6. Summary

The story "The Friendly Mongoose" is taken from the collection of fables called "Panchatantra". There was a farmer and his wife. They lived in a village along with their baby. The farmer wished to have a pet in his home because he thought that it would be a good companion for his son. So he brought home a small mongoose. Within five to six months, the mongoose had grown to its full size.

One day, the farmer's wife had to go out to buy groceries. But she didn't want to leave the baby alone with the mongoose. So she asked the farmer to look after the baby till she arrives. But the farmer felt bored and went out to take a look at the fields. On his way, he met some of his friends.

When the wife got back home, she saw the mongoose's face smudged with blood. She screamed, believing that it had harmed her baby. She threw the basket full of groceries at the mongoose and killed it. Then she ran towards her baby's cradle. When she saw the dead snake near the baby's cradle, she realised the truth; the mongoose was innocent, and it had saved her baby's life by killing the snake. She also realised her mistake. She acted rashly without knowing the truth.

The moral of the story is: "Look before you leap." It means that any person must always think twice or thrice before they do something to avoid problems.