Story: The Tiger and the Cow

The wild is a peculiar place. You may hear stories of animals fighting over a place to graze or the leftovers of an animal carcass. You may hear stories of fights over dominance at the watering hole. You may even hear stories of boys finding their ways into the jungles and being raised by wolves or gorillas. But you probably do not hear many stories about herbivores and carnivores defending each other and defying the laws of the land. This is a story about my mother’s best friend who did just that.

When my mom was a little calf she became friends with a tiger cub. As they grew older, my grandma told my mother it was best if she strayed from this friendship and made friends of her own kind. My mother was stubborn and appreciated the good friendship she had with the tiger. The two remained friends throughout their adolescence and even into adulthood. They did a lot of things together and had a very special bond. Every day they would go to where the grass was the greenest so that my mother could eat the best grass in the land. The tiger would protect my mother and scare off the other animals who were trying to invade her space.  When my mother was finished, the tiger would leave to go feed on her own; grass was not on the tiger’s list of desirable foods. The friends continued in this fashion for many years together.

This is where I come into the story! Not much time had passed when both my mom and the tiger became pregnant. The tiger cub, who I call T, and me were born around the same time and my mom and the tiger agreed that they would raise us together as friends. 

                                               

         Baby calf Wikimedia                                                                           Tiger cub Wikimedia

The tiger was able to keep me and my mom safe from predators during the night and in return my mom would keep the tiger and her cub, my best friend, safe during the day so that the mama tiger could bask in the sun. I had so much fun growing up with a tiger as my best friend! Tag was our favorite game, although T seemed to win every time. We were happy and did not think anything was unusual about our friendship. Unfortunately, the other tigers in the area did not share these thoughts.

Apparently, the tigers living just outside the land we lived in did not agree with my mom and Mrs. T’s friendship. They thought it was wrong that they were such good friends and that my mother and I would make a great meal that could feed the tigers for at least a week. Mrs. T tried to hold them off for a long time, but their leader decided he no longer wanted to ignore our unconventional friendship.

One day, my mother and I were grazing in our field and T and her mom had gone to hunt. After a few minutes we could feel that something was not right… It felt like someone was watching us. Turns out we were correct. The tiger leader was staring straight at my mother and me and when we saw this we took off running. The tiger leader started to chase us and we could sense that he was really gaining on our tails. Then, out of nowhere Mrs. T pounced on the leader tiger and took him down! She gave him a good beating and told him that if he ever tried to harm us again, he would never return back to his tiger followers. In return T and her mother agreed that they would no longer be welcome in the eyes of the tigers. I was amazed that they had done this for us, but my mother reassured me that friendship and love are much stronger than anything else in the world and that I was incredibly lucky to have this unique and extraordinary family.  

Authors note: The original story is The Tiger Cub and the Calf, by Cecil Henry Bompas. In this story, the tiger and the calf grow up together and have children. They are friends until one day the tiger gets a taste of what the cow tastes like after drinking after her at the watering hole. The cow senses that she is going to be killed by the tiger and tells her calf that she is about to die. After the tiger kills the calf’s mother, the baby calf and the baby tiger decide to run away together and are never to been seen from again. I was not a fan of the ending of this story, so I decided to change it and make the tiger loyal to the cow and defend her in times of trouble.