The Tale of the Tigress
There was once a fearsome Tigress living in the depth of the forest. Her vigour and ferociousness were well-known throughout the land and so no one dared to come anywhere near her. Little did they know, to be a dreaded creature often led to a very desolated life. Whenever she appeared at a gathering of the other animals to make friends, they always seemed to run away. Though it saddened her very much, the Tigress had no choice but to remain alone.
One day, when the Tigress was wandering around the woods, she came across a family of deer feeding by the river. She noticed something strange. The stag grew agitated when he was looking far to his left. The Tigress turned and saw the Man, a charming figure she had only heard of before in stories. The Man was carefully observing the deer and seemed to be in awe of them.
The stag and his family finished their meal and left the riverbank not so long after. The Tigress turned once more to take another look at the Man, only to find him very much closer to where she was than before. The Man was now staring at the Tigress, yet she sensed no terror in his eyes. If anything, she felt admired. Never had anyone ever taken a look at her at such close distance the way the Man did before.
The Tigress heard a crowd hurrying towards them and felt uneasy. Other men which seemed to be the rest of the Man’s party were closing in. The Man turned on his back and told them to leave, as if he knew the Tigress was dismayed by their presence. But they continued marching towards her and she discerned what appeared to be weapons hanging on their shoulders, and so the Tigress fled.
The Tigress spied the Man trying to locate her when he had steered his party away. She quietly followed him from afar all the way back to his camp, but she knew it would be unwise to try and see the Man again with the many men and weapons around. The Tigress eventually left and returned home when the night fell.
The Tigress kept recalling her encounter with the kind Man. He did not flinch at the sight of her like the rest of the inhabitants of this jungle did. For the first time since forever, she felt seen. The Tigress became convinced that to be with the Man was the only remedy for her loneliness. If only there was a way not to scare humans of what I am, thought the Tigress. I could always be at the Man’s side.
The Tigress then remembered about the Sorcerer who lived at the edge of the forest. She knew that the Sorcerer would have the ability to turn her into something else, possibly even a human. The Tigress was willing to give anything for her wish to came true, so she left for the Sorcerer at dawn the next day.
“Now why would a majestic Tigress like yourself want to turn into a mere human?” the Sorcerer wondered.
“You do not understand, Sorcerer. It is a curse to be feared.” said the Tigress.
The Sorcerer laughed at her answer. “Everything comes with a price, my dear Tigress.”
The Tigress knew her request would be costly. “I will give you everything I have.” said the Tigress.
“Ah, so you are aware of the terms of my deals.” The Sorcerer smiled. “I asked nothing of you but your claws.”
The Sorcerer’s simple demand surprised the Tigress as she had anticipated something more arduous to provide. “Just my claws?” the Tigress asked.
“You see, my dear Tigress, I have mercy for those who are lost.”
The Tigress did not understand what the Sorcerer was implying, but she did not care. She promised the Sorcerer her claws once she became human. The Sorcerer nodded and began putting together all kinds of substances to create what seemed to be a potion. The Tigress drank the potion and felt an immense pain and thought she was going to die.
A moment later, the Tigress opened her eyes. The Sorcerer had placed a mirror in front of her. What a strange mirror, she thought, as she saw a ravishing woman with familiar pair of eyes staring back at her. She suddenly realised that the potion she took had worked. The Tigress looked at The Sorcerer who was collecting her detached claws on the floor all the way down around her two feet. She looked back to the mirror and saw the woman mimicking her movement.
“I am now… a human!” cried the Tigress.
She immediately left the Sorcerer and went straight to the Man’s camp. No longer an untamed beast in the eyes of the men, they were now staring at the Tigress’ unmatched beauty. They had no idea of what she used to be, only the captivating lady that she was now. Soon she found the Man, and much like she had imagined, the Man fell madly in love with the Tigress. When the Man and the rest of his group returned to the city, the Man took her in and wedded her.
Solitude was now only the past for the Tigress. She had made friends with all the many names and just as many personalities, she never knew people could be so different from one another! But more importantly, the Tigress could spend all the time in the world by the Man’s side now.
The Man was precisely what the Tigress had thought of him when they first met, not that the Man had the same idea of when that was, since he did not know about the Tigress’ little secret. He was very affectionate of her. Through the changing of the seasons, the Tigress and the Man stayed together. They lived what the fairytale must have meant by happily ever after.
Every once in a while, the Man went to the forest with his friends to camp for a few nights. At first, it did not bother the Tigress that she had to spend some time away from the Man. But as time went on, what was once occasional outings grew more and more frequent. When the Tigress asked if she could come with him so that they need not to be apart, the Man refused to bring her along and said such activity is not something a courteous woman should participate in.
