Week 2 Story: The Tiger and the Trickery of the Jackal
A tiger angrily thumped his tail against the solid bars of
the cage he was trapped in. He lamented the injustice of his predicament and
plotted how he would avenge the mangy jackal and Brahman responsible for his capture.
It had only been two days since the Brahman had trotted past
his cage. The holy man had released the tiger from his cage and then had been troubled
by the fact that the tiger intended to eat him. The tiger licked his lips as he
thought about how the Brahman would have satisfied his immense hunger.
“No. Please do not eat me. Please I will find another
suitable meal.” The man had pleaded. Tiger had smiled mischievously as bargained,
“Say man. If you ask the first three things you lay eyes on about whether I
shall eat you, I will consent to their judgements”. The stupid man agreed and the
tiger laughed haughtily for he knew the temperament of the things in his forest.
The Brahman asked the tree and the tree sighed in annoyance,
begetting the man to his fate. Second, the man asked the buffalo who then groaned
at the man for concerning her with his problems. Third, the man asked the road,
“Road, do you think the tiger has a right to eat me?” The road replied, “Who am
I to care? I provide a great service yet am trampled on daily.”
The Brahman trembled before the tiger. The tiger’s stomach
rumbled in anticipation for his meal. The tiger raised his paw to strike the
man down, but then the man cried out, “Wait! Let me ask the Jackal.”
The tiger begrudgingly agreed. He did not like his meals
salty, so he thought the interruption would give the man time to wipe away his
frightened tears.
As the man explained every detail of the story, the Jackal
confused every aspect of the story. On its own, the jackal’s blatant stupidity
was growing on the tiger’s nerves. Even worse was the Brahman’s apparent
goading of the jackal.
“Enough!!” Roared the tiger. “It was not you or the man that
was in the cage, but I!”. The tiger’s tone was menacing, but the jackal just
cocked its head to one side in confusion. By this time, the tiger was planning
on eating the jackal as dessert.
The tiger reared up on is hind legs and stomped down with a
growl. “Idiots!” He had called them as he walked into the cage to demonstrate how
the tale had started. The irony was not lost on the tiger as the jackal swiftly
shut and locked the cage door behind the tiger.
The tiger had roared and threated the pair of tricksters,
but they laughed and went on their way.
Now, the tiger was irate and his stomach constricted with
hunger. He quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the whistling of a
merchant making his way up the path towards the cage. The tiger licked his lips
and began to promptly sob and wail for help.
Micha Archer: Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal. Web Source: Illustrations
Author's Note: I remixed the story, "The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal". The original fable recounts how a Brahman lets loose a tiger who has promised not to eat the man once he is free. The tiger breaks his promise, but agrees to abide by the judgement of three things in the forrest concerning the man's fate. The man is decided to be worthy of his unfortunate fate by a tree, buffalo, and a road. However, a jackal comes to the man's aid and tricks the tiger into retreating back to his cage. For my version of the story, I wanted to tell the story from the viewpoint of the tiger. I changed a lot of the dialogue between the different characters and emphasized the misfortune the tiger suffered.
Bibliography: "The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal" from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
I really like the way you've switched the viewpoint of the story to the tiger. I'm always interested in stories told from the perspective of the "villain," although in this case the tiger isn't really a villain. He just wants to live, same as the Brahman. I also like the way you ended the story with the tiger preparing to trick another person.
ReplyDeleteHi Haley! I enjoyed the little bits of humor in the dialogue and description, especially the line about the tiger not wanting to eat a salty meal. I thought that telling the story from the tiger's view turned it from a story about the value of wit into a cautionary tale about the danger of arrogance. The ending with the merchant leads one to wonder whether the tiger has learned his lesson and won't give the merchant a chance to turn the tables, or if he's doomed to make the same mistake again. I wonder what might happen with the flow of the story if you gave each other character (the tree, the buffalo, and the road) more dialogue. I think it might give you the opportunity to write some humorous exchanges and build up suspense as we wonder about the fate of the Brahman. Great story, and I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteHey Hailey! I was amazed at your retelling of the story! It has humor and good amount of dialogue between each characters. your story was also very descriptive and fun. I didnt read the original story but from your authors note, I could conclude how the original story went. I like how you wrote this on the point of view from the tigers since we dont get stories from the main antagonist very often. Even though in the end tiger did not learn his lesson, i really like this story. Now im wondering the next part of the story. If a new travler comes across the tiger what would happen.But yeah, very nice and fun story Haley.
ReplyDeleteHi Haley!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story. You used great description words and you also did a great job bringing the story to life. You were able to bring the tiger to life by humanizing him and giving him character by telling the story through his perspective. I wonder what would have been the fate of the jackal and the man if they were not able to lock the tiger in the cage. I thought it was interesting that you chose to retell the story through the "villain's" perspective. By using that strategy, you are able to see another side of the story compared to the original. It really helps to get a 360-degree view of all of the characters. I wonder how the story would be if you told the story from the jackal’s point of view… Or maybe even adding another outside character that was not involved directly in the situation with the tiger. It’s always helpful coming up with different perspectives; it really develops the story.
I had read the story for my reading notes and even retold it with different characters. What you did here was very entertaining. The whole story in my opinion was a WOW moment. Changing the perspective of which the story was told was awesome. I really enjoyed the whole thing. The part where the tiger says that he does not like salty meals was very humorous. Now you have me wondering how the story would go from the perspective of the Jackel. It is so sad that the tiger got tricked again into the cage, you would think he is smarter than that. I like how you added in that a merchant was walking up and the tiger was planning his escape all over again. Would he be tricked again if the merchant would let him out or would he have no mercy on him and just eat him right away since his hunger has grown even stronger?
ReplyDelete