There were many stories in this section of the reading, but I will focus only one story that I thought was the most interesting.
The first story I will share is called How the Tiger got his Strength. The gods were displeased with how the animals were behaving after they were created. All of them being foolish and interfering with one another, they decided to call all the animals together to bestow gifts on them. The tiger received the ability to be crafty and walk silently and went on his way. The man received beauty and wisdom. When the man returned home, his mother was regretful that he had not received strength to protect himself. The mother ordered him to go back to the gods to ask for strength as a gift. The gods agreed but he would receive the gift the next day instead. The tiger had walked silently and heard the conversation between man and the gods. He decided to steal the gift from man to make himself stronger instead. The next day the tiger went to the gods first and told them he had been asked to come to them today to receive the gift of strength. The gods bestowed the gift to him, and his strength increased by ten times. The tiger then went to the man to boast his newly stolen gift and to challenge him. The man was able to run away from the tiger and went to the gods to tell them what had happened. The gods were angry, but they were unable to take away gifts that had already been received. They granted the man with the gift of learning how to make weapons of warfare. The gods gave him this gift to protect himself from the tiger and the other animals that wished to harm him. His mother declared that the new gift would not be used on other men but only on the animals.
(Caption: tiger by Flickr)
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