Louie the Liger
Louie was born and raised in the land of the lion. He grew up learning the ways of the lion. He spoke like a lion. He behaved like a lion. But he was only half lion.
Louie got along just fine with the full-blooded lions until one day he joined them for a game similar to what we humans call football. It was a game that, like most games when you’re a child and the world is full of wonder, is best discovered on impulse. And so it was on this particular day that the pride to which Louie belonged stumbled upon the skull of a Hyena and started batting it around in a playful manner that quickly escalated into something more organized and competitive.
Louie, being so much bigger and taller than the other lions, was by far the best player. He easily overpowered any lion one-on-one, and whenever another lion tried to paw the skull to another teammate, Louie invariably intercepted it. But Louie’s long legs were not as long as the stream at the end of the playing field, so after one wild kick landed the skull in the middle of the stream, the lions quickly lost interest and started walking away. Louie, however, did something quite surprising to the other lions. He ran and jumped into the stream! Now, if you were a lion, you’d understand how shocking that was, because lions, like most cats, hate water.
“Good Lord!” said one of the wide-eyed geese. No lion had ever entered their stream before.
“He must be out of his mind,” said another goose.
“What’s he doing!” said one of the lions.
“Maybe tigers do that.” Said another.
Louie momentarily forgot about the skull in the midst of this new discovery. “Hey guys!” said Louie, splashing around. “This is really fun! Why don’t you come in?”
The other lions just looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Louie shrugged, then scooped up the skull from the bottom of the stream. After he dried off, the lions questioned him.
“Why did you jump in the water?” asked one of the lions.
“Well, someone had to get the skull. Besides, I like the water!”
“I don’t think it’s good for you,” said another lion.
“That’s weird,” said another.
The lions went back to playing their game. A pride of girl lions, or lionesses, arrived to watch the boy lions play. The lions played even harder to impress the lionesses.
Louie got the most attention from the lionesses. After the game, the lionesses gathered around Louie.
"You're really good!" said one of the lionesses.
"And strong too! You're the biggest lion on the field," said another lioness.
The lions were jealous of his popularity. They didn't think it was fair that a half-lion should be more popular than any of them.
"He's not a lion," one of them said.
"Yeah," said another. "If he's a lion, where's his mane?"
"I have a mane," said Louie, grasping at what little he had.
"That's not a lion's mane. Look how bushy ours is." Said another lion.
The lionesses looked at each other with disappointment. "They're right," said the lead lioness. "That's not a very bushy mane."
Pretty soon, the lionesses were talking with the other lions. Louie dropped the skull and walked off the field, his head hung low.
When Louie got home from school, his parents were waiting for him.
"Honey," his mother said. "We have some important news."
His mother and father looked at each other with anxious expressions as if uncertain how to proceed. His dad cleared his throat.
"I got a new job, son." said his father.
"That’s nice Dad,” said Louie, looking at his Dad's full, flowing mane, which contrasted sharply with the short tufts about his own head and neck, which were barely long enough to form a curl.
"There's more, Louie," said his mom. "Dad's new job is very far away and we'll have to move."
"Move?"
"Yes dear. We know you've made a lot of lion friends, but I think you'll make new friends in the land of the tigers."
"Tigers!" Louie said."Now son, you're half tiger like your mother. It might be hard at first to fit in but --"
"I think that's great!" Louie said.
Louie's parents were delighted by this unexpected reaction.
On his first day of school with the tigers, Louie was late. All the other tigers were sitting quietly as the teacher took attendance. When Louie entered the classroom, the teacher stopped calling names and everyone looked at him.
"You're late," said the teacher, sternly. "Take your seat over there," he said, pointing to a seat in the far corner of the room.
Louie didn't like the way everyone was staring at him as he walked to his seat. The tigers were whispering to each other, pointing at him and snickering.
Louie sat down in a spot that was too small for him. He had trouble squeezing into it and he felt embarrassed as everybody waited for him to fit into his seat.
"Are you sure you're in the right class?" said the tiger next to him.
"I think so, why do you ask?" asked Louie.
"Because this is a class of tigers."
"I'm a tiger too," Louie said.
"What's your name, son?" asked the teacher who was taking attendance.
"Me?" Louie asked timidly.
"No, that other tiger with a beard," said the tiger.
"It's not a beard, it's a MANE!" Louie roared.
All the other tigers nearly jumped out of their seats in surprise. The wide-eyed teacher gasped.
