The Special Qualities of Tiger and Tigress
Now I am going to tell you a few more things about the tiger, from which
you will realize what a wonderful animal he is.
First, the tiger's _size_. The finest specimen of the tiger is the Royal
Bengal tiger. Such a tiger, when full grown, is sometimes seven feet
long, without including the tail; the tail is usually half as long as
the body. The tigress is slightly smaller.
In height a Bengal tiger often measures three and a half feet from the
shoulder to the ground; so his head would be more than four feet from
the ground. Hence, if you take his length into account, you will
understand that the tiger is really the largest feline or animal of the
Cat Tribe.
I do not think that you have often seen a really large tiger in the zoo.
Most of the tigers in a zoo were caught as cubs; that is, the mother or
the father was shot by hunters, and the cubs were captured alive.
Now, just think. If a human child were locked up in a room all his life,
without any exercise, then he would be very stunted and small, even
when he had reached the age of a man. So a tiger cub, brought up in a
cage all its life, never grows to its proper size. For this reason most
of the tigers in a zoo are much smaller than those tigers that grow up
in the jungle.
The most wonderful thing about the tiger is his strength; he is the
strongest animal of the Cat Tribe. That is proved by the way in which he
carries his prey. If the prey be a deer or a man, he seizes the prey in
his jaws by the middle of the body--just as a cat seizes a mouse! And
the tiger carries such a prey in that manner to his den, which may be
more than a mile away.
But a heavy animal, such as a cow, he carries in a different manner.
Yes, a tiger _carries_ away a cow; he does not merely _drag_ it along
the ground, as a lion does. This is the way the tiger carries a cow,
after killing it:
He first seizes the cow in his jaws by the back of its neck. Then he
rears up on his hind legs and swings the cow over his shoulder on to his
back--just as a man swings a loaded sack on to his back. Then the tiger
stands on all four legs again, and trots along with his burden. Of
course, he still holds the neck of the cow in his jaws, just as the man
carrying the sack holds the upper end of the sack in his hand.
I shall now finish with tigers by telling you three stories,--true
stories, of course. From these stories you will understand that tigers
and tigresses sometimes have the same kind of feelings that _we_ have.
_Both Tiger and Tigress Defend their Cubs_
I have told you that in a tiger family, when the cubs are very young,
they must be guarded all the time by either their father or their
mother. One day it happened that a tiger had killed a bullock. As he
could not carry it to his den, he first ate enough of the bullock to
satisfy his hunger. Then he came home to his den, and sent the tigress
out to eat her share, while he guarded their two cubs in the den.
But three English officers had gone hunting in the jungle, each of them
on an elephant; and it so happened that they came toward the tiger's
den.
The three hunters saw the tiger and the two cubs he was guarding. The
hunters knew that if they killed the tiger they could catch the two cubs
alive. So they fired their guns at once at the tiger; and as they were
then only about a hundred yards away, they all hit the tiger.
Now, if the tiger had not had the cubs to defend, there would not have
been much of a fight. Why? Because, as I shall tell you later, it
usually takes much more than three hunters on three elephants to hunt
one tiger. Each of the three wounds the tiger got might have killed or
disabled any other wild animal; but instead, the three wounds together
only made the tiger furious.
If he had been alone, he would have come like a flash of lightning at
the nearest elephant, leaped upon its back, and killed the hunter on
it--before the hunter could shoot again. Of course, the other two
hunters could then kill the tiger; but the tiger would at least have
killed _one_ of the hunters.
That is exactly what the tiger would have done, if he had been alone.
But the tiger had his children to defend. He must try to guard them as
well as he could. So he just took one of the cubs in his mouth--as you
have seen a cat take up her kitten--and leaped with the cub over a
thicket and hid the cub there.
Then he leaped back to the den to take away the second cub. That gave
the three hunters enough time to load and take aim again. So all three
of the hunters fired at the tiger again, just as he was lifting up the
second cub; and the bullets went through his heart. If he had been any
other animal, he would have dropped dead right there. But a tiger lives
about three seconds after he _ought_ to be dead; and in those three
seconds he can give just one leap and kill anything.
