Tigers Are Afraid of Horseshoe Crabs
故事全文
There was once a tiger who lived in the mountains. He would go down the mountain at night in search of people to eat. One day, he heard an old lady speaking to an old man in a house, “This tiger is very fierce, so we should shutter our doors and windows tightly to stop it from coming inside at night.” The old man calmly replied, “No, I’m not afraid of the tiger, I’m only afraid of the horseshoe crab.” When the tiger heard this, he thought to himself, “I am the king of all animals. Could there be another animal more fearsome than I?”
As the old man’s house was shuttered tightly, the tiger could not find a way in. So, he decided to eat the pigs in the backyard instead. It so happened that there was also a thief in the backyard. He was wearing a straw cape and hat, and was here to steal a pig. As it was very dark at night, the thief mistook the tiger for a pig, and grabbed one of the tiger’s legs. The tiger was frightened because he thought that he was being attacked by the horseshoe crab. So, he turned and tried to run away. However, the thief did not let go of the tiger, and ran after it. As they ran toward the mountain, the moon came out from behind the clouds. When the thief realized that he had actually caught a tiger instead of a pig, he became very frightened. So, when the thief saw a nearby tree, he quickly let go and climbed up the tree.
When the tiger found its leg had been released, he ran away even faster. After a while, he met his friend and asked,“Have you seen the ‘horseshoe crab’ that is more fearsome than us?” His friend replied, “No, have you?”The tiger said, “Follow me. I will take you to see it.”
The two tigers went to the bottom of the tree. When the thief saw not one but two tigers, he became so frightened that he fell down. The tigers thought that the horseshoe crab was coming down to eat them, and ran away as fast as they could.
