By: Bonnie Wang

There once was an extremely selfish tiger, and every day he ate two animals, not caring about the environment around him. One day, the tiger grew extremely hungry. Nobody knows why, he just did.

So, he doubled the animals that he ate. After 3 months, the jungle was empty. There were only small little bugs that were too small for his stomach. After a week of almost starving to death, that thin tiger realized that he had to ration the bugs. But he became so hungry to the point he couldn’t. He gobbled those small little bugs up.

After 2 weeks of starving and dying slowly, he heard the crunching of a hunter’s feet. Like anybody would be, the hunter was confused about why there was nothing in the forest except for poison ivy and trees. When he was too busy thinking about this theory, none related to any tiger, the tiger regained his stealth and speed. He knew that there was a nice treat for him.

Not uttering a sound, he quietly crept up and pounced on the hunter. You bet the hunter was scared for his life, so he begged for his life to be spared. The tiger thought about his request for a moment, but his hunger overcame his loneliness. He ate the poor hunter.

Eventually, it was spring, and soon, the berries started growing. The tiger tried convincing himself that these berries would be enough for him to depend on. But deep down he knew that he needed meat.

One sad day, when the sky was cloudy and gray, a woman strolled casually into the forest. She was accompanied by her two dogs, one was a Great Dane and the other was a Golden Lab. The tiger awoke and immediately saw the lady walking them. The tiger at first tried to eat her, but then he remembered the last time he’d eaten a human, and regretted it for a week since he longed for someone to befriend.

So instead, he followed the girl for a long time, and each minute he spent with her the girl would either try to run away, or hide. But each time her dogs would blow the girl’s cover, and she couldn’t out-run such a fast mammal. The girl soon gave up, but she was still terribly frightened of the tiger.

On the other hand, the tiger didn’t give up. He tried to show he was kind, and would never want to hurt her but each time he failed to express what he wished to say.

As they were jogging together, the tiger stepped on a twig, which was very sharp. He injured his paw quite badly, and couldn’t walk anymore. He whimpered and cried a bit for help. The human froze, but did not come near the tiger one bit. But she also didn’t run off or injure the tiger more, and she just stood there.

A few minutes later, the tiger passed out because he had lost too much blood. Meanwhile, the girl quietly crept closer to the tiger, and tied a leaf onto the tiger’s paw to prevent more blood loss. When the tiger awoke, the girl gasped and walked a few steps back. The tiger noticed that his paw had healed, and he realized the kind woman had helped him. The tiger licked the girl for helping him, and that did the trick.

Suddenly, the girl realized he was tame, and she walked him to his house. She repeated her name to him every day, which was Ellie. Ellie named the tiger Stripes. They lived happily ever after.