But the hunters were beyond his reach. So he gave that one leap toward
them, and tore up the ground instead, as he could not tear up the men;
then he agreed to lie down and be truly dead.
The three hunters got down from their elephants and came to the den.
They found that one of the last bullets had passed right through the
tiger's body, and had killed the cub he was trying to carry to safety.
The hunters were sorry that the cub had been killed. So they searched
for the first cub, which the tiger had hidden behind the thicket. They
found the cub and took it with them.
[Illustration: Tiger Protecting his Cub]
The hunters mounted their elephants and came back to their tent, where
they had been staying. They put a dog's steel collar around the neck
of the cub, and tied him up to the tent post by a chain. The cub was so
frightened and helpless that it lay down on the ground and was very
quiet. The three men sat down in the tent and chatted for a while.
Suddenly they heard a terrible roar outside. They snatched up their
guns, but they could not tell from which side the roar came--just as
when you hear a terrible clap of thunder close by, you cannot tell from
which side the thunder comes. And hearing this roar, the cub jumped up
and yelped in answer; and he tugged at his chain furiously. He had
become a little tiger in his nature.
Suddenly a huge yellow form shot into the tent. It was a tigress. She
seized the cub's collar in her mouth, and snapped the chain with a tug,
like a piece of thread. The next second she leaped out of the tent with
the cub, and vanished. And the three men had not had time to aim a gun.
None of them really wished to.
Yes, she was the mother of the cub. When she had returned home from
dinner, she had found her home broken up--her husband killed, one of her
children killed, and the other child stolen. So, all that she could do
was to regain her lost child by tracing it by its scent.
This she did. She regained her cub even by facing the same guns that had
killed her husband. For a tigress mother, like any other mother in the
jungle, will face death to save her child.
_The Tiger Family's Lost Dinner_
Now I shall tell you another true story. It will show you what sort of a
husband and father in everyday life a tiger is.
Near a jungle there was a river. At a special place in the river there
was a bend. It was a good place for fishing, as the water there had
plenty of fish.
One afternoon two men went to fish there with fishing rods. As there was
a jungle about a mile from the place, the men took their guns with them,
in case any wild animals came from the jungle to attack them.
After a time one of the men hooked a fish. It must have been a big fish,
as it tugged at the line furiously. The man who had hooked the fish had
to run along the bank of the river to _play_ the fish, while his friend
kept shouting to him to advise him what to do. In this way both the men
were busy, and forgot to think of anything else.
Suddenly they saw a flash of yellow. It came straight from a bush toward
the man who had hooked the fish. It was a tiger!
The tiger must have stalked the two men silently from the jungle; and in
that way he must have crept up to the bush, while the two men were busy
trying to land the fish.
The tiger gave a rush and a leap, and fell upon the man who had hooked
the fish. He grabbed the man and leaped back with him into the bush,
before the other man could snatch up his gun and take aim to save his
friend.
Now you will remember what I told you: that a tiger carries a man in his
jaws just as a cat carries a mouse; that is, the tiger holds the man by
the middle of his body, about the waist.
Luckily the man was wearing a waistband of thick cloth; so the tiger's
fangs did not hurt the man very severely, as the fangs happened to bite
the thick waistband. But still the man had been stunned by the shock
when the tiger had leaped upon him. And the tiger thought that he had
killed the man outright. That was very lucky for the man--as you will
understand presently.
The man regained his senses while the tiger was still carrying him. He
knew at once that he was in the jaws of a tiger. That is perhaps the
most terrible danger for a man to be in. Few men have ever been in the
very jaws of a tiger in the heart of the jungle--and yet have escaped.
The man knew that, and so he was terribly frightened. But life is so
precious that one must never despair of saving his life. If you are in
the most terrible danger, _you must never give up hope_. You must try to
find some way of escape.
So the man began thinking, even while the tiger was carrying him. He
made up his mind at once. He must pretend to be dead. So he did not move
or make the least bit of sound. Even then he did not see how he could
escape, as the tiger would soon start _eating_ him! But still he would
not despair.
