Beat The Clock.

September 28 - Tiger

The sounds of taunts and jeers filled the large tiger's ears as he walked along the treeline. As time had slowly unfolded through his aging years more and more people had come to disturb his solitude. He had come to live as a singular creature, hunted at leisure and leaving conversation to the other lovely animals that shared his humid jungle.

But today he found his attention easily drawn to the ways of man. They hunted his game, sometimes even him, and stole his resources for their own profits. Had he not done the same once, a small voice would ask. Usually he would shake that thought away. Today, however, was different. Today the voice won their battle of wills.

Slowly he crept along the shadows, peering through the broad green leaves of the native flora. Four rather sour smelling men stood in stood terrorizing a small girl child, circling her as if she were a wild boar or tiny fox. A nagging feeling formed at the back of his mind. You must help her, cried the voice from within. Redeem yourself and save the child!.

Be silence! he wished to cry. But the voice would not stay quiet. Enough. He would help the weak girl, if only to get the putrid smell of man away from his nose.

"Come here, girly. You have no place to run."

The small girl with dark hair and even darker eyes kept turning in frantic circle to keep away from the men pursuing her. Although fear made her movement jerky, her reactions stiff, the tiger felt a speck of respect for the girl child. She showed courage for being so outnumbered.

The tallest of the men spit noisily in the dirt. "Enough already! Let's take her now before the sun goes down. We can sell her at the market if we make before the sun goes down."

The tiger, disgusted, used his rage to spring from the bushes, roaring at the top of his lungs. His fury scared the men off their feet, forcing them stumbling to the ground. Too scared to even fathom fighting back, they left the way they arrived, running as fast as their foul-smelling bodies would carry them.

The tiger watched in satisfaction as as the cowards scurried away. He turned back to the girl child to find her back pressed against the tree, her black eyes widened in fear. Walk to her slowly. Show her she has nothing to fear from you.

He snarled at the thought. Animals were meant to fear him. It was his skill. It was his curse. But as he watched her, he found his paws moving slowly towards her, his eyes level with hers to show he meant no harm.

Surprisingly, the girl dropped to her knees, her ragged dress brushed the dirt floor. Cautiously, she ran her fingers through his orange and ebony fur, a sensation he felt run along all his nerves.

Then the tiger did something he hadn't done since he walked as man so many centuries before. He bowed is head in gratitude.