The Tigress was also starting to notice a change in the Man’s behaviour towards her. He was becoming cold and distant. The Man spent most of his days away in his camp. The rest of the time when did not, he asked the Tigress to be left unbothered in his study and forbade her to enter the room. The Tigress had no clue as to what the Man was doing by himself and why he preferred spending his time there instead of being with her.
Once when he was away in another camping trip, the Tigress sneaked into the Man’s study. The Tigress was unsure of what she was looking for, but what she found on his desk was certainly not what she had in mind. There must have been a dozen of drawings of her in various manner, not as a human, but before when the Tigress was still… a tigress. The Tigress also found writings on tigers and tigresses, heavily annotated with the Man’s own notes about them.
“What are you doing in here?” the Man suddenly appeared by the doorway and found the Tigress snooping around his desk.
The Tigress was startled as she had thought the Man would not be back for another few days. “My love! I… thought you would not be here…”
“Have I not told you to never set foot in here?” the Man was enraged.
The Tigress could not understand why the Man was furious. “But may I ask why, my love?” asked the Tigress. “What are all of these for?”
“They are mine.” The Man began piling his drawings and writings away from the Tigress. He took a long look at a close-up portrait of the Tigress and whispered, “She is mine.”
The Tigress did not understand. She initially thought that the Man had somehow learned her truth, but now she is uncertain. “What are you talking about?”
“I found her once… in the forest.” replied the Man, still looking at the Tigress’ portrait. “She was breathtaking. I saw her once and those fools scared her away. You do not understand! I have to find her!” It was apparent how his fixation of the tigress in the drawings had consumed him. “I shall not rest before I find her.”
The Man left the study and went on to pack the rest of his clothing. “We have set up a permanent ground by the the forest,” the Man told the Tigress. “I am not to return before I find that creature.” The Tigress followed the Man out of their home, begging him to no avail. Nothing frightens the Tigress like having to return to a solitary life since she knew the Man would never find the tigress in those drawings and they would be forever apart.
The Tigress was heartbroken. All this time she had been concealing her past only to find out she herself was the object of the Man’s obsession and the very reason he chose to went away weeks on end when she was elsewhere yearning for him. This obsession was driving the Man further and further away from the man that he used to be. He was slipping through the Tigress’ fingers.
But how could The Tigress let the Man know that the tigress in those drawings was in fact herself and was already soundly in the Man’s arms? In her despair, the Tigress remembered the Sorcerer’s unusual payment. The Sorcerer was still in possession of my claws! The Tigress thought that perhaps with her remaining claws, the Sorcerer could turn her back once more to a real tigress. She rushed out of the city and into the woods to reach for the Sorcerer’s hut.
“My dear Tigress, have you found your way back yet?” the Sorcerer murmured.
The Tigress ignored his question and told the Sorcerer her desire to become an animal again. “You still have my claws, don’t you?” pleaded the Tigress.
“Indeed you have!” replied the Sorcerer, confusing the Tigress.
“No, no. I do not have the claws. You have them.” convinced the Tigress.
“Of course not! You have found your way back.” the Sorcerer did not seem to make any sense to the Tigress.
“Sorcerer, I beg of you. If you could just help me again, I will forever be in debt with you.” said the Tigress.
“Forever is not as long as you might imagine, my dear.” The Sorcerer grabbed a wooden box from his shelf and let out the Tigress’ claws. “Are you back or are you not…” mumbled the Sorcerer again before telling the Tigress to clutch the claws in her palm and closed her eyes. She felt a brisk blow to her face and when the Sorcerer told her to open her eyes, a tigress was looking at her from the mirror in front of her. The Tigress thanked the Sorcerer and left.
The Tigress soon arrived at the Man’s camp. She found the Man’s tent and tried to slide in without being seen by anyone else. She knew that the other men were hostile towards a wild animal like all those time ago in the forest. When she finally made it into the Man’s tent, she gently said, “My love, I am here.”
The Man was stunned to find a tigress in his tent. “Magnificent.” the Man said under his breath, not understanding a word the Tigress had said.
Realising that the Man had yet to recognise that the tigress standing in front of him was in fact the woman she loved, the Tigress yelled, “My love! The tigress you have been looking for is me!” Only this time, she discovered that her words meant nothing, for all that left her mouth was the roar of an animal.
The Man, now alarmed of the seemingly frustrated tigress in front of him, took a step back and yelled, “You magnificent creature! Have you finally come for me?”
“Yes,” the Tigress roared, “Yes! I did!” louder and louder, thinking the Man had finally recognised who she really was.
The Tigress was slowly moving closer towards the Man. “At last,” he said, “Come to me, my love!” as if he was answering the Tigress’ roars. The Tigress continued her strides and lowered her guard, before the Man revealed his gun from his back, drawing its barrel towards the Tigress’ head, and shot her dead.