The tiger carried the man to his den in the jungle. The den was just a
hollow in the ground under a large tree. The tiger dumped the man into
the hollow. The man thought his end had now come. He could not escape
from right in front of the tiger's eyes. And he thought that the tiger
would start eating him at once. Even though he was really alive, the
tiger would eat him just the same.
But, to his surprise, the tiger did not start eating him at once.
Instead, the tiger looked around, and gave a purr, and then a growl.
What did that mean? The man could not tell.
Then the tiger just flung upon the man some of the sand from the side of
the hollow. The man understood _that_: the tiger was trying to hide or
_cache_ his food--as some wild animals do.
But luckily the tiger only flung the sand loosely over the man, just
enough to cover him; he did not quite bury the man; or else the man
might have been smothered. Then the tiger ran off into the jungle.
The man was puzzled to know what the tiger meant by that. But you may be
sure the man did not wait to work out the puzzle in his mind. Instead,
he jumped up from the hollow. Here was his chance to escape!
But he was afraid to run far; for the tiger might return at any moment
and catch him again. So the man just climbed up the tree under which
the den was. And he went up the tree as high as he could, and hid
himself among the leaves.
After a while he heard a sound below, at a little distance. He looked
down and saw the tiger returning. But now there was a tigress with him,
and two cubs.
Then the man understood the puzzle. When the tiger had brought home the
dinner, he had found that his wife and children were out. So he waited a
while; and as they still did not come home, he first looked around for
them, and then he gave a loud _call_ to his family to come to dinner.
That was the purr and growl he gave.
As they still did not come home, the tiger just hid the dinner to keep
it safe, and then he went out to _fetch_ his family home to dinner.
But when he did fetch them, the dinner had run away! Then the tiger
family set up such a wail and lament over the lost dinner!
"I felt quite sorry for them," said the man up in the tree, afterward.
"They kept up the wailing and growling and lamenting for a long time.
Only, as it was _I_ who was to have been the tigers' dinner, I wasn't so
very sorry that the dinner had escaped!"
Meanwhile, the other man who had been fishing with him had run to the
nearest village. The villagers got together a herd of bull buffaloes,
and started tracking the tiger by the paw marks he had made on the
ground. In this way the villagers brought the bull buffaloes to the
tiger's den.
The bull buffaloes soon drove away the tiger family. The villagers
expected to see only the man's bones or half-eaten body. But still they
had come to make quite sure of the man's fate.
What was their delight, then, to hear a shout, as soon as the tiger
family had been driven away! The shout came from the tree. It was from
the man who had been carried away by the tiger. You may be quite sure
that he was very glad to climb down and go home with the villagers.
Now, my dear children, I have told you this story--and it is a true
story--for two reasons. First, it shows you that you must never give up
hope, even in the worst danger. If a man can escape from the very jaws
of a tiger in the heart of the jungle, he may be able to escape from
other dangers.
The second thing I want you to learn is that, bad as he is supposed to
be, a tiger is really a good husband and a good father, even in ordinary
everyday life. When he had earned the dinner, and had brought it home,
he found that his family was out. He might have started eating the
dinner himself. Instead, he waited for his family to return, then he
called out to them, and then he went to fetch them--without eating a
bite himself. How many _men_ would do that?
_The Tiger as a Heroic Husband_
Now I shall tell you another true story, which will show you in a
different manner what a wonderful animal the tiger is. It is the story
of a great tiger hunt.
A few years ago Prince Henry of Orleans was one of the greatest hunters
in the world. He had hunted lions and wild elephants in Africa, and also
other big wild animals. Then he went to India, hoping to hunt tigers.
There he was the guest of a rajah, that is, a sort of king. So the rajah
arranged a tiger hunt for Prince Henry. In a jungle near by there were
many wild animals. On the north side of the jungle there was a shallow
ravine, only about ten feet deep, and as wide as a street. The ravine
started from the jungle and went northward. Beyond the jungle the ravine
ran for only about a hundred yards; beyond that the ground was level
again.
It was right there on the level ground, in front of the ravine, that the
rajah placed the hunters. The hunters were mounted on thirty elephants,
two hunters on each elephant; so there were sixty hunters altogether.