Suddenly ashamed, Louie spoke in a quieter voice. "My, my name is Louie."
Louie found tiger behavior strange. At lunch time or recess, every tiger seemed to do his or her own thing. He saw a couple tigers here or there immersed in the kind of conversation one has with a best friend, but for the most part tigers kept to themselves. They ate alone; they prowled the schoolyard alone; they hiked the forests alone.
After eating his venison sandwich, Louie took a walk around the perimeter of the school yard before venturing into the forest.
He didn’t get two steps before a tiger confronted him. “Hey! Get out of here!” the tiger scolded Louie. “This is my forest. Go find another one.” What a jerk, Louie thought, then walked on. But he encountered the same treatment from every tiger he met. He tried the East forest. “Hey, what are you doing here!” said the hostile tiger there. He tried the West forest. “This is my forest. What’s your problem?” said the belligerent tiger there. What a odd bunch these tigers are, he thought.
Finally, he tried the north forest. There was something different about this forest. It was quieter and darker and colder than the other forests.
“Oh, you don’t want to go in there,” came a voice suddenly from behind him. Louie turned around to meet his unexpected company. It was a petite, female tiger.
“What’s in there?” Louie asked.
“Nobody really knows. But no tiger who’s gone in has ever returned.”
“Well, I don’t know why they’d want to go in there anyway. It’s really creepy. It’s almost too quiet.”
“Sometimes it’s not quiet at all. Sometimes it emits noises louder than thunder, but not thunder. Or sounds like the footsteps of a creature so big it makes the earth shake. Or the sounds of trees creaking, cracking and falling with a big thud.”
"Well then, we better leave.” Louie said and started walking away, expecting the female tiger to follow her own advice. But after a few paces he realized that the friendly tiger was not on his heels. He turned back to see what she was doing. She was still sitting in the same spot, gazing into the woods as if trying to see something beyond them.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Everybody thinks it’s a bad thing that tigers don’t come back. What if it’s a good thing?” she asked.
“Why would it be a good thing?” Louie asked.
“Maybe there’s a better life on the other side of that forest.”
Louie paused to consider what she said. “You’re different from other tigers,” he said.
“That’s because I’m only half-tiger,” she said. “My name is Siwa the Tigon.”
“You’re half-tiger? Like me?” Louie said, excitedly. “But, you look like a tiger, only much smaller.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said, sarcastically. "I've never heard that before."
“No,” Louie said. “That’s good. I’m half-tiger and I hate how big I am. And we don’t look anything alike. I have spots, you have nice bold stripes. I’m big. You’re tiny. You look a lot more like a tiger than I do.”
“I have just as hard a time fitting in as you do, believe me.” She said, then sighed.
"My name is Louie," he said.
"I know."
Just then a large thud came from deep inside the woods.
“We better head back,” said Louie.
“Later,” she said. “I want to be alone for awhile.” Siwa said, her eyes fixed on the forest.
“Okay. Well, it’s nice to have someone to talk to,” said Louie as he turned to walk away.
After a few paces Siwa suddenly turned her head around to look at him. “Louie, this is my last day here. My family is moving tomorrow.” That was all she said before turning her head back to the woods once again. Louie opened his mouth to say something, but she seemed to be in a place too far away to hear. Louie walked back to campus, but not before running into a couple more rude tigers.
Back at home, Louie was quieter than usual. He didn't speak to his parents in the same way.
"How about a roar for your old man?" bellowed his father.
Louie only chuffed.
"Honey, is everything okay?" asked his mother.
"No! Kids make fun of me when I roar. Tigers don't talk like that. And I have a hard time understanding what my teacher says. There is no one like me at school. There are no lions there either. People make fun of the way I look. I can’t fit into my seat. I feel like such a freak. And what good is lion-speak! I want to practice tiger-speak at home."
"Okay honey. We can do that." reassured his mother.
"Son, I think it's good you want to learn the language," said his father. "We'll all speak tiger at home. But Louie, I just want you to remember that it's a good thing you can roar."
"And there’s nothing wrong with being different," added his mother. "It’s good to be unique. You have talents that other tigers don’t have, or other lions don’t have. And one day you’ll be glad that you have those talents.”
None of this talk made Louie feel any better. When he first heard he was moving to the land of the tiger he was thrilled. No more would he feel different or left out. Everything would be better with the tigers he thought. But the tigers made him feel even worse than the lions did.
