The Loyal Mongoose

In a small village nestled among the rolling hills of ancient India, there lived a poor but happy Brahmin named Devasharma with his beloved wife Yajnadatta and their precious baby son. Although they had little in the way of material wealth, their home was filled with love, laughter, and the simple joys of family life.

Devasharma worked hard every day, teaching the village children and performing religious ceremonies for the local families. Yajnadatta tended their small garden and cared for their baby with endless devotion. Their modest house was humble but clean, and despite their poverty, they were content with their peaceful life.

One day, as Devasharma was returning from the nearby market, he found a tiny mongoose pup lying abandoned by the roadside. The little creature was barely alive, weak from hunger and exposure, with no sign of its mother anywhere nearby.

“Oh, you poor little thing,” said Devasharma gently, picking up the helpless pup. “How did you come to be all alone out here?”

The mongoose was so young that its eyes were barely open, and it trembled pitifully in the Brahmin’s kind hands. Devasharma’s compassionate heart was immediately moved by the creature’s plight.

“I cannot leave you here to perish,” he decided. “Perhaps the gods have put you in my path for a reason.”

He carried the mongoose pup home, where Yajnadatta was equally touched by the tiny creature’s helpless condition.

“We have so little ourselves,” she said thoughtfully, “but surely we can find room in our hearts and home for this orphaned baby.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” replied Devasharma. “Our son could use a companion, and this little mongoose might grow up to be a faithful friend and protector.”

They decided to name the mongoose Rikki, and from that day forward, they raised him as if he were a second child. Rikki grew up alongside their baby son, sharing the same food, sleeping in the same room, and receiving the same love and care that the parents lavished on their human child.

As the months passed, Rikki developed into a beautiful, healthy mongoose with sleek golden-brown fur and bright, intelligent eyes. More importantly, he formed an incredibly strong bond with the entire family, but especially with the baby, whom he seemed to consider his special responsibility to protect.

“Look how devoted Rikki is to our son,” Yajnadatta would often remark to her husband. “He never leaves the baby’s side when we’re not watching, and he’s always alert to any possible danger.”

Indeed, Rikki had appointed himself as the baby’s personal guardian. He would sleep curled up beside the child’s cradle, and whenever strangers approached, he would position himself protectively between them and the baby. The mongoose’s loyalty and devotion were absolute and unwavering.

“Rikki loves our son as much as we do,” Devasharma would say proudly. “The gods truly blessed us when they brought this faithful creature to our family.”

One morning, Devasharma received an urgent invitation to perform an important ceremony in a village several miles away. The ceremony would require his presence for the entire day, and the compensation would provide much-needed income for his family.

“I must go,” he told his wife, “but I hate to leave you alone with the baby for such a long time.”

“Don’t worry about us,” Yajnadatta replied. “I need to go to the market to buy supplies for the week anyway. Rikki will watch over the baby while I’m gone. You know how devoted he is.”

They had done this many times before. Rikki had proven himself to be the most reliable babysitter imaginable, never leaving the child’s side and always alert to any potential danger.

“You’re right,” agreed Devasharma. “Rikki is more trustworthy than any human guardian. Our son will be perfectly safe with him.”

After feeding the baby and ensuring he was comfortable in his cradle, both parents departed for their respective errands, confident that their faithful mongoose would keep their precious child safe.

Rikki settled down beside the cradle as he always did, his keen eyes scanning the room and his sharp ears tuned to every sound. The baby dozed peacefully, occasionally making soft gurgling sounds that brought a contented expression to the mongoose’s alert face.

For several hours, all was quiet and peaceful in the little house. Rikki dozed lightly but never fully slept, always ready to spring into action if needed. The baby napped contentedly, unaware of his dedicated protector’s constant vigilance.

Suddenly, Rikki’s sensitive ears picked up a sound that made every hair on his body stand on end – the distinctive slithering sound of a large snake moving across the floor. His head snapped up, and his eyes quickly located the source of the danger.

A huge, deadly cobra had somehow entered the house and was slowly making its way toward the baby’s cradle, its hood partially spread and its forked tongue flicking out to taste the air. The serpent’s cold eyes were fixed on the helpless infant with predatory intent.

Rikki’s entire body tensed with alarm. Every instinct told him that this was a deadly threat to the child he had sworn to protect. Without a moment’s hesitation, he leaped between the snake and the cradle, his fur bristling and his small but sharp teeth bared in determination.

The cobra, surprised by the mongoose’s sudden appearance, reared back and spread its hood fully, revealing the distinctive markings that identified it as one of the most venomous snakes in the region. It hissed menacingly and swayed hypnotically, trying to intimidate the small defender.

But Rikki was not intimidated. Mongooses are natural enemies of snakes, and this particular mongoose was fighting not just from instinct, but from pure love and devotion to the baby he was protecting.

“You will not harm this child while I live!” Rikki seemed to say with his fierce stance and unwavering gaze.

