M403
The foolish tiger.

Told by Wang Ming-ji.

Introduction.

This is a straightforward story, but three short comments will assist in understanding it.

Between the area occupied by the Miao in Yunnan and the Province of Sichuan lay several hundred miles of mountainous country. It is therefore not surprising that the tiger was incredulous when the toad announced that that was where he intended going.

In the first section of the story, having bounded over the gully the tiger turned around to call to the toad, and in so doing lifted the latter, still clinging to his tail, to a point well beyond the place where the tiger had landed. Hence his admission of the toad’s superior skill in jumping.

In the final section, the wood ashes which the deer put on the tiger’s paw were not hot, that would have wakened him, but, left on the flesh between the pads, for several hours it contained sufficient potash to burn.

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