When he got to school the next day, he noticed that Siwa’s seat was empty. Although she said she wasn’t coming back, he was hoping that something had changed and she would. He wondered where she was going. What if she was going to the land of the lion? Wouldn’t it be funny if she went to his old school? An image of Siwa playing football with the other lions suddenly entered his mind, and this made Louie laugh aloud. The tigers who noticed reacted with their usual looks of contempt. But then a new thought entered his head. What if she didn’t move away? What if she really was in a trance at the edge of the forest yesterday? What if the forest cast a spell upon her and pulled her in? Maybe that’s how tigers go missing. He had no way of contacting her, no way of knowing for sure. But this thought bothered and consumed him so entirely that he didn’t even know class was over until the teacher tugged him on the shoulder after all the other tigers had left for the day.
At home, Louie shared his troubled thoughts with his parents. He told them the story of how he met Siwa and what she had told him about the north forest and the mysterious dangers within and how much she wanted to believe there was a better life on the other side and how it would have been her last chance to run away.
"There are forests like that on the outskirts of the land of the lion. Lions call them biped forests,” said Louie’s father.
"Bipeds?"
"Bipeds are clever creatures who walk on two legs and use magical tools to capture or kill tigers."
“That’s why we had to move dear,” added his mother. “Lions have the same problems as tigers. Bipeds take over parts of our land and we move to avoid danger.”
“So, Siwa really is gone? And not to a better place?”
“Well, it’s possible that she’s trapped somewhere in the forest and the bipeds haven’t found her yet.”
"Why don’t the tigers know this? Or Siwa?"
"Because I've been in a biped forest son," his dad continued. "One of our pride chased a hyena into the forest and we feared the worst. We organized a search team to find him. Lions, unlike tigers, work together as a team to solve problems. And we knew we could help each other out if something bad happened to one of us. So, we all went in together. We did find our missing lion, but it was too late. We saw bipeds carrying him away. The bipeds were putting him into a large creature that looked like an elephant that rolled out of the forest and made loud growling sounds.”
The next day at school the teacher announced that Siwa was missing and asked if anyone had seen her. It was assumed that she had moved with her family, but apparently she didn’t come home from school the day that Louie last saw her, and this confirmed Louie’s worst fears.
“She’s in the north forest!” exclaimed Louie, jumping out of his seat. “I saw her there yesterday afternoon, dreaming about what was on the other side.”
“If that’s true Louie, she’s lost forever.”
“No, we have to go in and save her.”
“Louie, no tiger who has ever gone into that forest has returned,” said the teacher. To the tigers, the mysterious north forest was like a black hole that swallowed up living creatures. But Louie knew better. He told the class everything his father had told him the night before about the bipeds and the large growling elephants.
"So, you see! It's not the forest. It's creatures in the forest! They walk on two legs and they have magical tools! And we can't wait another minute!" said Louie, breathlessly.
The tigers were silent for a moment. Then all at once they started laughing.
"Really, Louie," mocked a classmate. "Creatures that walk on two legs with magic tools?"
"Do they have beards Louie?" said the usual joker to his right.
They continued to laugh.
"Fine, then I'll go and look for her alone," Louie said, storming out of the class. The laughter followed Louie out the door and out the school as he ran to the north forest.
Moments later, Louie reached the edge of the forest. He saw a sign that read WARNING: NORTH FOREST – DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU DO NOT WANT TO COME BACK.
Louie was afraid, but he took a deep breath, and did what he had to do.
Inside the forest, the sights and sounds were strange. He felt things slithering and moving around him. His eyes kept darting here and there, expecting something to attack him, for the trees to reach out to him or for the ground to open up and swallow him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and started calling Siwa's name.
“Siwa! Siiiiiiwwaaa!”
He called again and again as he crept deeper into the forest. Suddenly, he heard a faint cry and followed the direction from which it came.
"Help! Help! Over here!" It was Siwa.
“Siwa! Where are you?” he called out.
“Right here!” She said. Her voice was so close. It sounded like she was right there beside him, but he still couldn't see her. He looked around in every direction as he walked. He looked everywhere except at his feet. Suddenly, he lost his footing and fell into a deep pit.
“Oh, no!” said Siwa. “Now we’re both stuck.”
Louie looked around. There were walls of dirt on all four sides. No ladders, no ropes, no steps. The only opening was straight up far out of reach from any tiger, big or small. All he could see was the bright blue sky and the tree branches reaching out to each other far above the pit.
“Siwa, are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay. Just really hungry,” she said.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll get us out of here.”
