The Tiger of Chao-Ch‘Êng by Pu Songling
After a tiger eats an elderly woman's only son, she demands that the magistrate have it arrested. The tiger submits to capture and accepts a pardon on condition that it support her as a son would, bringing deer, money and valuables. When she dies, it mourns her and visits her grave; the local people build a shrine to the Faithful Tiger.
By Pu Songling · Genre: Short Story, Animal Tale, Fantasy · 1,422 words
First lines
At Chao-ch‘êng there lived an old woman more than seventy years of age, who had an only son. One day he went up to the hills and was eaten by a tiger, at which his mother was so overwhelmed with grief that she hardly wished to live. With tears and lamentations she ran and told her story to the magistrate of the place, who laughed and asked her how she thought the law could be brought to bear on a tiger. But the old woman would not be comforted, and at length the magistrate lost his temper and bade her begone. Of this, however, she took no notice; and then the magistrate, in compassion for her great age and unwilling to resort to extremities, promised her that he would have the tiger arrested. Even then she would not go until the warrant had been actually issued; so the magistrate, at a loss what to do, asked his attendants which of them would undertake the job.[1] Upon this one of them, Li Nêng, who happened to be gloriously drunk, stepped forward and said that he would; whereupon the warrant was immediately issued and the old woman went away. When our friend, Li Nêng, got sober, he was sorry for what he had done; but reflecting that the whole thing was a mere trick of his master's to get rid of the old woman's importunities, did not trouble himself much about it, handing in the warrant as if the arrest had been made. "Not so," cried the magistrate, "you said you could do this, and now I shall not let you off. " Li Nêng was at his wits' end, and begged that he might be allowed to impress the hunters of the district.[2] This was conceded; so collecting together these men, he proceeded to spend day and night among the hills in the hope of catching a tiger, and thus making a show of having fulfilled his duty.
Genres
- Short Story — A compact prose narrative follows a mother's petition, the tiger's arrest and its subsequent care for her.
- Animal Tale — The tiger becomes the woman's provider and mourns her death, making its conduct central to the story.
- Fantasy — The tiger understands the magistrate's questions, accepts a conditional pardon by nodding and fulfils a son's obligations.
Tags
tigers · filial duty · restitution · bereavement · magistrates · animal loyalty
What this Textopian page supports
The Tiger of Chao-Ch‘Êng is listed on Textopian as a short story by Pu Songling, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Pu Songling
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Short Story, Animal Tale, Fantasy
- Length: 1,422 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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