The two hunters on each elephant sat in a kind of big box, called a
_howdah_. The box was tied fast on the elephant's back with strong ropes
passed all round the elephant.
Meanwhile about a thousand men started toward the jungle from the fields
on the south side of the jungle. As they came near the jungle, the men
made a loud noise with drums. So all the timid animals in the jungle
took fright and began to run away. These timid animals were the deer,
the antelope, the wild pigs, the wild goats, and other small animals.
They ran away into the open country on the right side and left side,
that is, toward the east and the west.
Then as the thousand men came still nearer the jungle from the south
side, they began to stretch out in a long line to the right and to the
left. And then the men bent forward the two ends of the line in a curve
toward the jungle. In that way they began to enclose the jungle, as
fishermen enclose fish in a net. The men now made a still louder noise
by firing their guns. At this the bigger and more obstinate animals in
the jungle began to run away.
By this time the men had enclosed the jungle on three sides--the south,
the east, and the west--until only the north side of the jungle was
still open. And that was where the ravine started from the jungle
northward.
The big animals ran along the ravine to escape from the jungle. But they
did not know that the sixty hunters on the thirty elephants were waiting
for them at the end of the ravine.
So as each animal emerged at the far end of the ravine, it was shot by
the hunters. At first these animals were leopards, bears, wolves, and a
few small tigers.
Then something wonderful happened, as I shall now tell you. In that
jungle there was a big tiger and a tigress. They had recently been
married, that is, the tigress had chosen the tiger as her husband--for
in the jungle it is usually the wife who chooses the husband. So the
tiger was very attentive to the tigress. Wherever she went, he always
walked with her to protect her. He also caught the prey for her,
sometimes alone and sometimes with her help.
This big tiger and tigress were in the jungle, when they heard the noise
of drums and guns that the men were making. Being the most obstinate
animal in the jungle, the big tiger did not want to move at all. But
perhaps he thought that it would be best for his wife to go away from
that jungle. So she and he went into the ravine, hoping to escape.
But they too did not know that the sixty hunters were waiting at the end
of the ravine to shoot them as soon as they emerged.
So the tiger and tigress walked calmly through the ravine, and emerged
into the open country at the end of it.
Now I must tell you that in a tiger hunt of this kind the guest of honor
has the place of danger, which was in this case right in front of the
ravine. So Prince Henry waited right there on his elephant, and the
hunters on the other elephants were placed in a line on his right side
and left side.
This is what happened. When the tiger and tigress emerged from the
ravine, they suddenly saw the line of hunters blocking their path. At
the same time the hunters also saw the tiger and tigress. Now I must
tell you that it is a rule that only the front man on each elephant may
fire his gun at once, and the man with him must reserve his shot, in
case the front man misses and the tiger comes nearer. So, as soon as
they saw the tiger and tigress, the thirty front men on the thirty
elephants fired their guns.
But it takes at least a second for the quickest man to aim his gun and
fire; and a tiger can make up his mind to do something, and do it, in
less than a second. So in that time the tiger told his wife what to do.
I do not know what language tigers use among themselves, but she
understood what he meant. And she did it!
This is what she did. Like a flash of lightning she leaped toward the
side. So when the hail of thirty bullets came, she was not there where
the hunters had aimed. Not a single bullet hit her. And in the same
instant the tiger had also leaped--but onward. Some of the bullets
wounded him, but not very severely, as the hunters did not have time to
aim exactly.
[Illustration: Tiger Charging Hunting Party]
He knew that he must engage the attention of all the sixty men to give
his wife enough time to escape. So, wounded as he was, he leaped again,
straight onward.
Then the thirty men who had reserved their shot saw a terrible sight.
They saw the tiger coming straight toward the nearest elephant--Prince
Henry's elephant, right in front of the ravine. The thirty men pointed
their guns at the tiger. They may have vaguely seen that the tigress was
escaping; but their whole anxiety was about the terrible tiger leaping
straight toward them.
All the thirty men fired at him. But as the tiger was leaping onward all
the time, they could not take aim properly. So if any of the bullets
wounded the tiger again, the wounds were not severe.
The tiger came to the elephant on which Prince Henry was. With a huge
bound the tiger leaped upward toward the box on the elephant.
