But just as
she had finished and was about to invite her husband and his Brahman
guests to begin their feast, the dog saw that a snake had entered the
grain-jar, which had not been properly shut, and that it had left its
poisonous trail all over the grain from which the milk-pudding had been
prepared. The dog at once realised that, if the Brahmans who had been
invited to the memorial feast ate the poisoned grain, they would die,
and that the sin of Brahman murder would be incurred by the host,
her son. So she suddenly rushed up and put her foot right into the
middle of the milk-pudding. The son's wife was very angry. She threw
a red-hot coal at the dog with such skill that it dropped on to the
middle of her back and burnt a big hole in it. Then the son's wife
cooked a fresh milk-pudding and fed the Brahmans. But she was so
cross with the dog that she would not give her the smallest possible
scrap. So the poor dog remained hungry all day. When night fell she
went to the bullock who had been her husband and began to howl as
loudly as she could.
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