BRITISH ENGLISH

HOW TIGER GOT HIS STRIPES

How Tiger
A long time ago, Tiger’s fur was all orange. But one day Tiger Got His
was tricked by a man and that trick led to Tiger’s fur getting
stripes. What was the man’s trick?

Created by National Geographic Learning, the Our World readers are six levels of original stories,
folk tales, myths and non-fiction from around the globe. Following the readings are fun facts and
activities that bring the reading experience together in a way that fascinates, educates and informs. A folk tale from Vietnam

LEVEL 5 READERS

The Tale of Thunder and Lightning Two Brothers, Two Rewards

A folk tale from Nigeria A folk tale from Japan Retold by Anna Olivia
How Tiger Got His Stripes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl
A folk tale from Vietnam A myth from Mexico

The Songbirds’ Flute The Tailor and His Coat

Based on a folk tale from Guatemala A folk tale from Russia

How the Milky Way Began Amazing Beaches

Based on a Native American folk tale

The Cave People of the Karawari:

A Disappearing Culture

For more information, please visit

ELTNGL.com/ourworld

Bringing the world to the classroom

and the classroom to life

ELTNGL.com

A PART OF CENGAGE

978035780326_How_Tiger_Got_His_Stripes_CVR_Docutech.indd 2-3 19/11/2020 14:51

 National Geographic Learning, © 2021 Cengage Learning, Inc.
a Cengage Company
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein
may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, except as
permitted by U.S. copyright law, without the prior written permission of the
Our World Readers copyright owner.
How Tiger Got His Stripes: A folk tale from Vietnam
Bahrain Edition “National Geographic”, “National Geographic Society” and the Yellow Border
Retold by Anna Olivia Design are registered trademarks of the National Geographic Society

® Marcas Registradas

Director of Development: Sharon Jervis

Editorial Manager: Claire Merchant For permission to use material from this text or product,

Project Manager: Nahla El Geyoushi submit all requests online at cengage.com/permissions

Development Editor: Adele Moss Further permissions questions can be emailed to

permissionrequest@cengage.com
Head of Production: Celia Jones
Senior Content Project Manager: Phillipa Davidson-
Blake
ISBN: 978-0-357-80326-4
Manufacturing Manager: Eyvett Davis
Illustrator: Tom Leonard National Geographic Learning
Cheriton House, North Way,
Design and Composition: Tighe
Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5BE
United Kingdom

Locate your local office at international.cengage.com/region

Visit National Geographic Learning online at ELTNGL.com

Visit our corporate website at www.cengage.com

Student Resources
Go to: www.eltngl.com/bahrainmoers

Printed in Bahrain by AWAL Press

Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2020

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 How Tiger
Got His

A folk tale from Vietnam

Retold by Anna Olivia

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 A long time ago, Tiger didn’t have any stripes. His
fur was all one colour. It was as orange as a summer
sunset. Tiger was very proud of his fur.
‘I am the most handsome animal in the forest,’ he
said proudly.

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 The other animals liked Tiger’s fur. His fur helped
them to see Tiger from a long way away. When
they saw Tiger’s orange fur, they always ran away.
This made it difficult for Tiger to hunt and catch
his prey.
This was very frustrating for Tiger!

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 One day, Tiger was walking through the forest. He
was looking for prey to hunt.
Tiger came to a big field next to the forest. In the
field, he saw a big water buffalo pulling a plough.
There was a man behind the plough. The man was
making the water buffalo pull the plough.
‘That is amazing,’ said Tiger. ‘How can such a small
animal like that man control such a big animal?’

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 Tiger waited until the man went for his lunch.
Then he walked up to the water buffalo.
‘Stay away from me, Tiger!’ cried Water
Buffalo. ‘Don’t try to eat me. I can defend myself
with my horns!’
‘I don’t want to eat you,’ said Tiger. ‘I’d like to
know why you don’t attack the man or run away
from him. He is smaller than you. You can easily
hurt him and escape, can’t you? But you don’t!’

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 ‘The man’s got a power called wisdom,’
Water Buffalo told Tiger. ‘Wisdom makes
him very intelligent. He can control
animals using his wisdom. He can make
Dog hunt for him. He can make Horse
carry him. And he can make me pull his
plough!’
‘Wisdom is a strong power, isn’t it?’ said
Tiger. ‘Wisdom could help me catch any prey I
want! How do I get wisdom?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Water Buffalo. ‘You’ll
have to ask the man.’

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 Tiger waited for the man. When the man came back, Tiger
jumped in front of the man.
‘Man!’ said Tiger. ‘I hear you’ve got a special power called
wisdom. I want wisdom. How can I get it?’
The man was scared. He didn’t want Tiger to eat him or his
water buffalo. So the man decided to trick Tiger.
‘I’ve got wisdom,’ said the man. ‘But it isn’t here. It’s at home.’

