A wild mongoose who came into his office & sat on his shoulder inspired Rikki-Tikki-Tavi in "The Jungle Book"
[DOC] [TLE] Kipling's list of names - The Kipling Society [PAR] 17) the Elephant that was Lord of the Jungle in `How Fear Came', ... and they 
often come into a house or even into an office with people going in and out all ... 
A perfectly wild mongoose used to come and sit on my shoulder in my office in 
India, and burn his inquisitive nose on the end of my cigar, just as Rikki did in the 
tale.