“How are we going to get out?” she asked. “I tried jumping, but the opening is too high.”
Just then Louie stood up on his hind legs, towering over Siwa. She marveled at his height. He was already half-way to the top. Then he crouched, coiled the energy in his hindquarters, and jumped upward with his forelimbs outstretched. His claws grabbed the earth on the edge of the pit.
“Quick,” he said. “Jump up on my back and climb out.”
Siwa jumped on his back, but the earth under Louie’s claws shifted and collapsed from the sudden weight. He frantically clawed to regain his grip as they both slid slowly back into the pit. Finally, Louie’s grip took hold. “Go!” he said. Siwa climbed up his back and out of the pit.
Just as Louie’s eyes cleared the pit, he saw Siwa’s frightened face. “Louie, run!” and with that she fell down and did not move. There was a feather-like object sticking out from her leg. Louie heard strange voices and lowered his head from view.
“Well, I’ll be—“ said a strange voice.
It must be the Bipeds, thought Louie.
“How in the heck did that tiger get out of that there pit?” said another strange voice.
“Don’t be silly Earl, the tiger wasn’t in the pit yet. No tiger could’ve made that jump. Especially a tiger that small. Or is that a bobcat?”
“I reckon you’re right. But it just seems strange. She was heading away from the pit. And look…there’s claw marks on the edge of that there pit.”
“Yeah," returned the other biped, leaning in for a closer look. "You’re right.”
They were both leaning in curiously at the edge of the pit when all of a sudden --
“ROARRRRRR!!”
It was as if a cannon shot those two poor frightened men backwards, leaving their magic tools behind. And how tall Louie must have looked to them from the ground where they lay in his shadow shivering in fright. Louie stood over Siwa and the strange devices the bipeds left by her side and roared once again. The bipeds scrambled to their feet and ran away screaming, forelimbs flailing.
Louie turned his attention back to Siwa.
“Siwa?” he said.
No response.
“Siwa!”
Again, no response. But he could see her chest moving. He picked her up and carried her on his back. When Louie stepped out of the forest and back into the familiar plain of the schoolyard, he saw all of the tigers from the school walking towards the forest.
“Look!” said one of the tigers. “It’s Louie!”
“And Siwa!” said another. The tigers ran to help Louie carry Siwa, who was slightly conscious but too weak to move.
“What are you guys doing here?” Louie asked.
“We decided to come and look for you,” said one of the tigers.
“But any tiger that enters the forest never returns. Isn't that what you said?"
“But you did!” said the tiger who teased him about his mane the first day of class. "And if I had to choose between being a tiger and a giant bearded heroic cat of some sort, then I'd, well…I, I think we should all have one of those beards -- I mean manes!"
Louie looked confused. And even the tiger scratched his head over what he had just said.
"I think what he's trying to say, Louie," said the teacher, "is that we couldn't help but wonder whether it was the tiger in you or the lion in you that gave you the courage to do what none of us were willing to do. And I guess we wanted to believe it was the tiger in you."
At the school assembly, Louie received an award for his bravery, a plaque with the following inscription: "For outstanding service, excellence, and bravery, Kanha School for Tigers hereby recognizes Louie Liger as TIGER OF THE YEAR."
When the applause subsided, Louie addressed the crowd. “The real award here is your acceptance as fellow and friend. The first friend I met here was a half-tiger.” At this point, Louie brought Siwa up on stage. “Yes, I went into the forest knowing something about its dangers to rescue a friend, a friend who knew little about its dangers but imagined them to be far worse than I knew them to be. It’s because of her that I stand here today as your so-called hero. But if you want to hold up a tiger as a model of courage, then you should honor the one who taught me to confront the fear of the unknown. You could do no better than to claim Siwa as a fellow tiger.”
The crowd burst into applause once again. “Hurray for Siwa!. Hurray for Louie! Hurray for Siwa and Louie!” For they all knew it was true -- they both shared the dual distinction of being the first known tigers to return from the forbidden forest. If one had not entered, two would not have returned.
After that day, Siwa and Louie were much happier at school. The tigers became more open-minded and sociable towards one another. Louie taught the tigers how to play football. Siwa’s parents decided not to move. Sure, Louie still got an occasional jibe about his mane or his faint stripes, and Siwa still got teased about her size. But it was all done out of love and respect and even Siwa and Louie laughed because they knew it was their unconventional nature that gave them the power to do what no other lion or tiger had ever done before.
