The Story of a Mouse Deer and a Tiger

Once upon a time, deep in a jungle, a mouse deer was humming to himself while he was
munching some succulent fruits. He was really happy because there were a lot of
gooseberries. He loved gooseberries. It was one of his favourite fruits next to rambutan
and pink guava. Too absorbed was he munching the gooseberries that he did not realise
that his antics were being observed by the dreaded Tiger.
The Tiger had been hunting from the early morning. So far he was only successful in
catching a few rats. Rats! He shuddered to think if any of his friends knew that he had
resorted to catching a few annoying rats to appease his hunger. How could he regale his
friends with his awesome tricks and skills if he could only catch those infuriating rats? He
would rather swallow a bitter gourd than admitting to his friends that he could only catch
rats. At least he hope the bitter gourd would be the least bitter than admitting he failed
miserably.
So at that evening he was dragging his feet one at a time, when suddenly he heard a
humming from the gooseberry bush. Sniff! Sniff! His whiskers were twitching when he
smelt the unmistakable smell of a mouse deer. Suddenly he felt an adrenalin rush. He
tried to tell himself to keep calm and take his time. It would be better if the mouse deer
was full and felt sleepy. So he waited. And waited. And waited.
"Hmmm ... how big that mouse deer stomach is?" He wondered. "He seems did not stop
chewing, and here I am getting hungrier. My stomach is growling like a mad lion now. I
need to act now!" Having decided that he needed to take the necessary action, the Tiger
started to walk near to the mouse deer. But in his haste, he accidentally stepped on dead
branches. "Crack!" The sound seemed so loud in the quiet evening. A group of crows took
off because of the noise.
When the mouse deer realised that a Tiger was ready to pounce on him, he was so
frighten. He was trembling all over. A cold sweat started to drop from all over his body.
He knew he will be a dead meat if he did not think fast enough. "Ho a little mousy dear!
Be prepared to meet your maker. I am going to eat your juicy red meat shortly" roared
the Tiger.
"OHMY Master Tiger, you nearly frighten me to death. I do hope you are not starving at
the moment, because you cannot eat me now. I have been entrusted by the King
Solomon to safeguard his most treasured item" said the mouse deer while pointing his
right paw to a bee nest dangled from a rambutan tree.
"What is that?" asked the Tiger curiously. Though the Tiger was a frightening hunter in
the jungle, but he was not known to have a bright mind. "Oh! That is the Gold Gong of
the King Solomon. His Majesty likes to hear the sound of the gong when he is hunting in
the jungle", replied the mouse deer.
"It must gives the sweetest sound when it is pounded" said the Tiger with an excited
voice. "Of course! After all it is His Majesty's gold gong. Who ever has the opportunity to
listen to the sound of the gong, will feel happy for the rest of the day" replied the mouse
deer. He tried to make his sound more prideful rather than trembling with fright.
"You must be very proud to be able to safeguard His Majesty treasure" the Tiger voice
was a bit envious. "So can I for once be allowed to pound that magnificent gong? asked
the Tiger. "I am sorry my dear Tiger. I have been reminded not to let anyone touch that
precious gong" the mouse deer said with a sad voice. But deep down he was jumping
with joy because the Tiger had fallen into his trap.
"O pretty please my dear mouse deer. Please allow me to pound the gong this time. If
you do that I promise to let you go today" pleaded the Tiger. His voice became whiny and
pitiful. The mouse deer stood silent for a few minutes as if debating his decision.
With a deep breath and sounded remorseful, the mouse deer finally said; "Oh! Because
you are so kind to spare my life, and I am grateful for that, I will allow you to pound on
that gong. But because I am afraid of the wrath of his Highness King Solomon, you can
only pound that precious gong when I am far from here. At least I can claimed that I did
not know who had pounded the gong. Promise me."
"I promise! I promise!" said the Tiger excitedly. "Shush now. Go!" "Okay, I will shout
'pound" when I am far enough from this place, and then you can start to pound to your
heart contend" said the mouse deer while starting to retreat hastily.

The Tiger was for once waited patiently to hear the signal from the mouse deer. When he
heard "Pound" from somewhere in the deep jungle, with his might he pound the bee
nest. The bees were so angry with the disturbance that they started to attack the Tiger in
a drove. The Tiger was so surprised by the attack that for a moment he was frozen. Then
he howled with all his might that his roar was heard all over the jungle.
Then he ran and ran and ran until he finally saw a river. He jumped into the river and
sub-merged with the hope the bees would go away. However the bees were so angry that
they were circling near the Tiger for sometime.
Finally the bees went back to their ruined nest. The Tiger was able to swim to the river
bank. He was shivering and at the same time fuming for being made a fool by the mouse
deer. He promised himself that he would seek revenge on the mouse deer.
~~~~~ The End ~~~~~