A long, long time ago, near a city called Mahilaropyam, there was a temple for Lord Shiva. A kind holy man lived there and took care of the temple. Every day, he went to the city to get food, and he always brought back more than he needed.

He kept the extra food in a bowl and shared it with the poor people who helped clean the temple. But there was a sneaky mouse! This mouse lived in a hole near the temple and loved to steal food from the bowl.

The holy man tried everything to stop the mouse. He put the bowl high up, he even tried to chase it away! But that mouse was super clever and always found a way to get the food!

One day, a visitor came to the temple, but the holy man was so busy trying to catch the mouse, he wasn’t paying attention to his visitor. The visitor got mad and left!

The holy man explained his problem. “That mouse is amazing! It jumps higher than a cat! I’ve tried everything!” he said.

The visitor said, “Maybe the mouse is so good at jumping because it has lots of food hidden away in its hole!”

So, the holy man and the visitor followed the mouse’s tiny footprints. They found the mouse’s hole and dug it up! Wow! They found a HUGE pile of food the mouse had been hiding!

The mouse was very sad when it found out all its food was gone. It was so upset, it didn’t even have the energy to jump for the food bowl anymore. When the holy man tried to stop it, it was too weak to run away quickly.

The holy man didn’t hurt the mouse badly, but the mouse was scared and ran away, promising never to come back.

The wise people say: To stop a problem, you need to find the cause of the problem!