Louie was born and raised in the land of the lion. He grew up learning the ways of the lion. He spoke like a lion. He behaved like a lion. But he was only half lion.
Louie got along just fine with the full-blooded lions until one day he joined them for a game similar to what we humans call football. It was a game that, like most games when you’re a child and the world is full of wonder, is best discovered on impulse. And so it was on this particular day that the pride to which Louie belonged stumbled upon the skull of a Hyena and started batting it around in a playful manner that quickly escalated into something more organized and competitive.
Louie, being so much bigger and taller than the other lions, was by far the best player. He easily overpowered any lion one-on-one, and whenever another lion tried to paw the skull to another teammate, Louie invariably intercepted it. But Louie’s long legs were not as long as the stream at the end of the playing field, so after one wild kick landed the skull in the middle of the stream, the lions quickly lost interest and started walking away. Louie, however, did something quite surprising to the other lions. He ran and jumped into the stream! Now, if you were a lion, you’d understand how shocking that was, because lions, like most cats, hate water.
“Good Lord!” said one of the wide-eyed geese. No lion had ever entered their stream before.
“He must be out of his mind,” said another goose.
“What’s he doing!” said one of the lions.
“Maybe tigers do that.” Said another.
Louie momentarily forgot about the skull in the midst of this new discovery. “Hey guys!” said Louie, splashing around. “This is really fun! Why don’t you come in?”
The other lions just looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Louie shrugged, then scooped up the skull from the bottom of the stream. After he dried off, the lions questioned him.
“Why did you jump in the water?” asked one of the lions.
“Well, someone had to get the skull. Besides, I like the water!”
“I don’t think it’s good for you,” said another lion.
“That’s weird,” said another.
The lions went back to playing their game. A pride of girl lions, or lionesses, arrived to watch the boy lions play. The lions played even harder to impress the lionesses.
Louie got the most attention from the lionesses. After the game, the lionesses gathered around Louie.
"You're really good!" said one of the lionesses.
"And strong too! You're the biggest lion on the field," said another lioness.
The lions were jealous of his popularity. They didn't think it was fair that a half-lion should be more popular than any of them.
"He's not a lion," one of them said.
"Yeah," said another. "If he's a lion, where's his mane?"
"I have a mane," said Louie, grasping at what little he had.
"That's not a lion's mane. Look how bushy ours is." Said another lion.
The lionesses looked at each other with disappointment. "They're right," said the lead lioness. "That's not a very bushy mane."
Pretty soon, the lionesses were talking with the other lions. Louie dropped the skull and walked off the field, his head hung low.
When Louie got home from school, his parents were waiting for him.
"Honey," his mother said. "We have some important news."
His mother and father looked at each other with anxious expressions as if uncertain how to proceed. His dad cleared his throat.
"I got a new job, son." said his father.
"That’s nice Dad,” said Louie, looking at his Dad's full, flowing mane, which contrasted sharply with the short tufts about his own head and neck, which were barely long enough to form a curl.
"There's more, Louie," said his mom. "Dad's new job is very far away and we'll have to move."
"Move?"
"Yes dear. We know you've made a lot of lion friends, but I think you'll make new friends in the land of the tigers."
"Tigers!" Louie said."Now son, you're half tiger like your mother. It might be hard at first to fit in but --"
"I think that's great!" Louie said.
Louie's parents were delighted by this unexpected reaction.
On his first day of school with the tigers, Louie was late. All the other tigers were sitting quietly as the teacher took attendance. When Louie entered the classroom, the teacher stopped calling names and everyone looked at him.
"You're late," said the teacher, sternly. "Take your seat over there," he said, pointing to a seat in the far corner of the room.
Louie didn't like the way everyone was staring at him as he walked to his seat. The tigers were whispering to each other, pointing at him and snickering.
Louie sat down in a spot that was too small for him. He had trouble squeezing into it and he felt embarrassed as everybody waited for him to fit into his seat.
"Are you sure you're in the right class?" said the tiger next to him.
"I think so, why do you ask?" asked Louie.
"Because this is a class of tigers."
"I'm a tiger too," Louie said.
"What's your name, son?" asked the teacher who was taking attendance.
"Me?" Louie asked timidly.
"No, that other tiger with a beard," said the tiger.
"It's not a beard, it's a MANE!" Louie roared.
All the other tigers nearly jumped out of their seats in surprise. The wide-eyed teacher gasped.
