The Tiger and the Acrobat

Susanna Tamaro, Nicoleugenia Prezzavento, Vicki Satlow

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781786072832
• Subtopic: Literature General

INCLUDES SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED LINE DRAWINGS

Little Tiger is not like other tigers. Not content to spend her days alone, roaming the snow forests of Siberia hunting prey, she prefers instead to ponder the ways of the world. One day, eager to discover her own place within it, she sets out on a remarkable journey to discover the secret of life, and to meet the creatures she has heard most about: humans.

A moving tale of bravery and spirit, The Tiger and the Acrobat is a celebration of the power of friendship, and a testament to the courage it takes to be true to ourselves.

'This book is a beaut.' Cecelia Ahern, author of P.S. I Love You

CHAPTER ONE

A Sliver of Light

 

 

Little Tiger was ushered into the world on a bed of leaves deep within a den, welcomed by the earthy scents of her mother and the forest.

Little Tiger was not Shere Khan: she knew nothing of the gauzy mists of the tropics or the carefree laziness inspired by that climate. She was born in the Far North, between the Arctic tundra and the snowy forests of the taiga, which stretches out from the West to the Far East, where the sun has risen since the beginning of time. She was more familiar with the huts of the Siberian shamans than with snake charmers.

Her mother had long, thick fur, extraordinarily long whiskers and a soft, warm body. There was nothing to fear as long as she could hear her mother’s deep, regular breathing.

For the first few days, Little Tiger did nothing but suckle, curled up against her mother’s side. There was someone else close to her who suckled just like her, and to whom she clung every night in her sleep.

One morning, as Little Tiger roused from her sleep, something incredible happened. A sliver of light appeared in the darkness that had engulfed her since birth. It was faint, but was just bright enough to show her that as well as the Inside there was also an Outside. An Outside made of shadows, of dark shapes and silhouettes.

Something out there was moving.

The silhouettes soon turned into shapes and these shapes had a face. The face was that of her mother, who was licking her with her huge, rough tongue, almost flipping her over.

‘Where am I?’ was the first question Little Tiger asked.

‘You’re in our den,’ Mother replied.

‘And where was I before?’

‘Before, you were inside my belly, with your brother.’

Inside the den, everything was familiar: the fallen tree trunks that made up the roof, the soft bed of leaves under her belly, the light that filtered through the tangled roots. But while the leaves and trunks were always there, the light came and went as it pleased. Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn’t.

‘Why does it do that?’ she asked her mother.

‘Because there is a time for the sun and a time for the stars.’

‘Is the sun a tiger?’

Mother remained silent for a while. ‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘because the sun is the King of the Sky.’

‘Are we Kings too?’ Little Tiger asked.

‘Yes, we are Kings and Queens. The sun rules the sky and we rule the taiga.’

‘So what?’ Tiger Cub pressed.

‘Everyone fears us and we fear no one.’

The third thing that Little Tiger discovered were her ears. One morning, as the sun seeped into the den, her attention was captured by a series of wonderful sounds.

To better understand where they came from, she got up on her wobbly legs and started tottering towards the light. As she was about to peek outside, her mother’s imposing body blocked the entrance.

‘Why aren’t you inside with your brother?’ she roared, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and carrying her back to the rear of the den. ‘You’re not allowed outside without me!’

Disappointed, Little Tiger cowered among the leaves.

Just a few days later, however, Mother decided it was finally time to let them out. That morning, Little Tiger’s heart was racing.

Finally, she would see! Finally, she would know!

They lined up. First Mother, then her little brother and, lastly, her.

‘Do not stray away from my tail!’ Mother roared before leaving the den.

And so they left.

The sun shone high in the sky, so bright that the cubs’ eyes were almost hurting. They advanced cautiously, squinting.

It was a beautiful spring day; new leaves were sprouting on the highest tree branches, and at the bottom of the trunks the first flowers were just beginning to bloom. The ground beneath their paws was soft and wet. The birds were singing above their heads, while other, smaller animals scampered off as soon as they saw them.

Then suddenly they heard a scary noise, far away at first, then closer and closer. The two cubs stopped, uncertain, with their tails straight and their whiskers and noses tensed, to try to understand the sound.

