The Tiger and the Frog

 

Back then there was a folk story that the Hmong people talked about. My dad told me this story. In this story, there is a tiger, and a frog. They lived in the mountains. Tiger was lonely, and he said, “I live in the village, and there are many pigs for me to eat, and it makes me happy.” The frog heard and he said, “When I lived in the village, I killed tigers, and I drank the liquid from the tiger's gall bladders. That satisfied me.” The tiger heard this and said, “Who said that?”

“It's me,” commented the frog”

“Where are you at?”

“I'm right here.”

The tiger couldn't find the frog. As he searched, he saw the frog in the foot print of an ox. “You're so small, are you sure you can kill a tiger?” asked the tiger.

“Yes I can,” replied the frog.

“No, you cannot kill a tiger,” insulted the tiger.

“For real, I can really kill a tiger,” responded the frog.

“Well, you're so small, your hands and feet are so short. You can't kill a tiger.” remarked the tiger.

“No, I can,” explained the frog

“Then why don't you go and throw up some gall bladder liquid that you have drunk?” challenged the tiger.

“You said it first, why don't you throw up the pigs first?” said the frog.

The tiger went and threw up some clumps of pigs.

“Here, look, I threw up a clump of pig.”

The frog came to look at it and said, “That is not a pig. That is just a clump of dirt.”

The tiger said, “Then let's see you go and throw up some tiger's gall bladder liquid.”

 

The frog went to throw up, and he got some vegetable seeds. The liquid was very green. “Look, this is the liquid from a tiger's gall bladder,” lied the frog.

“Ah! That's not the liquid, that's just some vegetable seeds that you eat and threw up.” accused tiger.

“The seeds are from the vegetables, but the liquid is from the gall bladder, because it is bitter. You want to try some?” explained the frog.

The tiger took a sip and it was bitter, like what the frog has explained. Then the tiger got a little scare of the frog.

 

Since you say that you can kill me, let us have a race across this river.

“Since you suggested it, why don't you go first, and I'll come after,” said the frog.

The frog was smarter than the tiger. So, as the tiger got ready to jump, the frog hopped on his tail. The tiger took a leap, and swung is tail, swinging the frog to the very front.

“Okay frog, come,” yelled the tiger.

“I'm already ahead you, tiger,” said the frog.

Then the tiger looked, and saw that the frog was already in front of him. The tiger was now even more afraid of the frog.

They then went to the jungle. It was cold, so they gathered up some wood and made a fire. The tiger and the frog slept on each side of the fire. While they were sleeping, the tiger woke up and stuck one claw into the frog's mouth.

“Let's see his mouth and teeth are so small, how can he kill a tiger?” wonder the tiger.

After looking, the tiger went back to sleep. The frog heard everything, so he waited for the tiger to fall asleep. Once the tiger was dead asleep, the frog took the tiger's claw that opened his mouth, and put it over the fire. The tiger then felt a sudden pain and said, “I only opened your mouth with this claw, but why does it hurt so much?”

“You said that I could not kill a tiger, huh. Will, look at this, you only opened my mouth a little bit and look how much it hurts. And if I was to bite you, you would be dead already.”

Now the tiger really got scared of the frog. The tiger then ran off. As he ran, he saw a bobcat.

“Bother, why are you running so fast?” ponder the bobcat.

“Well, there is this frog that said he can kill tigers,” explained tiger.

“It's only a frog, it can't kill you,” said the bobcat.

“The frog can,” said the tiger.

“Then show me where this frog is,” demanded the bobcat.

“I'm so scared, why do you want me to show you this frog?” ask the tiger.

“Just take me, to check it out,” said the bobcat.

Then they saw the frog in the tree.

“Up there, he's going to jump off the tree and kill us,” worried the tiger. They both turned around and started to run. The bobcat couldn't run anymore so he combined his tail with the tiger's tail. After merging their tails, they started to run again. After running for a period, the bobcat was dead. “We are so scared, why are you laughing?” asked the tiger. But it was not the bobcat laughing; it was because he was dead. Then the tiger realized that the bobcat was bleeding from the mouth. “Since you are dead, and is bleeding from the mouth, let me bury you,” said the tiger. The tiger dug a hole and buried the bobcat. As the tiger jumped out of the hole to put in the dirt, the bobcat came up with him also.

“Hmm, I buried you in a cold place, why don't you stay? Then let me bury you in a warm spot. Then the tiger started to eat the bobcat from head to tail. Once he got to the tail, he realized that he was eating his tail. “Oh, no wonder you didn't stay when I buried you, it was because our tails were connected.”

The story ends here. The tiger is scared of the frog. Now, if there's a mountain, where the jungle has a lot of trees, if someone was to place a big rock between branched of a tree, the tiger will never come near that jungle. The tiger fears the frog and that's the end of the story.