The thought of calf
Brought Punya Koti back in time
In the darkness of the jungle
Dangers abound
Punya Koti began its lonesome journey
Homeward bound
The calf’s cry, the flying time
Getting home was the thing on mind
A lonesome cow
A tiger on prowl
The cow the tiger did sight
The cow the tiger did fight
The calf’s hunger, the ferocious teeth
The ferocious growl, the hunger cry
The lonely cow did try
With my calf I need to be
Oh, cries of hunger call me home
Oh, please let me go
To the hunger pangs I must heed
I promise I shall come back
For now I must be homeward bound
To its calf the cow did go
The calf pleaded “must you go?”
I must, a promise needs to be kept
Oh, I pray to you please let me go
I must, for a hunger awaits me
To the hunger pangs I must heed
Leaving its calf to the cows
Punya Koti began its journey
This time it was towards the jungle forlorn
In the forest the tiger lay
Cursing itself
For it was long that the cow had gone
Would it walk back to its death?
In the forest the tiger lay
Cursing itself for being tricked
A cow it did see
Walking back
Slow and steady in its track
The cow definitely needed a head check
For it indeed had walked back to its death
Oh do I kill the cow so?
Is it unto me to kill you so?
Beyond the last turn
That the cow took
A great death it did behold
For in the track lay the tiger cold
Oh, this sin I cannot take upon my soul
Punya Koti may your name be told!
[Punya- virtuous deed; Koti- A Crore
(One deed equivalent to a crore virtuous deeds)
This is a Kannada folklore, I heard as a kid. It is usually recited as a poem interspersed with elaborations by the reciter. This has been written from memory and obviously enough, it has turned out inferior to the original one :)]