Suddenly ashamed, Louie spoke in a quieter voice. "My, my name is Louie."
Louie found tiger behavior strange. At lunch time or recess, every tiger seemed to do his or her own thing. He saw a couple tigers here or there immersed in the kind of conversation one has with a best friend, but for the most part tigers kept to themselves. They ate alone; they prowled the schoolyard alone; they hiked the forests alone.
After eating his venison sandwich, Louie took a walk around the perimeter of the school yard before venturing into the forest.
He didn’t get two steps before a tiger confronted him. “Hey! Get out of here!” the tiger scolded Louie. “This is my forest. Go find another one.” What a jerk, Louie thought, then walked on. But he encountered the same treatment from every tiger he met. He tried the East forest. “Hey, what are you doing here!” said the hostile tiger there. He tried the West forest. “This is my forest. What’s your problem?” said the belligerent tiger there. What a odd bunch these tigers are, he thought.
Finally, he tried the north forest. There was something different about this forest. It was quieter and darker and colder than the other forests.
“Oh, you don’t want to go in there,” came a voice suddenly from behind him. Louie turned around to meet his unexpected company. It was a petite, female tiger.
“What’s in there?” Louie asked.
“Nobody really knows. But no tiger who’s gone in has ever returned.”
“Well, I don’t know why they’d want to go in there anyway. It’s really creepy. It’s almost too quiet.”
“Sometimes it’s not quiet at all. Sometimes it emits noises louder than thunder, but not thunder. Or sounds like the footsteps of a creature so big it makes the earth shake. Or the sounds of trees creaking, cracking and falling with a big thud.”
"Well then, we better leave.” Louie said and started walking away, expecting the female tiger to follow her own advice. But after a few paces he realized that the friendly tiger was not on his heels. He turned back to see what she was doing. She was still sitting in the same spot, gazing into the woods as if trying to see something beyond them.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Everybody thinks it’s a bad thing that tigers don’t come back. What if it’s a good thing?” she asked.
“Why would it be a good thing?” Louie asked.
“Maybe there’s a better life on the other side of that forest.”
Louie paused to consider what she said. “You’re different from other tigers,” he said.
“That’s because I’m only half-tiger,” she said. “My name is Siwa the Tigon.”
“You’re half-tiger? Like me?” Louie said, excitedly. “But, you look like a tiger, only much smaller.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said, sarcastically. "I've never heard that before."
“No,” Louie said. “That’s good. I’m half-tiger and I hate how big I am. And we don’t look anything alike. I have spots, you have nice bold stripes. I’m big. You’re tiny. You look a lot more like a tiger than I do.”
“I have just as hard a time fitting in as you do, believe me.” She said, then sighed.
"My name is Louie," he said.
"I know."
Just then a large thud came from deep inside the woods.
“We better head back,” said Louie.
“Later,” she said. “I want to be alone for awhile.” Siwa said, her eyes fixed on the forest.
“Okay. Well, it’s nice to have someone to talk to,” said Louie as he turned to walk away.
After a few paces Siwa suddenly turned her head around to look at him. “Louie, this is my last day here. My family is moving tomorrow.” That was all she said before turning her head back to the woods once again. Louie opened his mouth to say something, but she seemed to be in a place too far away to hear. Louie walked back to campus, but not before running into a couple more rude tigers.
Back at home, Louie was quieter than usual. He didn't speak to his parents in the same way.
"How about a roar for your old man?" bellowed his father.
Louie only chuffed.
"Honey, is everything okay?" asked his mother.
"No! Kids make fun of me when I roar. Tigers don't talk like that. And I have a hard time understanding what my teacher says. There is no one like me at school. There are no lions there either. People make fun of the way I look. I can’t fit into my seat. I feel like such a freak. And what good is lion-speak! I want to practice tiger-speak at home."
"Okay honey. We can do that." reassured his mother.
"Son, I think it's good you want to learn the language," said his father. "We'll all speak tiger at home. But Louie, I just want you to remember that it's a good thing you can roar."
"And there’s nothing wrong with being different," added his mother. "It’s good to be unique. You have talents that other tigers don’t have, or other lions don’t have. And one day you’ll be glad that you have those talents.”
None of this talk made Louie feel any better. When he first heard he was moving to the land of the tiger he was thrilled. No more would he feel different or left out. Everything would be better with the tigers he thought. But the tigers made him feel even worse than the lions did.