‘It’s the river,’ Mother told them, turning. ‘Soon you will see it too.’

And, indeed, a vast expanse of shimmering water soon appeared before their eyes. Large tree trunks crashed against white, glossy sheets of ice, producing the noise that had so frightened them moments before.

‘There should always be a river in your Kingdom,’ Mother said. ‘We tigers need to drink plenty of water. Remember that!’

While the cubs timidly approached the river to drink, Mother kept talking. ‘As you can see, the river is made of water, but when the stars are in the sky longer than the sun, the water turns into a hard surface called ice. You can’t drink the ice and it can be your enemy.’

‘It’s not afraid of us?’ Tiger Cub asked.

‘We can’t eat it,’ Mother replied calmly.

‘But it can’t eat us either!’

‘It can eat you even if it has no mouth. If you walk over it and it breaks, it’ll drag you under. Then, if no trunks float by to cling to, it’s very hard to get out of its grip.’

CHAPTER TWO

Lessons in Survival

The day after their first outing, Mother brought the pair of cubs a hare to eat in the den.

‘You will start by hunting these,’ she said as they were feasting on their first meat. ‘After that you will move on to foxes, deer and then even larger creatures.’

The change of diet made them stronger and more confident in their steps every day, and so they were able to start exploring beyond the boundaries of their home.

The river was a good place to go hunting.

‘Everything that can walk will need to drink sooner or later,’ Mother had explained to them. ‘So just lie low and wait. Lunging and Surprise are the arts you must master.’

As they explored the riverbanks and the birch woods, Mother also taught them the diversity of smells. The smell of mouse, the smell of hare, of ermine, fox, badger and boar. Everything that could run had a smell, and everything that had a smell could be eaten.

She also taught them that time isn’t always the same. There is the short time made of very long days, and the very long time when days become short. If the day is short, the night is long; and when the night is long, snow and ice fall over the world.

Snow changes everything.

It changes the way predators must hunt and track their prey and, as a result, changes the way they return to their dens too.

‘Follow the tracks, but never leave any – this is the secret of our kin. When a tiger moves, nobody should be able to work out their direction. It’s easy when there’s no snow, but the presence of snow makes things harder. Nobody should ever find out where your den is.’

‘Why?’ Tiger Cub asked.

‘Because your den is where you will keep the most precious thing.’

‘What?’ Little Tiger persisted.

‘Yourselves,’ Mother replied, nuzzling them both.

‘If we’re Kings and Queens, what should we be afraid of?’ Little Tiger wanted to ask, but the question got stuck at the back of her throat.

It was on a snowy day that they explored their first field. Mother hid behind a large trunk and sent them both off into the taiga to hunt. Little Tiger was better at it than her brother and soon reappeared with a rabbit in her mouth. It had been easy and fun, and the flesh seemed tastier than that of the hare Mother had brought them.

In the days that followed, Mother began to wander off, l...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Chapter One: A Sliver of Light
• Chapter Two: Lessons in Survival
• Chapter Three: A Voice Will Call You
• Chapter Four: I Must Tell You about Mankind
• Chapter Five: The Man-Tiger
• Chapter Six: What Will Become of Her?
• Chapter Seven: To the East
• Chapter Eight: The Tiger of Nothing
• Chapter Nine: I’ve Been Waiting for You
• Chapter Ten: A Hand and Its Glove
• Chapter Eleven: Wanderers in the Taiga
• Chapter Twelve: That Fateful Day
• Chapter Thirteen: Welcome to the Circus!
• Chapter Fourteen: The Little Acrobat
• Chapter Fifteen: I Want to Learn to Fly
• Chapter Sixteen: In the City of Humans
• Chapter Seventeen: The Rag-Man
• Chapter Eighteen: Towards Freedom
• Chapter Nineteen: The Wall to Climb
• Chapter Twenty: The Walnut and the Shell
• Chapter Twenty-One: The Young Ibex
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Towards the Sky
• Chapter Twenty-Three: The Dance of the Crows
• Chapter Twenty-Four: Beyond the Breach
• Copyright