Week 9 Story: The Tiger, the Frog, and the Big, Bad Wolf

Author's Note: The story I chose to adapt for this week is that of "The Tiger and the Frog" from the Tibetan Folktales unit. In this story, a hungry, old tiger out looking for food comes across a frog and decides to eat him. The frog, through various means of trickery, convinces the tiger that he is the king of the frogs and is actually going to eat him, resulting in the tiger running away.

I felt kinda bad for the tiger and wanted to write an ending where he gets his meal. I also wanted to incorporate a little real-world fun fact which is that frogs (which are just barely too small to be seen as prey by tigers) like to hang out around tigers because anything that is big enough to eat a frog, is big enough to be eaten by a tiger.

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He was the king of the forest. Emphasis on was. He was a tiger, and a huge one at that. He still retained most of his power and reckoned he was probably still the strongest beast on that little mountain of his, but he wasn't what he used to be. He was old...old, and slow. Hunting didn't come as easily as it once had. Deer, that a few years ago he would have easily snuck up on and brought down before they even knew he was there, now heard his increasingly clumsy steps coming and fled. He no longer had the energy to subdue such violent and stubborn creatures as boar (save for weaker ones who would scarcely keep him fed for a few days), and forget about even trying for guar or buffalo. 

All these thoughts and more swam through the head of this once great tiger as he trod along aforest path wondering how he would secure his next meal. Suddenly, however, he came upon a river. He had been so absorbed in his ruminations that had nearly fallen in headfirst before noticing it. He shook himself back to reality and quickly looked around, taking inventory of his surroundings (and thanking God he hadn't yet lost his eyesight). As he surveyed the riverbank, his eyes came to rest on what appeared to be the only creature there, not counting the fish and the bugs: a small bullfrog.

"Hello there, little fellow!" the tiger called out.

The frog leapt straight into the air and quickly scurried behind its rock. It seemed the frog had been equally absorbed in thought.

"Don't worry," the tiger laughed. "Starved as I am, I wouldn't waste my energy chasing a bite as small as you. I was just wondering if you might point me in the direction of something a bit bigger," the tiger continued. "You are at a river after all, you must've seen other animals come here to drink, mustn't you?"

The frog peeked its head out from behind the rock, "You promise you won't eat me?"

"I give you my word, I will do you no harm."

"Very well then. Most of the beasts of this glen water at the lake a ways south. There is one who waters here, though. He is a fearsome wolf, one of the biggest I've seen. Every time he comes he takes one of my children, not because he hungers, but because he can. If you were to eat him, I would be very grateful, but..."

"But what?" the tiger pressed.

"But, and I mean no offense, you are...well you are very old, are you not? If you cannot definitely kill him, I would rather just hide and hope that he does not find me. If you try to kill him and fail, that would only make him angry, and he would certainly end me and all my family in his rage." 

The tiger was incensed at the idea that he couldn't take a wolf, even 'the biggest this frog had ever seen,' but he couldn't be mad at the frog. Had he not just been telling himself he was slipping? He spoke, "What do I have to do to prove to you that I can kill the wolf?"

The frog thought for a moment then answered him, "Jump across this river." And climbed onto the tiger's back as he said so. The tiger hesitated, but after a moment leapt to the other side. "And back again." The tiger jumped back, this time with much more confidence and ease.

"Perfect!" the frog began. "The wolf always comes from the north, this side. If you hide behind those boulders on the south side, he will not be able to see you when he approaches. I will stay here and distract him, and when he isn't looking, you can leap across the river and get him! He won't be able to hear you over the rush of the rapids."

The tiger was impressed, there was more to this frog than he had first thought. "When will the wolf arrive?" he asked.

"Soon," the frog answered him. "You had better get behind that boulder." The tiger complied.

Only a few minutes after he had taken up his position, the tiger spied the wolf slinking out of the forest. He was big, nearly the size of a young tiger, and he was covered in blood, likely not his own. The frog immediately got to work. "Oh please Mister Wolf sir! Please! Leave me and my family be! What have we done to you sir? What can I do to make it up? Please, just don't take anymore of my children! Sir I..."

"He should get a job with a drama company," the tiger mumbled to himself. "Best not wait around and see what the wolf thinks of his acting, though."

The tiger shook out his hind legs and paced around the boulder. The gravel riverbed shifted and crunched under his weight, but the roaring river drowned the noise and the wolf took no notice. The tiger set himself, then launched, flying across the river in one perfectly calculated bound. Taken off-guard, the wolf didn't stand a chance and was soon no more than shreds of fur, flesh, and bone on the shore.

"I thank you for the meal, little fellow," the tiger said to the frog when it was all said and done. "If there is ever anything else I can do for you, just let me know."

"Oh you've done quite enough for me, ridding my river of this menace," the frog replied. "Just leave some of the fur and bones, if you can. It attracts flies."

The Tiger and the Frog. Source: Tibetan Folktales

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Story Source: Tibetan Folktales by A. L. Shelton