The other day there was a report on a dog in Sitiwan, Perak which ended up in a critical condition after being bitten by a king cobra. The dog reportedly tried to protect its owner by biting the snake into two when it tried to enter the house. That reminds me of Haathi Mere Saathi or Elephants, my friend, the Hindi movie starring Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja that enjoyed a long run in theatres in the 70s. In the movie, Ramu played by Rajesh Khanna, has four elephants and one day, on seeing blood in the house, he had thought that one of the elephants had attacked his new-born baby. In a fit of anger, he had killed the elephant only to find out later that the elephant had tried to protect the baby from a snake. That actually reminds me too of the Buddhist Jataka tales, the voluminous body of folklore-like literature which have been translated into numerous other languages including the Persian language. Isn't there a similar story of an animal, most probably a mongoose, that in the process of protecting a baby of its owner, is unfairly beaten to death?Take a break with Haathi Meri Sathi...
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