Panchatantra Brahmin Mongoose

tale:panchatantra_brahmin_mongoose

A Brahmin's wife leaves a mongoose to guard her sleeping baby. A cobra approaches and the loyal mongoose kills it, then greets the returning mother with a bloodied mouth. Seeing the blood and assuming the worst, she strikes the mongoose dead in haste — then finds the child safe beside the slain snake. Moral: act in haste and repent forever. — Panchatantra (attrib. Vishnu Sharma)