In a small village close to the forest lived a number of hunters. They hunted the animals in the forest and sold them at a market in the nearby city. The demand for forest animals was huge in the city. People wanted the meat of deers and porcupines, they wanted the skin of lions, leopards and bears for rugs and they also stuffed the heads of animals with clay to mount them as decoration pieces. As time passed the animals began to grow scarce in the forest. But the prize of every catch was high enough to feed a family for an entire year.

One day a new baby was born in the village. People in the village were happy and gathered together to celebrate. Their joy was short lived. In the middle of the night the newborn baby had disappeared. The mother went mad.

"I dozed off only for a few heartbeats." the mother swore.

"We did not hear any noise." said the father.

An alert hunter noted some leopard tracks on the ground close to the hut of the parents. A few men gathered their weapons and set out to find the leopard. The hopes of the parents dropped to the lowest when they saw the tracks.

The search party lost the tracks after they entered the jungle. Everyone pursued a different direction but they couldn't find the leopard or hear the cries of any baby. They all returned home empty handed. The villagers vowed to be on constant watch after the incident. As there were no other incidents after that the villagers became complacent.

A few months later another baby was born. They again celebrated in joy. In the middle of the night the joy turned into horror when the baby disappeared.

"I was awake. A bit drowsy but awake." said the mother. "The leopard came in and carried my child away."

"Yes I heard the noise of the leopard and woke up but it was gone before I could grab my bow or spear." said the father.

The hunters looked for a foot print and they were surprised. They found the footprint of an elephant. This did not add up with the story of the parents. A small group gathered their gear and set out to track the elephant. They couldn't make out the footprints after a certain distance.

"This path is so dense. How could an elephant have gone through this place without disturbing the plants?" asked a hunter.

Others thought about it and agreed. They continued their search but returned in vain.

They built a fence around the village to ensure that no large animal could enter without raising an alarm. Villagers were in constant watch for the entire night but nothing unusual happened.

A few months later another baby was born. This time the villagers doubled the vigilance. They posted guards outside the house armed with bow, arrow and spears. The parents were also asked to stay awake and report anything unusual quickly.

Everything seemed to be normal. There was no discernible movement of animals in the forest. Sometime in the middle of the night the parents noticed something that shocked them. Their newborn baby began to transform into a tiger cub. In a few seconds it looked completely like a tiger cub. It opened its eyes, got out of the hut and began to run in the direction of the forest. The guards outside were surprised to see that.

One of them began to chase it with the spear and the other took his bow and began to draw an arrow.

“No.” cried the mother. “That is my child.”

The guards looked at the mother in confusion. Her hysteria made them stop what they were doing and the tiger cub escaped into the forest.



© spacebar