The two of them were left there for three days. The prisoner
was fed a meagre ration of meat and a few potatoes once a day, but the tiger
received nothing. When the three days were up, the iron bars would be lifted
and the tiger would be free to kill the prisoner and get a meal. And so for
three days the tiger would pace back and forth becoming hungrier and more
desperate, while the prisoner became ever more terrified of the fate that
awaited him.
But one prisoner was different than most. He felt sorry for
the tiger, and so he ate the potatoes but gave the meat to the animal. When the
appointed time arrived and the bars were lifted, the tiger walked over to the
prisoner, lay down beside him and rested his head on the man’s lap. The prison guards
were watching this unexpected turn of events through the grill in the door, and
when they saw what was happening they hurried to tell the President.
The President was furious with both the man and the animal,
and ordered that toxic gas should be pumped into the cell to kill both of them.
This was done and the two innocent creatures died side by side.
When the prisoner woke up, he found himself lying beneath
the broad canopy of leafy trees in the dappled sunshine. He sat up to see the
tiger reclining nearby and looking at him with a peaceful expression.
‘We don’t have to eat here, do we?’ said the prisoner.
‘No,’ said the tiger.
‘And so there’s no reason to kill me.’
‘No.’
And then they walked together to a placid lake a little way
beyond the wood and swam in the cool water, knowing that in their next lives
they would be born as brothers.
The fate of the President was rather different, and entirely
of his own making.
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