A Lesson for the Tiger

A Long time ago, all animals had a king. Their king was the tiger. All animals were afraid of him. The tiger was the strongest among them. He was also very mean. He would hit any animals when they disobeyed him.

One day they wanted to give the tiger a lesson.

"Listen friends, we need to find a way. The tiger is also cruel especially to weak animals like me," said the rabbit.

"I have an idea," said the mouse deer. "He is not clever as he looks. I think I can trick him," said the mouse deer.

"How will you trick him?" asked the rabbit.

"It's easy. You meet the tiger and tell him that I challenge him to fight."

"What? Are you kidding? You cannot win!" said the rabbit.

"Don't worry. I'm not really challenging him to fight. It's all part of the plan."

The mouse deer continued.

"You just tell him that I challenge him to fight under that big tree," the mouse deer pointed to a big tree near them.

Later the rabbit met the tiger and he told the tiger about the challenge.

"What!? Is it true?! OK, tell the mouse deer I accept his challenge. I will beat him so easily," said the tiger. He was so arrogant.

The tiger went to the big tree. He saw the mouse deer staring at the branches of the tree.

"Hey mouse deer! I heard you challenge me to fight. Come here, let's fight now!" screamed the tiger.

However, the mouse deer did not move at all. He kept on staring on the branches of the tree.

"Mouse deer! Are you deaf?" the tiger was really angry.

"Shh... Be quiet," said the mouse deer.

"What? You asked me to be quiet." The tiger really don't understand.

"Yes. Do you see that big round thing in that branch? last night I had a dream. An owl told me that the big round thing above us can give me power."

He continued. "The problem is I cannot jump or climb to grab that thing."

"Really? Are you sure?" asked the tiger. "Well, I am the king and I deserve that power.

So I want you to get out of here otherwise I will hit you," said the tiger.

The mouse deer pretended to be scared. He immediately ran away. Meanwhile, the tiger climbed the tree. He was trying to grab the round thing in the branch of the tree.

The tiger did not know that the round thing was actually the beehive! And when he was finally able to grab the beehive, he fell down to the ground.

All the bees were angry. They all attacked and stung the tiger. The bees were angry because the tiger had already destroyed their home.

The tiger was in a great pain. He could not fight the bees. he asked for help, unfortunately, the animals did not want to help him.

The tiger finally went to the river. He swam and he survived. He realized the mistake. Since then he changed, he became a wise king.

(A Folklore from Central Java, Indonesia)