SHORT STORY WITH A MORAL: A dog was so faithful to his mistress that she could leave her baby with it and go out to attend other matters. She always returned to find the child soundly asleep with the dog faithfully watching over him. One day something tragic happened, the woman returned home to meet a very nasty scene; the room was a mess, the baby's cot was dismantled, his cover clothes were torn to shreds with blood stains all over the bedroom. Shocked, the woman wailed as she began looking for the baby, all of a sudden she saw the faithful dog emerging from under the bed with blood on it's face and mouth. The woman got angry and assumed the dog had devoured her baby, without much thought she picked up a big wooden pestle and beat the dog to death. But as she continued searching for the "remains" of her child, she beheld another scene under the bed, the remains of a snake torn to pieces from what had been a fierce battle between the snake and the dog which was now dead, and on the other side of the bed was her baby whom although was lying on the bare floor, was safe & completely okay. Then reality dawned on d woman who now began to understand what took place in her absence. The dog fought to protect the baby from the ravenous snake. It was too late for her now to make amends because in her impatience and anger,she had killed the faithful dog. How often have we misjudged people and torn them to shreds with harsh words and deeds before we had time to evaluate the situation? Let's be a little patient with ourselves and evaluate the situation first before jumping into conclusions and retaliating, for harsh words when spoken and actions when carried out cannot be taken back.