Week 2 Story: The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
There once was a Tiger trapped in a cage. A Brahman, having happened upon his cage, felt sorry for the clearly distressed Tiger and decided to let him out. The Tiger rumbled gratefully at the Brahman and sank into a stretch, grumbling about being quite famished. The Tiger did not know why the Brahman paled at this, but that thought was soon driven from his head when the Brahman offered to bring him something to eat. The Tiger, who had been trapped in the cage for a long time and was quite famished, wondered into the shade of a nearby tree and laid down. The Brahman took off at a run.
Now, this Brahman, having been second guessing his decision to let the Tiger out of the cage, had misheard what the Tiger said. This Brahman was now under the impression that he was going to be eaten for dinner. Distraught, he decided to ask the advice of the things around him. Firstly, he happened upon a pipal-tree. The pipal-tree, who was quite bitter about being stripped of his branches, scorned the man. The Brahman walked on and came across a buffalo. His heart gladdened; he asked the buffalo what he should do. The buffalo scoffed. The buffalo was quite bitter about being staked in a field and left there after her milk dried up. The buffalo scorned him. He then came across a road. Not really hoping for much, he asked the road what he should do. The road was quite bitter about everyone rolling their wagons and emptying their pipes onto him, so he scorned the Brahman.
Noticing it was nearing dinner time, the Brahman decided to head back to the Tiger. After all, if the Tiger could not find him, he might find someone else. En route, the Brahman came across a Jackal, who saw that the Brahman was quite upset and asked him what was wrong. The Brahman explained the encounters with the pipal-tree, the buffalo, and the road. The Jackal tilted his head, seeming to not understand. The Brahman explained again. Finally, somewhere in the midst of the third explanation, the Jackal interrupted the Brahman. The Jackal and the Brahman went back to the Tiger together so that the Jackal might fully understand what had happened. The Tiger, upon seeing the Brahman and the Jackal, got to his feet. The Jackal stepped forward and asked the Tiger to explain how he and the Brahman had met each other. The Tiger explained. The Jackal tilted his head, seeming to not understand. The Tiger explained again. Finally, the Jackal asked the Tiger to demonstrate how he had gotten into the cage. The Tiger, being a kindly fellow, obliged him. The Jackal smirked, nodded to the Brahman and took off. The Brahman called out his thanks and left the Tiger in the cage, ignoring the growls and whining of the Tiger this time.
Authors Note:
So, I decided to turn this story into more of a fable about preconceived notions, and always ensuring that you get all sides of the story before you choose to jump in. I was kind of going for an Aesop vibe, so hopefully I accomplished that.
Bibliography:
The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal
Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).
Story Source
Hello again Cady!
ReplyDeleteI do think that the fable-like tone of your retelling really comes through, and I can definitely see the influence of preconceived notions in your interpretation! I especially like how you wrote the role of the jackal, emphasizing how he listens to both sides of the story. Why do you think he still decided to trick the tiger back into the cage after hearing his side of the story?
Given the trickstery nature of the jackal it's very plausible he'd still do it anyway. In any case, I hope you don't mind me trying to implement some of the things we learned about feedback here, and say that this question of motive kind of reminded me of what a friend once told me after reading something I wrote: to keep track of culpability. After he told me that, I realized culpability is a huge part of storytelling, as the actions characters take can sometimes be a huge part of what moves plots along, particularly in fables.
Maybe this isn't super relevant to your story, but it came to my mind in any case. In the end, I think it's a really great reimagining you've created! Especially when it comes to judging a book by the cover, or a tiger by his stripes. :)
Hello Cady! Neat twist you put on this classic tale. I've always appreciated the use of short sentence structure in old-timey tales and I'm glad you were able to keep that element and still convey a deeper lesson. The only suggestion I have would be to write a little more in the author's notes maybe. I like to see the thought-process people go through that brings them to their final twisted tale:)
ReplyDeleteHello! Wow, I really liked your writing style. I feel like the story was very well written and to the point. I do however feel like you could do another round of revision as far as proofreading goes. I feel that that the transitions between the paragraphs could use some work. Overall, good job!
ReplyDeleteHello Cady!
ReplyDeleteIt is funny how a misheard sentence sparked this whole story. It was comical to me that the brahman took off like he could outrun the lion, and that he later thought, "oh the tiger didn't catch me so he probably ate someone else and wandered off." I definitely got the moral of the story as you talked about in your author's note, getting the whole picture before acting was a blatant running theme throughout the stories entirety.