Once upon a time, there was a poor Brahman walking through the forest. He happened upon a tiger caught in a hunter’s cage.
“Let me out of this cage, oh pious one!” cried the tiger.
“Nah you’ll probably eat me if I do” remarked the Brahman, “How could I trust you to do anything else?”
“No!” bellowed the tiger swearing oaths the Brahman had not even heard of, “I will serve as your slave and always be by your side!”
The Brahman’s mind raced.
“A tiger slave? But how can I trust him? But tigers are pretty cool. And I might be able get some fame and fortune. Who wouldn’t come to see a man and his slave tiger,” He thought.
He said to the tiger, “Ok, I will free you,” and after some trouble he released the tiger from its imprisonment. It leapt upon him and said.
“You fool, how could you be so naive as I’ve been for so long and worked up quite an appetite. How did you even plan to subdue me into beijing your slave?”
The Brahman said, “ My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.” (Popeyes Cheddar Biscuit Butterfly Shrimp - Food Review by TheReportOfTheWeek)
He continued to plead with the tiger for his life. Eventually convincing it to abide by the decision made the first thing he asked.
He scrambled looking for something to ask that may be someone or something sympathetic to his plea. He eventually met a jackal. As he explained his predicament the jackal said to him, “No no this doesn’t make any sense to me.”
The Brahman tried to explain again and again, but the jackal just could not understand what was happening. His mind raced and he thought he was going to be eaten because of this jackal. Eventually, the jackal said, “ Ok enough of this, just take me to where this all happened, I’m more of a visual learner.”
So the Brahmin took him back to the tiger who was sharpening his claws. The Brahman clutched his throat in fear.
“Ok ok what happened then I’m here now and all i see is the tiger!” the jackal said.
The Brahman once again tried to explain the situation to the jackal, but he still could not understand. “ So the tiger, now fed up with having to wait to have his dinner called out.
“Why can you not understand?! Hurry up so that I can finally enjoy my dinner with the Brahman.”
“But sir maybe if you could show me what happened I could be satisfied to leave you to your dinner.”
“Fine,” the tiger growled. It leapt back into the cage and roared,” NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND!”
The jackal smiled slyly and chuckled, “Yes I think so,” as he clasped the lock to trap the tiger once again.
Author’s Note: I changed the story so that I could explore more of the Brahman’s mind when he decided to release the tiger. I also had him meet with the jackal sooner because I thought he kind of cheated in the original story by asking 3 things about his situation and then having the jackal come and save him. This way he only has one chance and gets locked into the jackal.
Bibliography, “The Tiger, The Brahman, and The Jackal” in Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs: source
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ReplyDeleteHi Zeeshawn!
ReplyDeleteI like your retelling of the story a lot! I like that you changed the dialogue to be more modern and because of that, I felt that the story was more interesting and funny! I also liked that you changed it so that we could see into the Brahman's mind more! I’m excited to get to read more of your stories!
Zeeshawn,
ReplyDeleteWow, I love that you put a little meme in your story. It totally made me laugh, and I clicked on the link to watch the scene! You did a good job of changing things up, with the focus on the Brahman and the new dialogue, but it would be cool if you changed it up even more! Maybe have the tiger escape for good...or eat the Brahman. Good work:)
Hi Zeeshawn,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading through your story! My favorite part was where the tiger pleaded for his release in exchange to be a slave. This is a big twist that caught my attention because not many prisoners would exchange their prison time for life as a slave. I wonder what would have happened if the tiger did not jump back into the cage would he have had his dinner or would other action have arisen? I like how you used lots of commentary but I wonder if you kept the story within in the mind of just one of the characters how it would've gone.