A Cow and a Calf

Once upon a time, in a small village in Karnataka, a herd of cows were climbing up the hill to graze on the fresh green grass leaving their calves behind in the safety of the village. 

Beyond the meadows was a dense forest. A hungry tiger called Arbhuta saw them, was overjoyed and prepared to pounce. He jumped out with a loud roar and the cows ran helter-skelter in fright. 

One cow called Punyakoti, who was the gentlest and most beautiful of all the cows in the herd, was caught. He was about to bite her when Punyakoti said ‘O powerful one, do not kill me just now. I have a little calf in the village who is waiting for me. He must be hungry and needs his evening feed. Please let me go back to my calf tonight, and once I have fed him, I promise that I will return to you. Then you can eat me.’

The tiger sat back in surprise. He had killed many animals in his long life, and while many of them had pleaded with him for their lives, no one had ever promised to come back! ‘Do you take me for a fool?’ he roared. ‘If I let you go, you will never return!’

‘Dear tiger, I ask this of you only for my poor hungry calf. He must be wondering where his mother is. Let me feed him one last time and say goodbye. I promise that I will come back.'
Despite himself, Arbhuta was moved by the cow’s plea and decided to wait for her.

Punyakoti ran back to the village as fast as she could to her calf. The calf ran to his mother. Punyakoti played with him and licked him and fed him. When the little calf had drunk all the milk that he could, she told him of the incident in the forest and her promise to the tiger.

‘Don’t go back, mother, please stay with me,’ cried the little calf.

‘I must go back, my child,’ explained Punyakoti gently. ‘I have given my word, and you would not want your mother to break a promise, would you?’

The little calf was distraught, but didn’t know how to save his mother from the tiger. Punyakoti then requested all the other cows to look after her little calf and left. When the tiger saw Punyakoti walking up the hill towards him, he could not believe his eyes.

Arbhuta, moved and humbled by Punyakoti’s courage and honesty, shook his massive head. ‘I cannot eat you,’ he said. ‘It is better to die of hunger than eat someone so good and truthful like you.’ And he returned to the forest.

Punyakoti came home to her little calf, who was overjoyed to see her, and the two lived happily ever after.