoligraf, 2009. -
Jean-Louis Vandevivere, commons.wikimedia.org -
Hans Hillewaert, commons.wikimedia.org -
Amada44, commons.wikimedia.org -
screen, Shot from m-f "The Lion King". -
скан, book Cover.
The manual mongoose is true to owners, and here the stranger can and bite.
B. Grzhimek «Without sparing forces»:
«At me… there lived a manual dwarfish mongoose, absolutely tiny (the weight of this look does not exceed 350 g – Page. To.), but in relation to guests it showed not smaller aggression, than those, more. When one lady who has come to me on a visit, planted it to itself on knees, it suddenly jumped up and tightly seized teeth her nose tip. About horror! The unfortunate guest left with the bleeding and stuck plaster a nose. To me it was terribly inconvenient».
Image of a mongoose as convinced fighter with snakes is a little embellished and surrounded with a set of myths. About battles of these small animals with snakes Aristotle wrote still. But the matter is that the mongoose specially does not hunt for snakes. However if столкнётся with a snake face to face, rushes on it, as on the sworn enemy.
It is interesting that the mongoose has no immunity to snake poison therefore he as the real master – thanks to dexterity and skill wins. More often, the small animal starves a cobra out therefore the duel can last the whole hour.
John Snuk:
«It (a mongoose – Page. To.) did not move, motionlessly standing with the lowered muzzle and reddish, burning, as pieces of coal, eyes. Waited. Cobra… it started to be shaken forward-back and suddenly unexpectedly rushed on it. That dodged in time, jumped aside from deadly teeth and rose on hinder legs, as a result of a dragon hit about the earth and slightly wounded to itself the head.
… The mongoose changed tactics: it rotated round a cobra, as though provoking it to attack, but kept aloof from poisonous teeth. The snake was compelled to stay all in the same situation, but was felt that it starts to weaken…. When he decided that the opponent weakened, itself went to approach: made some jumps forward, then back, and then shot up in air. The snake instantly moved forward, but the mongoose immediately dodged, rushed on a cobra behind and stuck the sharp teeth into her neck. The body of a snake coiled round a mongoose, but it did not release it. All depended on the one who whom will overcome. The mongoose all shivered from tension, the snake whipped the torturer a tail, but here the tail gradually calmed down, and the mongoose was victoriously extended after long tension».
Hearings went to old times that the mongoose before fight with a snake bathes in dirt that its skin became impenetrable for a snake sting. And if the snake after all bites it, he right there runs to look for a special medical grass – will eat it and again comes back to "ring".
The most large number of beliefs and hearings surrounded the Egyptian mongoose whom locals call "ichneumon" («the detective, a police dog») or «a faraonovy rat». This small animal has short pads therefore it seems that it does not go, and creeps, like the sworn enemies. However with snakes it finishes not less successfully, than his Indian colleague.
The relation to the ichneumon in Ancient Egypt was double.
On the one hand, it was esteemed, as a sacred animal of many gods and goddesses (Atum, the Set, Uto), was embalmed and accompanied the pochivshy Pharaoh in his wanderings beyond the grave. Also considered that the ichneumon exterminates not only a dragon, but also… crocodiles. And the last kills in especially sophisticated way – jumps directly in a mouth and gnaws through a crocodile from within through.
On the other hand, the hieroglyph "ichneumon" was quite often used as designation of the person of no character, not capable to live without assistance. Mongooses, really, not that that трусоваты, but are very careful. And quite often use in life a known Ukrainian proverb: «A herd and the father it is easier to beat».
Here is how Bernard Grzhimek described a meeting of a pride of lions with a flock of striped mongooses (is in Africa and such):
«Mongooses dissipated that hour on three or four nearby bushes. Lions surrounded one of bushes from all directions. But when they began to do attempts to creep inside, the mongooses who have sat down at other bushes, lifted such improbable hubbub that lions started to be nervous and look around. Instead of continuing searches, lions stayed to eight o’clock in the evening about a bush, but and left with anything – mongooses did not seem from the shelter.
Here thus even dwarfs as required can resist to "kings of beasts", it is necessary to keep only solid and more loudly to shout».
Coming back to fantastic Ricky-Tikki-Tavi, it should be noted that in one place Kipling frankly told lies. The mongoose at it looks the real knight, the noble defender of birdies and rats.
R. Kipling "Ricky-Tikki-Tavi":
«–Do not kill me, – without crying nearly, Chuchundra asked. – Do not kill me, Ricky-Tikki!
– Unless you think, what the winner of snakes kills musky rats? – Ricky-Tikki» contemptuously told.
Kills moreover as kills! Both rats, and birds, and their posterity. The mongoose even learned to split bird’s eggs in very human way.
B. Grzhimek «Without sparing forces»:
«It looks as follows: the mongoose becomes the back to a big stone, rises by hinder legs, keeping in lobbies egg or especially firm, not bitten through huge bug, deviates back so that does not overturn almost, and then very much strikes with production between widely placed hind legs about a stone».
Only birds of prey cause the real panic and horror in these small animals…
The glory of mongooses as fighters of snakes and rats played once also bad service. Somehow the wife of one planter from Jamaica stayed in India and learned, how successfully the mongoose smooths out houses from rodents. And here in its native West Indies of life from rats at all did not become – crops of a valuable sugar cane especially suffered. That only planters did not do – delivered on islands of boas, spiteful муравьёв, huge toads, polecats-fretok and all uselessly! And here also venomous snakes жаракаки bred.
V. Vysotsky:
«Snakes, snakes around – to it be empty!» –
The person in frenzy shouted –
Also called on help of a mongoose,
That, means, the mongoose helped out…
As a result, in 1872 to West Indies delivered nine mongooses who quickly bred. However having fairly thinned out rats, small animals were quickly switched to other living creatures, including on pets. And here with жаракаками it was not set – these snakes appeared prompter, than habitual cobras. As a result instead of them mongooses выкосили on islands a set of rare species of animals, including the useful snake exterminating the same rats. Import of mongooses to other areas also except harm did not bring anything.
V. Vysotsky:
Goats in Belgium ate cabbage,
Sparrows – rice in China from fields,
And in Australia malicious mongooses
Exterminated the most useful snakes…
The USA even passed the special law very strictly forbidding entrance to the country to relatives of Ricky-Tikki. And the history became an axiom of unreasonable intervention of the person in the developed ecosystem.
Except various mongooses in family of the mangustovy include and симпатягу суриката, well-known on m-f "The Lion King" (there he bears a name Timon and Pumboy is on friendly terms with a borodavochnik).
From outside this African small animal with dark stains round eyes causes direct associations with such rodents, as gophers and meadow doggies. Surikata too live numerous colonies in holes, and on a surface like to accept a sentry pose "column", having ridiculously combined pads on a paunch. However for the rest сурикат – the real predator, which diet is similar to the mangustovy.
The lovely image of a small animal made it not only the hero of films and animated films, but also the participant of the smart advertizing company. In 2009 the London agency VCCP at the same time started at once two Internet sites: Compare the market insurance company site («Comparison of market prices») and conformable site "Compare The Meerkat" («Comparison сурикат»). By the owner of the last site it was declared сурикат by name… Alexander Orlov – the respectable Russian aristocrat, whose great-grandfather battled in war сурикат and mongooses, and the grandfather endured «Fluffy terror» 1921.
On the site of Eagles kartinno is indignant with that constantly confuse its resource with insurance though there compare autoinsurance services, and here – select suitable суриката. As a result «Russian сурикат» found great popularity on the Internet – it is registered in Feysbuka and the Twitter, and even publishes books.