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 ‘I can go home and get the wisdom,’ said the man. ‘But I don’t
want you to eat my water buffalo while I’m away. I’ve got an idea.
Before I leave, I will tie you to that tree so that you can’t eat Water
Buffalo. I will go and get the wisdom for you. Then I will let you go
when I get back.’
Tiger agreed to this plan.

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 The man took a long black rope from his plough.
The rope was as black as the night sky from the dirt
in the field. The man tied Tiger to the tree with the
rope.
‘Now you can’t eat us and I can go back to work!’
Before he went back to the field, the man added,
‘Tiger, wisdom isn’t something anyone can give you.
I’ve got wisdom because I’ve worked hard and learnt
lots of different lessons about life.’
Then the man went back to work.

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 Tiger tried to escape from the rope, but
it was too strong. Every time he tried, the
black rope made marks on his fur.
‘Let me go!’ cried Tiger. ‘I don’t want
wisdom any more! Please, let me go!’
The man made Tiger promise not to
attack him or the water buffalo. Then the
man cut the rope.
Tiger ran into the forest.

10

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 Tiger finally stopped by a river and saw himself in the water.
‘My beautiful fur has got stripes on it!’ he cried.
There were black stripes from the rope all over Tiger’s body.
From that day on, Tiger always had stripes.
And Tiger grew to love his stripes because they made him
hard to see in the forest. This camouflage made him a much
better hunter.

11

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 Glossary
agree  feel the same way as someone else

control  to have power over a person or an animal that

makes the person or animal do what you want
frustrating  a bad feeling resulting from not being able
to do something
fur  the hair of an animal

horns  hard, pointed parts found on the heads of some

animals
plough  a tool used to break up the ground so that seeds
can be planted
power  the ability to do something important or special

promise  to say you will do something

skills  abilities

trick  to make someone believe something that is not true

so you can get something you want
water buffalo  a large animal from Asia that farmers
often use to help them do farm work
wisdom  knowledge you get from experience

12

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 National Geographic Learning, © 2021 Cengage Learning, Inc.
a Cengage Company
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein
may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, except as
permitted by U.S. copyright law, without the prior written permission of the
Our World Readers copyright owner.
How Tiger Got His Stripes: A folk tale from Vietnam
Bahrain Edition “National Geographic”, “National Geographic Society” and the Yellow Border
Retold by Anna Olivia Design are registered trademarks of the National Geographic Society

® Marcas Registradas

Director of Development: Sharon Jervis

Editorial Manager: Claire Merchant For permission to use material from this text or product,

Project Manager: Nahla El Geyoushi submit all requests online at cengage.com/permissions

Development Editor: Adele Moss Further permissions questions can be emailed to

permissionrequest@cengage.com
Head of Production: Celia Jones
Senior Content Project Manager: Phillipa Davidson-
Blake
ISBN: 978-0-357-80326-4
Manufacturing Manager: Eyvett Davis
Illustrator: Tom Leonard National Geographic Learning
Cheriton House, North Way,
Design and Composition: Tighe
Andover, Hampshire, SP10 5BE
United Kingdom

Locate your local office at international.cengage.com/region

Visit National Geographic Learning online at ELTNGL.com

Visit our corporate website at www.cengage.com

Student Resources
Go to: www.eltngl.com/bahrainmoers

Printed in Bahrain by AWAL Press

Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2020

978035780326_How_Tiger_Got_His_Stripes_CVR_Docutech.indd 4-5 19/11/2020 14:51

 BRITISH ENGLISH

HOW TIGER GOT HIS STRIPES

How Tiger
A long time ago, Tiger’s fur was all orange. But one day Tiger Got His
was tricked by a man and that trick led to Tiger’s fur getting
stripes. What was the man’s trick?

Created by National Geographic Learning, the Our World readers are six levels of original stories,
folk tales, myths and non-fiction from around the globe. Following the readings are fun facts and
activities that bring the reading experience together in a way that fascinates, educates and informs. A folk tale from Vietnam

LEVEL 5 READERS

The Tale of Thunder and Lightning Two Brothers, Two Rewards

A folk tale from Nigeria A folk tale from Japan Retold by Anna Olivia
How Tiger Got His Stripes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl
A folk tale from Vietnam A myth from Mexico

The Songbirds’ Flute The Tailor and His Coat

Based on a folk tale from Guatemala A folk tale from Russia

How the Milky Way Began Amazing Beaches

Based on a Native American folk tale

The Cave People of the Karawari:

A Disappearing Culture

For more information, please visit

ELTNGL.com/ourworld

Bringing the world to the classroom

and the classroom to life

ELTNGL.com

A PART OF CENGAGE

978035780326_How_Tiger_Got_His_Stripes_CVR_Docutech.indd 2-3 19/11/2020 14:51