TYGER TYGER
"The rabbit has a charming face:
Its private life is a disgrace.
I really dare not name to you
The awful things that rabbits do."
Rabbits are the scum of the earth. Among rodents that litter the planet with their foul, depressing, overcrowding influence, rabbits are the very worst. Who even cares about rabbits, except certain silly humans, of course? Also, rabbits taste rubbish. I hate rabbits.
Drat those humans with their pathetic sense of taste and smell! It's been weeks now that they've been feeding me barrels of skinned, dead, old, stringy rabbits. I would have torn a chunk out of the scraggy, slowpoke human male who comes to feed me had he not been ickier than the dead rabbits. If the old lioness in the den next to the lamp-post is to be believed, humans are not only the most dangerous animals to walk the earth, they also taste the very worst. In fact, some are supposed to be poisonous and hosts to disgusting habits and deadly diseases! I also find it rather offensive how patronizing these humans can be towards us; they think they are being charitable, nursing and feeding a poor, wretched, tamed and shabby tiger -
ACK! What the - what's - what's in my food? Is this a tooth? A rabbit's tooth? A rabbit's tooth in a tiger's food? Who the hell tampered with my food? How dare they? I'm an effing tiger! And this is an insult! The humans are conspiring with the rabbits to kill us off now? As if it wasn't enough to kill us themselves, now that this new animal called government has ruled that you can't shoot tigers, they are plotting with rabbits! Turning the other animals against us! Rabbits have always been traitors of the lowest degree. Just like the humans themselves. But how long till they pitch everyone else against us? My kind has certainly made a number of enemies over the ages: how long till we are completely exterminated? I definitely should -
Hey ...
No. Nooo! I must be imagining things. No, really I am. I am guessing they must have added a couple of shrooms to the meat. Hallucination - that's what it is. Because, who in their right minds would forget to lock the door of my cage? A tiger's cage?
Well, I can put my head out, and considering the size - golly, THE DOOR REALLY IS OPEN! This is my chance! I don't care if it's a trap, I'll have to risk it! There'll never be another day like this - I must escape! I must run and look for my family! I will find the forest. I shall never leave. I will show the humans who is boss. And I shall be King!
MRRRROWWW! MY SPINE IS ON FIRE! This is what happens when you don't work out. I thought I could leap out of the cage like those bros in that movie. Damn! I think I'll walk after all. What's the hurry, anyway? Now that I'm free, who would dare cross my path? GRRRWWWRR! What are you silly gibbons cackling at, eh?
"You're the silly one, striped ginger cat. Can't even steal out of your cage without waking up the whole zoo!"
"Nobody asked your opinion, stripe-less tabby. Hrrmph!"
That old lioness is such a pushover. I don't mind her usually; she has a gone all doom and gloom ever since her husband died. She is merely envious. What does she know of freedom? She is one of the breeding programme cats; never even been to the wilds! Anyway, I really must hurry before the furless longshanks come butting in!
...
The human world is rather unimaginative and drab, I must say. I think I understand, though, why they catch us from the wild and put us in cages. It is because that's how they live. They have huge cages where they lock themselves in. It must seem strange to them that an animal can live without a cage. I don't remember the woods all that well, but I know it's beautiful and it has no cages. It's called being free. And that's where we really belong. The humans haven't tried it yet. They might even like it, who's to tell?
They sun is dipping now, behind the tall human cages. I have been walking for quite some time now on these endless strips of cold, hard human earth. I wonder where the old earth went - warm, soft and springy. The streets are deserted now. There were lots of humans scurrying around and shrieking, their huge, noisy, ugly pets trying to confuse and frighten me with the terrible honking! I would chuckle now and then at the devastation I was causing. I feel weary now, and frankly, very hungry. The older animals' tales had it that my people used to hunt for food in the past. I don't even know what this 'hunt' is or how to use it to get food. The Great Tigers of the Old knew. I don't know where they went.
The humans must be searching for me. I remember them doing so when a young Zebra's foal had slipped out. They didn't find her alive; she had been crushed under one of those huge, ugly pets that carry humans. Her mother stopped eating and died a few days later.
It would be a marvel if they could find me in this drab maze of cages!
I don't want to be run over, though.
Not that it would matter. No one would stop eating because they miss me.
It is night. They sky looks more dull than ever. I don't know if the stars have faded away or if something is wrong with my eyes. I don't want to go back, and I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't know where the wild woodlands are. I cannot smell that beautiful old scent. It is only a faint memory from a time before the humans had brought me here. It has been so long.
Perhaps the wild woods are even farther away.
Perhaps there is no wild place left anymore.
Perhaps it never was in the first place.
Perhaps it was a dream. Or a story I had made up to console myself.
...
There are two humans sleeping at the zoo's gate. Did they even know that I was gone? They must have heard. I thought I had created quite a ruckus outside. I wish they wouldn't wake up. I'm in a foul mood. I might bite them.
All the animals are snoring away in peace, like humans do in their own cages. The miserable creatures don't even know that the night belongs to us - it's supposed to be our time of the day!
The old lioness is pacing her cage.
Restless.
Uncomfortable.
Eager.
Frenzied.
It's madness.
She had learnt the old ways at her mother's knee.
"Back from a stroll, Stripy?"
"I have seen the world, Stripeless."
"And?"
"There is nothing."
