In one of the small, distant villages, an old good man lived with his wife. They had a small son. One day, while returning home, he passed by a neighboring village. At that time, he saw a very small mongoose crying beside its deceased mother.
The old man said, “What a poor creature. If I leave it here alone, it will certainly die.” So he decided to pick it up and take it home. The man said to his wife, “I found this small creature on my way home. Let’s care for it.” The wife answered, “Good. I will care for it as I care for our small son.”
The mongoose began to grow in the midst of the family. It felt a lot of love and care. It would sleep beside the son in his cradle, drink milk with him, and play with him every day. The mongoose’s days were happy and filled with fun in the old man’s house. As the mongoose and the son grew, their relationship became like true brothers.
Days passed quickly, and the mongoose grew with them. The wife began to worry about the mongoose and thought that first and last, it was an animal—a predator. Sooner or later, the mongoose’s true nature would appear. She began to fear for her son. Consequently, she moved the mongoose’s bed away from the child’s bed and began to watch the mongoose whenever it was with the child.
One day, the man left to buy some things from the neighboring village. The wife decided to go to the river to get some water. She looked around and found the child sleeping in his bed, and the mongoose was also sleeping below the child’s bed on the ground. The wife thought the matter might take her a lot of time; she would go to the river, get water, and return quickly.
She could trust the mongoose during this short period. She hoped the mongoose would not harm the child. She gave a quick look at the child and the mongoose and hurried to the river. The mongoose woke up when he heard a strange noise. When he searched the house, he found a snake trying to enter through an opening in the wall. The mongoose thought the snake would harm his brother and that his mother and father were not at home. He must protect his small brother himself.
The snake began to move toward the child’s bed. The brave mongoose jumped on the large black snake and fought a long and fierce battle with it. The mongoose managed to win and killed the snake. At that time, he heard the mother had returned. He felt joy and went out to meet her. He tried to tell her with simple signs, for he was an animal that could not speak. He tried to tell her that he had protected the small child and killed the snake.
But when the mother saw the blood on the mongoose’s face and hands, she felt terror and thought the mongoose had killed her child. The mother threw the pot filled with water on the mongoose and killed him instantly. She entered the house, her heart beating rapidly. She felt astonishment when she saw her small child sleeping in his bed as he was, and nothing had happened to him. On the ground was a large black snake, its head separated from its body. The mother said with sadness, “What have I done?” She wept a lot because she knew she had killed the small faithful mongoose without fault after it had protected her small child.
The Lesson from the Story:
- Never rush in judging anyone.
- Sometimes we are rash in our actions and discover they were a big mistake.
- We must think a lot and take our time before doing something stupid that we will regret.
- Sometimes regret is useless and weeping does not benefit.
The story is translated from: The faithful mongoose