We read 'The Lady or the Tiger' today in Language Arts class.

[MiniMandaRuth]

Today, on this frosty winter morning, we read an older tale. It was a study on the human mind and the confines of personalities.

It is a short story titled The Lady or the Tiger and I thought it was very good. For those of you not familiar with this story, it is about a 'semibarbaric' princess who is the apple of her semibarbaric father, the king. The king has a very interesting way of punishing criminals. No matter what the charge, the accused is marched out into an arena. He is given the choice of two doors.

One, has a hungry tiger behind it. If the man choses' this door, then he will be devoured. Behind the other door is a beautiful woman. If he chooses' that door, he marries her, no matter what.

A commoner falls in love with the princess, and she loves him very much as well. The father finds out, and sends the man to be punished.

The princess turns out and points to a door. Only she knows what door the tiger is behind, and what door the maiden is behind.

The maiden behind the particular door, however, is a very beautiful young woman. The princess thinks that she is in love with her man, and despises her for it.

So, would the woman send her lover to his death, or to the arms of a woman whom she hates?

I said the tiger.

A friend of mine brought up an interesting point. What if she sent him to the maiden, and she then had them both killed afterwards?

Now, the lady... or the tiger?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Since I'm a vindictive bitch, I'll go with the tiger.

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. What if he fell in love with the Tiger?

Ever read "Passion in the Desert"?

[MiniMandaRuth]

3. AHHH!!

I make ENOUGH bad connections with our social studies movies WITHOUT talking about animal p0rn!

eee... Bad bad bad bad bad bad.

[drhilarius]

4. She could always kill the maiden...

what good is being royalty if you can't kill a peasant or two from time to time/

[MiniMandaRuth]

5. kick

[SW FL Dem]

6. My son read this earlier this year

and had to write an ending to the story. He chose the tiger.

[hfojvt]

7. a woman she hates?

She sounds kinda hateful there herself.

I can only reverse it. If I am a prince and there is a handsome man behind one of the doors, and this man loves the same woman that I love, that does not sound like a reason to hate him. If, on the other hand, I know him to be some kind of lout - a liar, arrogant, violent, lazy, etc, then that would be a reason to hate him.

Either way, there is no way I would even think about having her choose the tiger. Except in one scenario. Tiger comes out the door, and I jump into the ring, sword drawn. Now my dad has a choice, he can take the chance that I will be killed or he can send a contingent of royal bodyguards in to rescue us.

Given a dad who allows this type of barbaric capital punishment I think the non-tiger scenario works better. (Also, the tiger might kill me before my dad can do anything, or kill her before I can get there.)

I cannot say what choice a pampered princess, with a brutal dad, would make.