The Prophecy of the Tiger
On the outskirts of a forest, a brother and sister lived in a small mud hut. As their parents had died long ago, it was the brother's duty to find a suitable bridegroom for his sister. It so happened that once a young man from a distant village came hunting to their forest and got lost. At nightfall he came to their house. They gave him shelter, and the sister fell in love with him, and the two were married. The sister soon left with her new husband for his village, which was far away. Months later, the brother wanted to visit them. He gathered fruits and tubers for the journey, asked for directions to the distant village from other villagers, and set out. He had to cross several forests, hills, and valleys. He was walking through a forest when it grew dark. Though he was strong and had his bow and arrows and his pickaxe, he was still afraid of tigers and wild animals. As he sat down tired under a mahul tree (a tropical fruit tree), the tree asked him to come up and rest in its br...