The story of the Mongoose and the Brahmin’s wife
Long ago there lived a Brahmin named Devdatta in a village. He lived with his wife Devrata very happily . After For some years of marriage, they had a problem of not having a kid. Both of them used to pray to God every day to have children. A few years later they had a child and both were very happy to have a child. He considered the child a gift from God.
Devrata took great care of her son and loved him very much. One day when she was out of the house and saw a baby mongoose. Seeing the mongoose cub alone, Devrata took pity on him and brought him to her home. She raised her son and baby mongoose well and cared for them both.
In time their son had grown up a bit and so had the mongoose. The mongoose and its cubs used to play with each other. One day the Brahmin’s wife went out with her son by the cradle. While she was out, a snake came to her house. A mongoose attacked him while he was walking towards a boy kept in a snake cage. The two fought for a long time and finally the mongoose killed the snake. Thus the mongoose saved the boy’s life.
When Devrata returned home after some time, she saw blood on the mongoose’s face. Seeing the blood in the mongoose’s mouth, the Devrata was horrified and her first thought was that the mongoose had killed her son. With this thought Devrata beat the mongoose with a stick. When she went inside after killing the mongoose, she saw her son sleeping peacefully in the cradle and a dead snake lying nearby.
Seeing this, the Brahmin’s wife realized that the mongoose had protected her son and was put to death without consent. In such a situation, Devrata sat down on the ground and started crying. When her Brahmin husband returned, he asked his wife, what happened here?
After questioning, the wife told him everything. Devrata also said that she regrets it now. In such a situation her husband said to Devrata, “You had left the child alone. This is what you are punished for angry and misunderstanding!
Lesson from the story
Misunderstanding and anger are your enemies! An act done out of misunderstanding is reprehensible, so control your anger!