In a town, there lived a man named Ahmed. He was very fond of hunting. His family consisted of his kind-hearted and beautiful wife and a son, who was only one-year-old. He also owned a dog who loved his little son very much.

They lived happily as God had gifted them with everything they wanted. They had everything that other families would desire, such as health, wealth and love, but all their happiness turned into sorrow one day.

One night when everyone was sleeping peacefully, a catastrophic earthquake of 7.5 magnitudes hit the town, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Thousands of people were awakened in terror by a roaring, rumbling noise, and before anyone could collect half a thought, the earth began to rock, rise, and roll like a mighty sea.

Ahmed, his son, and their dog survived the earthquake but Ahmed’s wife was trapped under the debris and died. Now Ahmed was jobless, homeless and had lost his beloved wife too. As he loved hunting, he decided to build a home near the forest with the money left. Now, he would go to the forest to hunt, which was something he enjoyed and it also helped him earn his daily bread. Whenever he went hunting, he would leave his dog at home as the caretaker of his young son.

One day when Ahmed was out for hunting, a hungry jackal wandering in search of food reached the edge of forest which was fenced with barbedwire but as the ravenous jackal caught the sight of a child playing in the garden, his mouth started watering and it managed to break the fence and ran towards the toddler. As the boy saw that dangerous animal coming towards him, he ran breathlessly towards home and jackal was running after him. Ahmed’s dog was sleeping in the kennel, but as he heard the cry of the little boy, it woke up and ran towards the sound. The dog attacked the jackal, putting its own life at risk, the dog was successful in killing that jackal.

After some time, it heard someone coming, the dog knew that this was its owner. It rushed joyfully towards its owner but, when Ahmed saw the dog covered with blood, he thought that the dog had eaten his child.

As this thought stuck in his mind, he killed his dog with his gun without wasting a second! But when he went inside the house, he found his son playing peacefully with his toys and in the next room there was the dead body of the jackal!

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 25th, 2018