The battle that followed was swift but terrible. The cobra struck again and again with lightning speed, but Rikki was faster, dodging the deadly fangs while darting in to deliver his own crushing bites. The mongoose’s thick fur and quick reflexes protected him from the worst of the snake’s attacks, while his powerful jaws found their mark repeatedly.

The fight raged across the room, with the furniture being knocked over and the peaceful house becoming a battlefield. Both animals fought with desperate fury – the cobra to claim its prey, and Rikki to defend the innocent life that depended on him.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes, Rikki managed to deliver a fatal bite to the cobra’s neck. The great snake writhed in its death throes and then lay still, its threat to the baby ended forever.

Rikki stood panting over his defeated enemy, his golden fur now stained with blood from several wounds inflicted by the cobra’s fangs during their desperate battle. Some of the blood was his own, but much of it came from the snake he had killed to protect the child.

Exhausted but victorious, Rikki limped back to the cradle to check on the baby, who had somehow slept through the entire battle. Seeing that the child was safe and unharmed, the mongoose finally allowed himself to rest, curling up beside the cradle as always, though now he was covered in the evidence of his heroic struggle.

A short time later, Devasharma returned from his ceremony, tired but pleased with the successful completion of his work. As he approached his house, he was looking forward to seeing his wife and child and hearing about their quiet day at home.

But when he opened the door, he was greeted by a shocking sight. The room was in complete disarray, with furniture overturned and scattered. And there, beside his baby’s cradle, lay Rikki, covered in blood from head to tail.

Devasharma’s mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion. In his panic and shock, he did not notice the dead cobra lying in the corner of the room. All he could see was his blood-covered mongoose beside his sleeping baby.

“Monster!” he cried out in horror and rage. “You have betrayed our trust! You have harmed my innocent child!”

Without stopping to investigate further, without looking around the room carefully, and without considering Rikki’s years of absolute loyalty and devotion, Devasharma grabbed a heavy stick and struck the mongoose with all his strength.

Rikki, already weakened from his battle with the cobra, was killed instantly by the blow. He died without understanding why his beloved master had turned against him, his last sight being the face of the man he had served so faithfully.

“There!” gasped Devasharma, his heart pounding with adrenaline and grief. “At least I have avenged my son!”

But as he bent over the cradle to check on his baby, he was amazed to find the child completely unharmed, sleeping peacefully and showing no signs of injury whatsoever.

“But… but how can this be?” Devasharma muttered in confusion. “If Rikki harmed my son, why is the baby perfectly fine? And why is there no blood on the child if the mongoose was covered in it?”

For the first time since entering the house, Devasharma began to look around the room more carefully. As his eyes adjusted and his panic subsided, he noticed something in the far corner that made his blood run cold.

There, partly hidden behind an overturned chair, lay the massive body of a dead cobra – one of the largest and most venomous snakes he had ever seen. The serpent’s neck was clearly broken, and there were obvious signs of a fierce battle around its body.

The horrible truth hit Devasharma like a physical blow. Rikki had not harmed the baby at all. Instead, the faithful mongoose had fought and died protecting the child from a deadly snake. The blood covering Rikki’s fur was not the baby’s blood, but the cobra’s blood and his own, shed in the course of his heroic battle.

“Oh no!” Devasharma cried out in anguish, falling to his knees beside the body of the mongoose he had killed in his hasty judgment. “What have I done? Rikki, my faithful friend, forgive me! I have killed the most loyal creature who ever lived!”

He gathered the mongoose’s still body in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he realized the magnitude of his terrible mistake. Rikki had died a hero, saving the baby’s life, only to be killed by the very person he had served so devotedly.

“You saved my son’s life,” Devasharma whispered brokenly, “and I repaid your loyalty with death. How can I ever forgive myself for such a horrible injustice?”

When Yajnadatta returned from the market and found her husband weeping over the mongoose’s body, the full tragedy of the situation became clear. Together, they mourned not only the loss of their faithful friend, but also the terrible lesson they had learned about the dangers of hasty judgment and the importance of seeking the truth before acting on our fears.

They buried Rikki with great honor in their garden, marking his grave with a stone that bore the inscription: “Here lies the most loyal friend, who died protecting those he loved.”

From that day forward, whenever Devasharma told the story of Rikki the mongoose, he would always end with the same solemn warning: “Never act in anger or fear without first seeking the whole truth. Appearances can deceive us, and hasty judgment can destroy what we most cherish. The greatest tragedy is not the evil that evil people do, but the good that good people destroy through misunderstanding.”

The tale of the loyal mongoose spread throughout the village and beyond, serving as a powerful reminder about the importance of trust, the danger of jumping to conclusions, and the irreversible nature of actions taken in the heat of emotion.

And though Devasharma’s baby grew up safely and prospered, he never forgot the faithful mongoose who had died protecting him, or the lesson his father had learned too late about the value of loyalty and the cost of hasty judgment.