Teddy

Teddy fighting a cobra (in Les Premiers exploits de Sherlock Holmes, 1909)

Fictional animal.

In the Sherlock Holmes stories

• Teddy was Henry Wood's mongoose (CROO 363).

• He was a beautiful reddish-brown creature, thin, and lithe, with the legs of a stoat, a long thin nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes, kept in a box by Wood (CROO 367).

• Henry Wood used him in conjuring acts for soldiers in canteens — one trick involved Teddy catching a defanged cobra (CROO 369).

• On the night of Colonel James Barclay's death, Teddy escaped from his box, ran up the curtain toward a canary cage, and was recaptured by Henry Wood before he fled the scene (CROO 363).

• Early in the investigation, Sherlock Holmes noticed strange animal tracks and deduced the creature's size, shape, and climbing ability — before learning it was a mongoose (CROO 179).

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