So far the elephant had stood still. Being well trained, he knew that he
must not move while the men on him were firing; _they_ must do the
fighting. But when the tiger had apparently beaten all the men and was
actually leaping on him, the elephant had a new duty to do: he must
swerve aside. So the elephant swerved aside just as the tiger was
alighting on the box on his back.
So the tiger missed his aim; instead of landing right upon the box and
killing the two men instantly, his paws only reached the elephant's
head. Into the elephant's head he dug his claws, and tried to scramble
up.
On the neck of the elephant the mahout had been seated. He was not a
hunter, but only the man who guides the elephant. So when he saw the
tiger leaping upon the elephant, the mahout just dropped off on the
other side, and escaped into the bushes. The tiger could have jumped
down on him and killed him; but the tiger scorned to touch so humble a
prey. He wanted instead to get at the hunters, who had tried to kill him
and his wife.
So the tiger dug his claws on the elephant's head, paw over paw, and
tried to climb up to the elephant's back. Maddened with the pain, the
elephant began to rock and sway. The two men on the box could not use
their guns again, as they had to clutch the box with both hands, or else
they would have been thrown to the ground--then the tiger would have
fallen on them and killed them in an instant. The two men could do
nothing to save themselves.
The fifty-eight other hunters had now reloaded their guns. Those who
were nearest pointed their guns at the tiger.
"Don't shoot!" the rajah cried out. "You might hit the two men!"
That was quite true. For now the elephant was so maddened with terror
and with the pain, that he was swaying, bucking, rearing. Nobody could
take correct aim at the tiger.
Span by span the tiger climbed up, nearer and nearer to the box. The two
helpless men in it saw the tiger's flaming eyes a yard in front of them,
and they saw the tiger's fangs crashing together as if to crunch their
bones.
A minute more, and these two men must die--in sight of the fifty-eight
other hunters.
Then again something wonderful happened. The men could do nothing. But
not so the elephant! He could do something!
The elephant recovered from his fright. He remembered all the clever
tricks he had learned in his youth in the jungle, like Salar, of whom I
have told you in Book I. This elephant remembered what he too could do
with his trunk.
So the elephant began to curl his trunk around the tiger's neck. The
tiger _felt_ the end of the trunk creeping around his neck.
Then the tiger knew that in the next minute the elephant's trunk would
grip him by the neck and tear him off from the elephant's head; and then
the elephant would bring him to the ground and trample him to death.
The tiger did not wait for that. He had scorned the sixty men--some of
whom were the best hunters of the world--but he was too wise to scorn
the elephant. And the tiger knew that by this time his wife must be
safe.
So the tiger dropped to the ground, ran past the rear of the elephant,
and vanished into the bushes. And while he did that, not one of the
hunters had time even to point a gun at him.
Once only did the hunters catch sight of the tiger again. After the
tigress had escaped, she must have worked her way around to the thick
bushes behind the hunters; and there she must have been waiting for her
husband. A few minutes later the men caught a glimpse of the tiger and
tigress, husband and wife, walking together leisurely beyond those
bushes, across a short open space, toward the next jungle. There they
would live in the future.
And as the hunters saw that sight of the tiger and tigress walking away
with stately steps beyond the reach of their guns, Prince Henry took off
his hat to the tiger!
"Gentlemen, I am glad that he got away!" he said to the other hunters.
"I do not think that any man in history has ever charged sixty enemies
single-handed, and has gained his purpose--to save the life of one dear
to him."
Then Prince Henry wiped his forehead, pretending that he had taken off
his hat to do that!
And so the famous tiger hunt was over. It often happens like that, in
spite of sixty hunters and a thousand other men: five minutes of
thrilling excitement--and then it is all over! I must tell you that if
you go to hunt a tiger, even with all that preparation, you never really
know whether you are going to hunt the tiger, or the tiger is going to
_hunt you_! And if you do not have elephants to help you, the chances
are that the tiger will hunt you.
Men, with all their guns and other inventions, can in some cases be
saved from some animals only by other animals--from tigers by elephants
and buffaloes, as I have described to you.