Week 2 Story: Retelling of The Tiger, The Brahmin, and The Jackal

 

Caged Tiger. Source: Pixabay

"I can't believe I fell for this simple trap!" shouted the tiger. 

He angrily paced around looking for a weakness in the mechanism, but alas to no avail. Suddenly, he saw a Brahmin walking by, enjoying what nature has to offer. A bell went off inside the tiger's head. 

"That's perfect! I can escape this wretched cage and have a nice meal along with it." said the tiger to itself.

"Excuse me kind sir, please let me out of this cage." said the tiger.

"No can do, I am smart enough to know that you will eat me if I let you out." said the Brahmin.

"No way!" cried the tiger. "I would never betray the trust of my savior! If you let me out, I will repay your kindness!" 

"No way!" cried the Brahmin. "I cannot trust the word of an apex predator such as yourself!"

"You are a Brahmin, aren't you suppose to be good and virtuous?" questioned the tiger. 

The Brahmin's mind began to fill with conflicting thoughts. On one hand, his purpose was to be virtuous in life. He must perform good deeds to others in need. How can he call himself a Brahmin if he does not release this vulnerable animal trapped in a cage. One the other hand, releasing this animal would open himself to danger. After a few minutes, the Brahmin finally made up his mind.

"Alright, I will let you out of this cage." said the Brahmin. "On one condition, you must promise to perform a good deed to others in need."

"Yessir! I promise!"

The Brahmin opened the cage for the tiger. The tiger then began to leap and jump around with joy, as he is no longer trapped in tight space. 

"Thank you kind sir!" shouted the tiger "I won't forget the good deed you have shown me today! I did promised to perform a good deed to others, and because of this promise, I will give you three minutes head start to run before I eat you!"

"You betrayed me! I showed you kindness!" shouted the Brahmin.

"I was going to eat you as soon as you open the cage." explained the tiger. "I showed you kindness by giving you a head start. Now run!"

Panicked, the Brahmin ran as fast as he could. He knew he cannot outrun a tiger. Furthermore, he cannot think of a plan to save himself while running for his life. Three minutes went by, the tiger began hunting. It is an easy prey for the tiger to catch because of the footprints left behind by the Brahmin. On the road, the Brahmin encounter a jackal. 

"What's the matter Mr. Brahmin?" questioned the jackal. "You ran so fast as if you have seen a ghost."

The Brahmin explained the situation to the jackal.

"Ah, I see! I think I can help you solve this problem." said the jackal. "This will fulfill a promise I made with a man who saved me from the hunters"

The tiger approached the Brahmin and the jackal.

"I finally caught up to you!" the tiger said excitedly. "Now prepare to be eaten!"

"Wait!" shouted the jackal. "What seems to be the problem sir?"

"This doesn't concern you! Be gone!"

"How rude! I just want to know why you want to eat this skinny and innocent man."

The tiger told the jackal about the situation.

"Ah, I see! I think I can help you solve this problem." said the jackal. "Instead of eating the man, why not use him as bait?"

"What do you mean?" said the tiger.

"Here, let's go back to the cage and I can show you."

The tiger, the Brahmin, and the jackal headed back to where the cage is located

"Now, my plan is to put this man in the cage to lure in bigger, fatter animals for you to eat." said the jackal. "One problem though, I don't know if the man can fit in the small cage."

"Are you stupid!" The tiger said angrily. "Of course he can fit in the cage! He is way smaller than me!"

"Are you sure? Maybe the cage shrink after you got out"

"Are you stupid! Cages don't shrink!"

"Are you sure? When looking at it, it looks way too small to even fit you"

"Are you stupid! I fit in it before, why would it not fit me now?"

The tiger then angrily walks in the cage.

"See? It fits!"

The Brahmin then quickly shuts the cage, trapping the tiger inside once again.

"And with that, my debt is paid." said the Jackal.

Author's Note: Although I would love to write about horror and supernatural stories, this story seems to resonated with me the most out of the Anthology. I developed a fondness for trickster stories after reading this one. However, I would like to go out of my comfort zone and write about the supernatural in the future. In this story, it has the same plot as the original but I wrote the dialogues myself. Also, I rewrote the personality of the jackal as not just a simple trickster but a trickster with a purpose. I removed the talking tree, buffalo, and road because it does not serve a purpose in my retelling of the story. The word "Brahman" has a variant of "Brahmin" and it is the word that I decided to use in my story. I ended the story with a reference to the promise that was brought up frequently, which brought the story in full circle. 

Bibliography: "The Tiger, The Brahman, and The Jackal" from Indian Fairy Tales, written by Joseph Jacobs. Web source.