When he got to school the next day, he noticed that Siwa’s seat was empty. Although she said she wasn’t coming back, he was hoping that something had changed and she would. He wondered where she was going. What if she was going to the land of the lion? Wouldn’t it be funny if she went to his old school? An image of Siwa playing football with the other lions suddenly entered his mind, and this made Louie laugh aloud. The tigers who noticed reacted with their usual looks of contempt. But then a new thought entered his head. What if she didn’t move away? What if she really was in a trance at the edge of the forest yesterday? What if the forest cast a spell upon her and pulled her in? Maybe that’s how tigers go missing. He had no way of contacting her, no way of knowing for sure. But this thought bothered and consumed him so entirely that he didn’t even know class was over until the teacher tugged him on the shoulder after all the other tigers had left for the day.
At home, Louie shared his troubled thoughts with his parents. He told them the story of how he met Siwa and what she had told him about the north forest and the mysterious dangers within and how much she wanted to believe there was a better life on the other side and how it would have been her last chance to run away.
"There are forests like that on the outskirts of the land of the lion. Lions call them biped forests,” said Louie’s father.
"Bipeds?"
"Bipeds are clever creatures who walk on two legs and use magical tools to capture or kill tigers."
“That’s why we had to move dear,” added his mother. “Lions have the same problems as tigers. Bipeds take over parts of our land and we move to avoid danger.”
“So, Siwa really is gone? And not to a better place?”
“Well, it’s possible that she’s trapped somewhere in the forest and the bipeds haven’t found her yet.”
"Why don’t the tigers know this? Or Siwa?"
"Because I've been in a biped forest son," his dad continued. "One of our pride chased a hyena into the forest and we feared the worst. We organized a search team to find him. Lions, unlike tigers, work together as a team to solve problems. And we knew we could help each other out if something bad happened to one of us. So, we all went in together. We did find our missing lion, but it was too late. We saw bipeds carrying him away. The bipeds were putting him into a large creature that looked like an elephant that rolled out of the forest and made loud growling sounds.”
The next day at school the teacher announced that Siwa was missing and asked if anyone had seen her. It was assumed that she had moved with her family, but apparently she didn’t come home from school the day that Louie last saw her, and this confirmed Louie’s worst fears.
“She’s in the north forest!” exclaimed Louie, jumping out of his seat. “I saw her there yesterday afternoon, dreaming about what was on the other side.”
“If that’s true Louie, she’s lost forever.”
“No, we have to go in and save her.”
“Louie, no tiger who has ever gone into that forest has returned,” said the teacher. To the tigers, the mysterious north forest was like a black hole that swallowed up living creatures. But Louie knew better. He told the class everything his father had told him the night before about the bipeds and the large growling elephants.
"So, you see! It's not the forest. It's creatures in the forest! They walk on two legs and they have magical tools! And we can't wait another minute!" said Louie, breathlessly.
The tigers were silent for a moment. Then all at once they started laughing.
"Really, Louie," mocked a classmate. "Creatures that walk on two legs with magic tools?"
"Do they have beards Louie?" said the usual joker to his right.
They continued to laugh.
"Fine, then I'll go and look for her alone," Louie said, storming out of the class. The laughter followed Louie out the door and out the school as he ran to the north forest.
Moments later, Louie reached the edge of the forest. He saw a sign that read WARNING: NORTH FOREST – DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU DO NOT WANT TO COME BACK.
Louie was afraid, but he took a deep breath, and did what he had to do.
Inside the forest, the sights and sounds were strange. He felt things slithering and moving around him. His eyes kept darting here and there, expecting something to attack him, for the trees to reach out to him or for the ground to open up and swallow him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and started calling Siwa's name.
“Siwa! Siiiiiiwwaaa!”
He called again and again as he crept deeper into the forest. Suddenly, he heard a faint cry and followed the direction from which it came.
"Help! Help! Over here!" It was Siwa.
“Siwa! Where are you?” he called out.
“Right here!” She said. Her voice was so close. It sounded like she was right there beside him, but he still couldn't see her. He looked around in every direction as he walked. He looked everywhere except at his feet. Suddenly, he lost his footing and fell into a deep pit.
“Oh, no!” said Siwa. “Now we’re both stuck.”
Louie looked around. There were walls of dirt on all four sides. No ladders, no ropes, no steps. The only opening was straight up far out of reach from any tiger, big or small. All he could see was the bright blue sky and the tree branches reaching out to each other far above the pit.
“Siwa, are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay. Just really hungry,” she said.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll get us out of here.”
