If you move ...

This is a little esoteric, but I can't get it out of my head, so here it is:
I read a story last week in The New York Times about metabolism, and how scientists conducted a study that shows people who fidget a lot are much thinner than people who don't fidget.
Here is the lede (the beginning of the story):

If you move, they will measure it. If you don't move, they will measure that, too, along with what you eat.

The full story is here.

I strongly, strongly suspect that this lede was inspired by Rudyard Kipling's story of Rikki Tikki Tavi. Rikki is a mongoose who lives with a boy named Teddy and his mother and father. Rikki and the father work together to kill Nag, a deadly Cobra. But Nag's wife Nagaina is still on the loose, until ...

Teddy and his mother and father were there at early breakfast; but Rikki-tikki saw that they were not eating anything. They sat stone-still, and their faces were white. Nagaina was coiled up on the matting by Teddy's chair, within easy striking-distance of Teddy's bare leg, and she was swaying to and fro singing a song of triumph.
``Son of the big man that killed Nag,'' she hissed, ``stay still. I am not ready yet. Wait a little. Keep very still, all you three. If you move I strike, and if you do not move I strike. Oh, foolish people, who killed my Nag!''
Teddy's eyes were fixed on his father, and all his father could do was to whisper, ``Sit still, Teddy. You mustn't move. Teddy, keep still.''
Then Rikki-tikki came up and cried: ``Turn round Nagaina; turn and fight!''

You can read the rest of Rikki Tikki Tavi's tale here.