Once a Bharath and his wife Bhagya, they were lived in a village. They had a little daughter. They called her Meena and loved her dearly.

Bharath had kept a small mongoose in his house as a pet. It was a lovely little animal.   That animal was behaving as his friend. He had beautiful black eyes and a long bushy tail. Both the Bharath and his wife loved the mongoose as much as they loved their little child.

One day the Bharath had to go to some other village for urgent work. He told his wife to take care of their little daughter.

Bhagya gave some milk to Meena and put her to sleep in a little cradle. She gave some milk to the mongoose also. When Meena was fast asleep, she went to fetch water from the village –well. Before she left her house she told the mongoose, `I will soon be back. Sit here by the side of the cradle and keep an eye on Meena.’

The mongoose sat by the side of the cradle and kept an eye on the child.

Meena was fast asleep. The mongoose sat his cradle. Suddenly, the mongoose raised his head and saw a wheat color cobra slowly creeping towards the cradle.

The mongoose thought, `This big snake is coming towards the child. If it goes near her it will bite him. A snake can never be trusted. I must try save child from the snake. Either I should drive the snake away or I should kill him.’

The mongoose got ready to attack the snake. The snake drew near the mongoose. It also became alert, raised his hood and began to her. The mongoose was not at all afraid. He rushed a snake and began to bite him again and again.

The snake too tried hard to bite the mongoose, but the mongoose was a swift that did not allow the snake to do so. At last he caught hold of the snake by his hood, pressed it hard with his sharp teeth and killed him. Her face and paws became red with the snake’s blood. He was proud and happy that he had saved the life of his master’s son.

After some time Bhagya came back to the hose, with two of water on her head. The mongoose saw her and ran too tell her that all was well. Bhagya saw the mongoose with her face and paws red with blood. She gave a shrill cry, `Oh, my dearest daughter. This cruel mongoose has killed my child,’ she was mad with rage and threw the pots on the mongoose. The poor mongoose was crushed under them.

Bhagya then ran straight to the child’s cradle. She found her son fast asleep in the cradle. And on the floor near the cradle, she saw a big snake lying in a small pool of blood. She understood what had happened. She realized that the mongoose had saved her child from the snake and was very sorry for her hasty step. `Oh!’, she cried, `how I wish I had not killed our loyal mongoose!’