The Tiger People
The Tiger People
(A tale from Sumatra)
In the dark green forests of Sumatra there used to be many tigers. The villagers were frightened of these big cats which, from time to time, stole away their cattle. When they spoke about a tiger, the villagers would never call the animal by its real name. They respectfully called the tiger “Master” or “Grandfather”. They thought the tiger could understand the human language and that they would feel insulted if weak creatures like human beings called them by their real name. The villagers knew how strong a tiger could be. It was known that, well fully grown, a tiger was able to jump over a two meter fence with a calf in its mouth!
The villagers believed that some tigers could change themselves into human beings and that there were people who could change themselves into tigers. These Tiger People led a double life. In the daytime, they were ordinary peasants, working in the fields and living in ordinary peasant huts. But at night they would leave their huts and creep into the forests to change themselves into tigers. In a village where such a person lived, goats, calves, or dogs disappeared regularly.
There are many storied about such tiger people. Listen to this one.
Once there was a salesman who used to travel from village to village to sell cloth. One day, he was on the road carrying his big bundle of beautifully woven cloth, sarongs, and head scarves. He had travelled further away from his home than usual, and he found himself in an area that he didn’t know at all.
He arrived at a crossroad. To the left, the road was wide and smooth. To the right, it was narrow and full of stones. The man did not hesitate for a moment: he chose the wide and smooth road. He thought such a good road would certainly lead to a rich village with many costumers. He walked on and on, and the further he walked, the thicker became the trees which grew on each side of the road.
When dusk fell there was still no sign of a village. In fact, he didn’t meet a single person. There were only monkeys in the trees and lizards sunning themselves in the grass. At long last, when he could hardly see the shadows of the trees because it was so dark, the salesman saw a big house.
“I think it’s best to stay the night here,” he said to himself. He climbed the steps leading to the verandah of the house and knocked on the door. An old woman opened the door and asked what he wanted.
“I’ve lost my way, Grandmother,” he said. “Please, can I stay the night at your house? The forest if full of tigers, and I’m afraid that I’ll be eaten if I go on.”
“My poor man,” the old woman answered, shaking her grey head. “You won’t be safe here. My husband, brothers, and sons are all Tiger-men. If they find you here, they’ll kill you.”
When he heard this, the salesman felt very frightened. He didn’t know what to do.
The old woman felt sorry for him. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll hide you. But be careful not to make any noise while my family is at home.”
She let the man in and gave him a meal. Then, taking the bundle cloth from him, she took the salesman upstairs and hid him in a small room at the top of the house. Not long afterwards, the man heard growling and scratching in the room downstairs. The Tiger-men had come home. As soon as they were inside the house they changed into human beings.
“I smell a man,” said one of the Tiger-men.
“Yes its smells of man here,” said another.
“Where is he? Let’s kill him,” said a third.
“Oh, be quiet,” said the old woman. “There’s nobody here. But half an hour ago, a man came trying to sell cloth. When he didn’t find anyone at home, he went out into the forest to sleep under a tree. But he left his cloth and sarongs behind. Tomorrow he’ll come back for them.”
She showed the Tiger-men the bundle of the cloth. When they saw the beautiful women cloth, sarongs and head scarves, they all wanted to have one. Every one of them chose a sarong and a head-scarf to him, and they also bought some cloth for the old woman. They didn’t have money, but paid for the goods with big pieces of gold. After dinner, they decided to go back into the forest to look for the under tree which the man was asleep. It would be fun to frighten the daylights out of him, they thought.
The next morning at dawn, the old woman woke up the man and told him to go away as fast as he could before the Tiger-men came back from the forest. She gave him the pieces of gold and showed him the way to the nearest village. The salesman thanked the old woman many times, then, taking his bundle and the little bag of gold, he walked away as fast as he could. He didn’t stop until he was on the main road again and knew that he was safe. Only then did he look into the little bag.
When he counted the pieces of gold, he found that they were worth a thousand times more than the cloth the Tiger-men had bought from him. He returned home a rich man. How happy he was!
Sometime later, when he had almost forgotten about the dangerous night, he decided to go back to the house in the forest. He took with him some expensive woven cloth and jewels to sell to the Tiger-men.
But when he arrived at the place where the crossroad used to be, he found that the wide and smooth path had disappeared. For days he walked around the whole area, but he couldn’t find the way to the old woman’s house again.
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