I wasn’t feeling well. I had a fever since sunrise and my whole body was shivering. But no matter how bad I felt, I had to complete my daily routine! My mind became terribly upset trying to finish my share of the work. My body couldn’t take it anymore, so I couldn’t tolerate anything. At that moment, my mother told me to go to the field to bring vegetables. I got angry when I heard the order. Then again, I thought, ‘Mother has spoken! I must obey the order.’ So, after having lunch at 3, I went to the field to bring radishes and palang shak.
As soon as I returned with the vegetables, my eyes fell on the low-lying land—a place where there’s no doubt that snakes reside. I saw two puppies there, creatures considered lowly in our society. I saw the two puppies alone in a corner of the field. There were no other dogs with them, only some creatures in the trees making sad sounds. I stood on a higher place and saw that one puppy was lying down and the other was sitting sadly beside it. Seeing this scene, I realized that the lying puppy had died and the sitting one was guarding it in this silent field. As soon as I called out to it, it looked at me in a way that no humane person could hold back tears. I saw that the living puppy’s eyes were filled with tears.
All the joy had vanished from its face. Its expression had turned sorrowful. Its belly was completely empty. It could have easily come to the village and eaten something, but it didn’t! Perhaps out of maternal bonding. As soon as I called it, it got up and looked at me, then wandered around its dead sibling. It had lost all its strength. The grief of losing its brother had pained it deeply. It didn’t want to leave its brother alone. It just cried, tears streaming down its eyes. I stood and watched, thinking about how much love the Lord has placed in every creature. I kept calling it – and it did come. But for every step it took forward, it looked back at its dead sibling even more times. Finally, it came. Every 10 steps, it would stop and look back. I kept calling it, so it came 60 steps. It stopped there, looked at me with a sad gaze. I looked at it and couldn’t call out anymore. It turned back and, looking at me one last time, went back to its dead sibling.
Seeing that last look, I understood that it had given me a responsibility. But what was that responsibility? Was it to provide food? Or to perform the last rites for its dead brother? Pondering this, I quickly returned home. I decided to first take on the responsibility of saving the living puppy from hunger. I left the vegetables and went towards the rice pot. I saw that there wasn’t much rice left, and Father hadn’t eaten yet. I thought that if Father had less rice, he would ask for more from another house, but if I didn’t give this puppy any rice, no one else would. So, I easily took some rice from the pot and went to the two puppies in the field. As soon as the living puppy saw me the second time, it got up. I placed the food in front of it, and it started eating, tears in its eyes. Then I thought about performing the last rites for its brother. While going to fetch the vegetables, I had seen a spade in the field. I went to get the spade…
When I arrived with the spade, the living dog began to bark at me. I thought, just as the deceased’s loved ones sometimes ask for a delay in burial, so too was this dog asking me. It wanted to spend more time with its brother. I comforted it and began to dig. Afterwards, I buried the dead dog in a secluded spot on the vast expanse of the open sky, hidden from human eyes. The living pup watched the burial intently, shedding only tears.
After the burial, I called it. It came at once. It walked simply in front of me. But before reaching the house, it stopped. It came from the front and stood behind. I said to it, ‘Come on, let’s go?’ I looked at it and realized it was thanking me with its gaze. And here it was at the doorstep. It had come to bid farewell to its benefactor, just as people come to see off a guest. It turned around and began to run, looking back at me again. I stared in amazement and thought, ‘It has much to do now. It will now share the rest of its food with its kin, the birds, as a form of hospitality. How could it stay without entertaining them? It too has a duty…’
