Bangari is not interested in school at all. Thimmakka, however, is extraordinarily bright and all the teachers heap praise on her, much to Puttaswamegowda’s joy. Chenni is more than willing to let Thimmakka focus on her studies; so what if she does no work around the house?

There is one household duty, however, which Thimmakka performs devotedly. And that is giving Annaiah his food at night, as every daughter of the house has done from the time he came back. Since Bangari is Annaiah’s own daughter, Puttaswame Gowda decrees that Thimmakka should do it and she begins when she is only eight, an impressionable young child who loves to play at the Kamadeva temple.

At that time, Annaiah is telling the story of Kodagoosu and how even Kamadeva sees another kind of love and revels in it. Kodagoosu, says Annaiah, is a little girl of eight, like Thimmakka here. Every day, her father Sivadeva offers a pot of milk in prayer to a Sivalinga deep in the Aranyaka forest behind this wall. This milk is then given out to all the villagers as prasada. One day, he is called out of his village along with his wife, so he entrusts the duty of giving Siva the milk to Kodagoosu. The happy child carries it to the forest cave and places the pot in front of the linga. She waits for Siva to come drink it. Kamadeva, who chances upon the scene, is amused. It is such an innocent faith, and Kamadeva is curious to see how the grim Siva will react.

Kodagoosu exhorts Siva repeatedly to drink the milk. She tells the stone linga, ‘My father has asked me to give you the milk. If you don’t drink it, I cannot go home. Please, drink it. All through the morning, all through the afternoon, all through the evening, she pleads with him. By the time night comes around, her voice is a croak and her strength is gone. Finally she tells Siva, if you don’t come and drink that milk, I am going to break my head right here on you.

Kamadeva’s heart is bleeding, he is angry with Siva but helpless to do anything for the child. She starts to beat her head on the stone linga and the invisible Kamadeva stands there, wringing his hands, unable to reach out and stop her. The child’s plea, though, is so intense that it finally reaches Siva. He comes out of the linga, along with Parvati, to calm Kodagoosu down. She is suspicious and wants to know who they are. So Parvati tells her, he is the Siva your father was talking of. He will drink your milk and both of us will play with you. They smile at her, she sits on Parvati’s lap and Siva drinks up the milk in the pot, right to the last drop, as Kamadeva watches, relieved and happy. Parvati sings a lullaby to Kodagoosu. Though it is night, the moonlight is benign, a cool breeze blows and the stone-filled mud on the forest floor is soft and soothing as Kodagoosu returns, sleepy and tired, to her home in the village, watched over by two gods and a goddess.