After enjoying a hearty meal, King Tiger drifted off to sleep in the deep forest, dreaming of a much easier life. If he didn’t have to go hunting and his prey lined up for him each day- deer one day, bison the next, and rabbit on the third—life would be lovely. He could enjoy a different meal every day without spending his energy hunting. And besides, getting all sweaty isn’t much fun either.
While he was daydreaming, he woke up to an alarming call from a monkey. He grew angry and broke the dream. He screamed back at the monkey. The monkey was scared at first, then realised that the tiger had enough food, so there was no need to panic. He took a deep breath and gave another signal to the forest: no need to panic; the tiger is full.
The tiger lay down again, but he still couldn’t fall asleep. Irritated after the monkey woke him, he glanced at the monkey and slowly looked around. He spotted most of the animals in the field and decided to put the idea from his dream into action. Then he called the monkey down. At first, the monkey hesitated, but after the tiger assured him he wouldn’t attack, he slowly climbed down from the tree, where he had been enjoying his meal.
Keeping a little distance from the tiger, the monkey stood up and raised an eyebrow. “What do you want now?” he asked. The tiger replied, “Anyway, you woke me from my sleep, so I decided to punish you.” Panicked, the monkey was about to run away, worried that the tiger would forget his promise. The tiger quickly stopped him and assured him that he wasn’t going to eat him. “Don’t worry. Instead, you go and invite all the animals here. Tell them I am calling for a meeting of all. I want to discuss certain things that affect this forest.”
He hurried to the field and told all the animals that the tiger was calling a meeting. The animals were surprised and wondered why the tiger had called them together.
Soon, everyone gathered in front of the tiger and stood together. The tiger cleared his throat gently and said, I am just thinking. Anyway, I go hunting every other day and kill one of you guys, since you are my food.
The animals glanced at one another when they heard the word “food.” They felt uneasy about the way he spoke to them, but chose to stay quiet. Tiger sensed their discomfort and gently asked them to listen. He said he understood how they felt, though the truth was still the truth: they were his prey and food, too. “Please keep quiet and listen to me carefully,” he said.
He continued, “I was just thinking: why not line up for me every other day as my prey? That way, I can take you one by one. If you’re willing to cooperate, I can save myself the effort of hunting and use that time to look after your well-being.” Then he winked at them, sounding like the Indian premier
The animals murmured among themselves, wondering, “What kind of idea is this? How will they line up to become prey?” One elephant spoke up and asked the tiger whether he had met any humans recently. The elephant explained that humans are the only animals who keep hidden agendas and try to get their food without breaking a sweat. They set traps and kill animals. Even after they began farming and stopped hunting and gathering, they found smarter ways to do things with cell phones. With just the press of a button, animals line up to become their prey.
He laughed loudly. The tiger raised his voice and asked the elephant what was so funny. “Nothing,” the elephant replied. “No, you must speak up now,” the tiger insisted. Then the elephant said to him, ” Do you know where he lands up later? To avoid hard work, he started farming and kept a few of us as slaves. Now he is working hard in the field and feeding himself, even his grown-up so-called family, and he feeds them as well as his slaves, instead of enjoying his life by roaming around. So I am just warning you: this idea is not good at all. You will be another Man later…
Tiger said, ” If my idea doesn’t sit well with you, that’s okay. I’ll start hunting again from now on. ” He playfully showed his tongue, as if savouring the thought, then looked up with a stern expression. ” In fact, my grandfather came to me in a dream and told me to do this because he feels sad that I wake up hungry every day and have to chase animals for my meals. “
The elephant smiled again and said to the tiger, “I think you caught up with some human ghost, or else you would not say this… they only make such fake stories and fool others.” This time, the tiger felt embarrassed and a little upset. He lowered his tail and looked up at the elephant sheepishly, especially after comparing him to a man.
He said, ” If my idea is not visible, fine, but you guys are comparing me with the shit humans; this is humiliating me like hell ??
Tiger continued, “I can understand why you run away when you see me—life is precious to everyone, and naturally, everyone wants to protect their own. But why do these monkeys keep raising the alarm while I’m in the field? And what about those birds?” He glanced up at the trees, looking displeased.
The Elephant smiled at the tiger again and said, “Now you’ve started philosophising too. You know what? When someone has nothing to protect themselves, they may turn to philosophy in a way that offends others. It’s an idea people came up with to escape an uncomfortable situation. I’m not comparing you to humans, though… Please…”
Tiger fell quiet, feeling embarrassed about how poorly he had presented his idea to these animals, who hadn’t followed his lead. Now they are teasing him. “Oh, God…” He swallowed hard again and looked around at everyone. Thankfully, no one heard him call out to God; otherwise, they might have started comparing him to the two-legged animal again.
Then one deer stood up, cleared his throat, and began to speak.
Listen, “ His Highness “
The tiger proudly bowed his head once more, looking at the deer with gratitude and addressing him with the utmost respect.
Here, everyone sees things a little differently. You see us as prey and food, and we understand that. We see ourselves as another form of life on this planet, deserving the chance to live fully, and we see you differently, too. He paused for a moment, watching the tiger for a reaction. The tiger stayed silent, listening to him…
Then the deer continued …
While hunting, you are a hunter to us. We don’t see you as our protector or king. I understand that our numbers are growing in the forest, but that doesn’t mean we should line up as your food. There should be enough tigers in the forest to help maintain its balance, though we can’t openly agree on that, since we feel safe and happy seeing our numbers grow and maintaining our majority. Again, this is the monkeys’ perspective—even though they rarely become your meal, they stand with us. We are prey, and to them, you are simply a hunter. And then there are the elephants, who are part of our group. They don’t hunt us; they eat grass, just as we do. I hope you can now understand the real meaning of perspective: it differs for everyone. That’s what I wanted to share with you.
The deer continued… again… If you were to ask any animal to be your prey, it would surely object, asking, “Why me? Why not you today?” We can’t deceive our own kind into killing one another and destroying the planet… As far as I’m concerned, only humans can do this—kill their own kind. What I’m trying to say is that no one wants to be killed. So, if you hunt, please do so only when you’re hungry, and never for pleasure. Don’t be like a man who hides his intentions while seeking food; otherwise, you’ll become like him… a shit.
Tiger was at a loss for words, so he called off the meeting and shared the news with his followers. He was glad to hear their response and hoped they would say more of the same. Only the elephant continued to watch him with suspicion.
Good
Good story