Punya Koti

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 :)]