In the heart of a dence forest, a Rishi used to stay in a small, humble hut made of leaves. Being very helpful by nature he had earned the respect of all animals staying in the forest. But, of all the animals, a dog that used to stay near the ascetic's hut used to be his favorite. The dog, on its part, used to guard the Rishi and his hut zealously.
One evening a ferocious jackal that was passing by the neighborhood attacked the dog. The dog got frightened and rushed into the hut seeking the ascetic's protection. The Rishi took pity on the dog and chanted mantras into some water that he took out of his kamandal. The Rishi then sprinkled the water on the dog and behold, it transformed into a jackal.
However, that was not the end of the tale. The very next moment a huge tiger came towards the saint's hut. Soon as it roared to announce its presence, the jackal lost heart and once again rushed into the hut seeking the Rishi's help. The saint once again changed its form, this time into a large tiger.
The saint's blessing worked again and the tiger turned tail and disappeared into the woods. However, the dog's nature changed and he started preying upon and eating other smaller animals.
When the dog-turned-jackal-turned-tiger was sleeping at an open space deep inside the woods, An elephant stormed into the area and trumpeted loudly. The tiger woke with a shock and saw the rampaging elephant uprooting a small tree and once again lost its courage. The dog-turned-tiger once again ran to the saint's hut for cover.
Within moments the tiger changed into an elephant. After getting used to his massive size and weight the dog-turned elephant headed straight for the nearby lake. It had a lot of fun showering water on itself with its powerful trunk.
Soon the forest resounded with the ferocious and noisy roars of a strange creature called Sharabh. With four arms, a huge mouth lined with large and sharp teeth and a huge dinosaur-like tail the fearsome creature ran amok in the forest. Once again the dog-turned-elephant got scared and ran for cover - straight to the ascetic's hut. The patient and kind saint changed it into a mirror-image of Sharabh.
The real Sharabh was shocked in seeing a creature like him emerging from the ascetic's hut. It soon ran away. So proud it became that the Sharabh turned upon the saint and attacked him. That proved to be a grave error. The Rishi instantly changed it back to the dog it always was and drove it out of the house. Then the dog realized his mistake but, then it was too late.
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