Week 9 Story: Foolish Feline
One evening, an old, hungry tiger went out to the woods to hunt for food. This is where he came past a small frog sitting on a rock near on the riverbank. Hmm... this frog is small but food is food. He approached the frog ordinarily, as he was fairly confident this would be his appetizer for the start of the dinner hunt. However, interestingly enough, when he came into the frog's view the frog did not run away or panic but instead asked the tiger what he was up to. Having encountered his meal so early on in his hunt, he decided it was fine to humor the frog a little before he ate him.
"I am going up into the forest to hunt for something to eat. I have not had any food for two or three days and I am very weak and hungry." Now up close to the frog he realized his tiny size and figured he would intimidate him. He said in a mocking voice, "I guess I will eat you up. You are awfully small, but I cannot find anything else. Who are you anyway?"
At this, he expected the frog to shrivel up in fear and heck, maybe even make it easier for him and croak his last breath right here so he would not have to chase him around. He was not kidding when he said he was very weak and hungry. This should be an easy meal. Instead, the little frog swelled up as big as he could, "I am the king of the frogs. I can jump any distance and do anything. Here's a river; let us see who can jump across."
Why, this is rather amusing, the tiger laughed to himself. "All right," he answered the frog, "ready when you are." He crouched down to prepare for jumping. There is no way this tiny frog could possible jump further than I can. The frog gave his mark and the tiger leaped across the river. When he landed he looked back into the river to see how far behind the frog was. Ha, he thought, the frog is so small and so far behind that I cannot even see him from here.
He boasted, "Haha, silly frog. You see now that I am far more superior than you."
No reply.
He must be intimidated by my prowess, too speechless to reply! He turned back to go look for the frog to see where he must have landed. Not too far from where we first started, I bet.
When arrived at their initial starting point, he realized that the frog had used this opportunity to distract the tiger and escape. By now the sun had fallen and it was too dark for the old tiger to hunt. He would have to starve for the night and wait another day to find food for himself, all due to his own arrogance.
Author's Note:
This story was based off of The Tiger and the Frog by Albert Shelton. In the original reading, the frog and tiger continue on much longer in a sort of "battle" of who's better than who. In the end of that story, the frog ends up tricking the tiger into thinking the frog is actually very strong and skilled, and even scares the tiger into thinking he could eat him! Honestly, I shortened the ending and made it different because I did not feel like dragging the story out any longer. In the original story, when the tiger and frog were leaping across the river, the frog clung onto the tiger's tail so that when the tiger jumped forth, the frog would be flung even further than the tiger. I decided to give this frog the chance to escape instead.
Bibliography:
Tibetan Folk Tales by Albert Shelton
"I am going up into the forest to hunt for something to eat. I have not had any food for two or three days and I am very weak and hungry." Now up close to the frog he realized his tiny size and figured he would intimidate him. He said in a mocking voice, "I guess I will eat you up. You are awfully small, but I cannot find anything else. Who are you anyway?"
At this, he expected the frog to shrivel up in fear and heck, maybe even make it easier for him and croak his last breath right here so he would not have to chase him around. He was not kidding when he said he was very weak and hungry. This should be an easy meal. Instead, the little frog swelled up as big as he could, "I am the king of the frogs. I can jump any distance and do anything. Here's a river; let us see who can jump across."
Why, this is rather amusing, the tiger laughed to himself. "All right," he answered the frog, "ready when you are." He crouched down to prepare for jumping. There is no way this tiny frog could possible jump further than I can. The frog gave his mark and the tiger leaped across the river. When he landed he looked back into the river to see how far behind the frog was. Ha, he thought, the frog is so small and so far behind that I cannot even see him from here.
He boasted, "Haha, silly frog. You see now that I am far more superior than you."
No reply.
He must be intimidated by my prowess, too speechless to reply! He turned back to go look for the frog to see where he must have landed. Not too far from where we first started, I bet.
When arrived at their initial starting point, he realized that the frog had used this opportunity to distract the tiger and escape. By now the sun had fallen and it was too dark for the old tiger to hunt. He would have to starve for the night and wait another day to find food for himself, all due to his own arrogance.
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| Tiger in Water. Source: Wikipedia. |
This story was based off of The Tiger and the Frog by Albert Shelton. In the original reading, the frog and tiger continue on much longer in a sort of "battle" of who's better than who. In the end of that story, the frog ends up tricking the tiger into thinking the frog is actually very strong and skilled, and even scares the tiger into thinking he could eat him! Honestly, I shortened the ending and made it different because I did not feel like dragging the story out any longer. In the original story, when the tiger and frog were leaping across the river, the frog clung onto the tiger's tail so that when the tiger jumped forth, the frog would be flung even further than the tiger. I decided to give this frog the chance to escape instead.
Bibliography:
Tibetan Folk Tales by Albert Shelton
Hey Julia! I also read the story of the Tiger and the Frog and I think it is one of my favorite from that unit of reading. I liked your alternative ending! I also really liked the inner dialogue you created for the tiger. His sense of pride and confidence really fits what I would assume a tiger to talk like. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Julia! I really enjoyed your take on this story. It's an interesting and enjoyable variation on the "pride goes before the fall" theme. Your description of the characters gives the readers a very good sense of their personalities, and I liked that you left the readers out of the loop as well until the tiger turned around and saw the frog had escaped. Very fun to read!
ReplyDeleteHello Julia! I really enjoyed the way you portrayed your characters! It was easy to get a feel for their personalities even in such a short story. I found myself wondering what the frog was thinking! Also, was the frog actually the frog king, or did he just say that as part of his trick? The story was a great read. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHey Julia! I must say that the you did a great job at introducing us to the characters' personalities by using their thoughts and dialogue! Dialogue can be rather tricky and difficult but you did a great job and made it seem so simple. You added some suspense to the story which I thought was rather nice touch. Overall, I really liked your story and look forward to reading more of your work in the future! Have a great semester!
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