“How are we going to get out?” she asked. “I tried jumping, but the opening is too high.”
Just then Louie stood up on his hind legs, towering over Siwa. She marveled at his height. He was already half-way to the top. Then he crouched, coiled the energy in his hindquarters, and jumped upward with his forelimbs outstretched. His claws grabbed the earth on the edge of the pit.
“Quick,” he said. “Jump up on my back and climb out.”
Siwa jumped on his back, but the earth under Louie’s claws shifted and collapsed from the sudden weight. He frantically clawed to regain his grip as they both slid slowly back into the pit. Finally, Louie’s grip took hold. “Go!” he said. Siwa climbed up his back and out of the pit.
Just as Louie’s eyes cleared the pit, he saw Siwa’s frightened face. “Louie, run!” and with that she fell down and did not move. There was a feather-like object sticking out from her leg. Louie heard strange voices and lowered his head from view.
“Well, I’ll be—“ said a strange voice.
It must be the Bipeds, thought Louie.
“How in the heck did that tiger get out of that there pit?” said another strange voice.
“Don’t be silly Earl, the tiger wasn’t in the pit yet. No tiger could’ve made that jump. Especially a tiger that small. Or is that a bobcat?”
“I reckon you’re right. But it just seems strange. She was heading away from the pit. And look…there’s claw marks on the edge of that there pit.”
“Yeah," returned the other biped, leaning in for a closer look. "You’re right.”
They were both leaning in curiously at the edge of the pit when all of a sudden --
“ROARRRRRR!!”
It was as if a cannon shot those two poor frightened men backwards, leaving their magic tools behind. And how tall Louie must have looked to them from the ground where they lay in his shadow shivering in fright. Louie stood over Siwa and the strange devices the bipeds left by her side and roared once again. The bipeds scrambled to their feet and ran away screaming, forelimbs flailing.
Louie turned his attention back to Siwa.
“Siwa?” he said.
No response.
“Siwa!”
Again, no response. But he could see her chest moving. He picked her up and carried her on his back. When Louie stepped out of the forest and back into the familiar plain of the schoolyard, he saw all of the tigers from the school walking towards the forest.
“Look!” said one of the tigers. “It’s Louie!”
“And Siwa!” said another. The tigers ran to help Louie carry Siwa, who was slightly conscious but too weak to move.
“What are you guys doing here?” Louie asked.
“We decided to come and look for you,” said one of the tigers.
“But any tiger that enters the forest never returns. Isn't that what you said?"
“But you did!” said the tiger who teased him about his mane the first day of class. "And if I had to choose between being a tiger and a giant bearded heroic cat of some sort, then I'd, well…I, I think we should all have one of those beards -- I mean manes!"
Louie looked confused. And even the tiger scratched his head over what he had just said.
"I think what he's trying to say, Louie," said the teacher, "is that we couldn't help but wonder whether it was the tiger in you or the lion in you that gave you the courage to do what none of us were willing to do. And I guess we wanted to believe it was the tiger in you."
At the school assembly, Louie received an award for his bravery, a plaque with the following inscription: "For outstanding service, excellence, and bravery, Kanha School for Tigers hereby recognizes Louie Liger as TIGER OF THE YEAR."
When the applause subsided, Louie addressed the crowd. “The real award here is your acceptance as fellow and friend. The first friend I met here was a half-tiger.” At this point, Louie brought Siwa up on stage. “Yes, I went into the forest knowing something about its dangers to rescue a friend, a friend who knew little about its dangers but imagined them to be far worse than I knew them to be. It’s because of her that I stand here today as your so-called hero. But if you want to hold up a tiger as a model of courage, then you should honor the one who taught me to confront the fear of the unknown. You could do no better than to claim Siwa as a fellow tiger.”
The crowd burst into applause once again. “Hurray for Siwa!. Hurray for Louie! Hurray for Siwa and Louie!” For they all knew it was true -- they both shared the dual distinction of being the first known tigers to return from the forbidden forest. If one had not entered, two would not have returned.
After that day, Siwa and Louie were much happier at school. The tigers became more open-minded and sociable towards one another. Louie taught the tigers how to play football. Siwa’s parents decided not to move. Sure, Louie still got an occasional jibe about his mane or his faint stripes, and Siwa still got teased about her size. But it was all done out of love and respect and even Siwa and Louie laughed because they knew it was their unconventional nature that gave them the power to do what no other lion or tiger had ever done before.