One day Swami’s father was sitting under the hall lamp and reading the newspaper. When Swami came to him, he read out the news of the bravery of a village lad who was returning home by the jungle path. The lad, then, came face to face with a tiger. But he was not frightened. Instead, he flew up to a tree and stayed on it for half a day. At last some people came that way and killed the tiger. Then Swami told his father that a boy could not fight a tiger. His father said that courage is everything; strength and age don’t matter much. Swami’s father told Swami to prove his courage by sleeping alone in his office room that night. Swami could not sleep alone. He always slept beside his granny in the porch. He would be trembling and awake all night if he did not sleep beside his granny. So he requested his father to let him do it from the first of next month. But his father did not agree. When Swami was sleeping by his granny as usual, his father came and woke him up. He then took him into his office room and order him to sleep on one of the benches in the room, alone. He put out the lights, but left the door open and went out. Swami was alone. He was afraid. 

Swami spread his bed under the bench and crouched there. Soon he fell asleep. He had a dream that a tiger was chasing him. Swami tried to open his eyes but failed. So he groaned in despair. 

Suddenly Swami heard a little rustling noise in the darkness. Swami was afraid that a devil was coming. But it was nothing but a thief that entered the office room as the door was kept open. The thief came very close to him. At once Swami clutched his leg and dug his teeth in.

The thief, then,, cried out that something had bitten his leg. Everyone in the house was awakened by the loud noise. Father and a servant came running with a light. Both of them caught hold of the thief. The thief was later taken a way by the police. 

The next day, Swami’s classmates praised him. His teacher patted him for his courage and bravery. The headmaster said that Swami had bitten into the knee of a notorious house ‐ breaker and the police were grateful to him.

When father returned home that night, Swami, instead of sleeping alone in the office room, was seen sleeping beside his granny. His mother stopped his father from wakening him up.