The Tale of a Tiger

7/25/2019 The Tale of a Tiger

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THE TALE OF A TIGER

by Dario Fo

translated by Ed Emery

[This file was scanned from the printed text. Itmay contain typographical errors still to besorted.]All rights reserved. This text shall not by way oftrade or otherwise be copied, reproduced orrecorded in a retrieval system. Nor shall it belent, resold, hire out or otherwise circulatedwithout the owners specific written consent.!or performance rights, please contact"ed.emery [@] britishlibrary.net#lease be aware that this translation can only beperformed with explicit permission in writing fromthe agency representing $ario !o and !ranca%ame, the $anese&Tolnay agency in %ome.'riginal text copyright ( $ario !oTranslation copyright ( )d )mery

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THE TALE OF A TIGER

by Dario Fo

translated by Ed Emery

INTROD!TION

The first part of tonights show has a positivetheme. Its a hopeful piece, +ust at a time whennegativity and a general collapse of ideals seemto be the dominant forces in our everyday lives.Its called The Tale of a Tiger, and themessage is conveyed by allegory.In fact the first time I performed this piece wasright here in !lorence, and for me that night wassort of try&out. 'n that particular evening, theaudiences involvement in the piece proved veryimportant to me. They gave me a number ofclear and precise pointers which enabled me to

see where the wea- points were and whichsections needed to be cut or altered.


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o, this enabled me to trim the story down. Atfirst it ran for a /uarter of an hour. Now, after aprocess of polishing, correcting, cutting,tightening up, the piece runs to 01 minutes2 Imnot +o-ing. In theatre, tightening a piece up

doesnt necessarily mean shredding it into littlebits.I first heard this story told 3 actually, performed,rather than told 3 four years ago, in 4hina. To beprecise, in hanghai. In that period, there weremany stories li-e this being told in 4hina.5eaving aside the official theatre, the most livelyform of theatre was a theatre completelyun-nown to passing tourists" the popular theatre3 fringe theatre, I suppose you could call it 3which was a real hothouse of imagination,

creativity and humour.I doubt that nowadays this story is stillperformed in public in the way that I saw it told,before an audience of thousands of people,men, women, children.... in a par-.... in thehanghai countryside.The storyteller told his tale in the dialect of thehanghai countryside, a dialect which is spo-enby a minority. A minority of around 67 millioninhabitants2 In 4hina 67 million really is aminority, when you thin- that around half a billion

people spea- the national language.Now, the vowel sounds and the consonantswhich this peasant&actor was producing in hisdialect fascinated me" his sounds and vocaltonalities had little relation with the spo-en4hinese that I had encountered up until then 8islanguage was broader, the sounds were harder,with a tendency to slide into deep, throatyrambling phrasings which, for me, brought tomind the -eenings of the peasants of the #o9alley and the dialect stories of the mountainsand upper valleys of 5ombardy. In other words, I

was on familiar territory.And when, in addition to the sounds, I saw thisextraordinary travelling player using handgestures, arm movements, and moving hiswhole body as an accompaniment andcounterpoint to the sounds [roars, silence,words.... .], the words at first coming thic- andfast and then more leisurely, and then silence 3in short, true pantomime 3 I realised that I wasface to face with a theatre of great importance.And the principal player in this piece was a she&tiger, a tigress.


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The Tigress was the leading lady, and hersupporting cast were a tiger cub and a soldier.:nfortunately, I had some difficulties in gettingthe story explained to me. ;ou see, ourinterpreter was from #e-ing, and didntunderstand a word of the local dialect2

5uc-ily, we were able to find a local person whospo-e the national language well, and so wewere able to get a complete translation of thepiece. That is the translation which I shall nowperform for you. I had already heard of thetheme of this piece, from


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of rice. 8es left on his own. 8e falls asleep. =utas they say, it never rains but it pours. 8e issuddenly awa-ened by a crash of thunder" atremendous storm brea-s all around him. Anavalanche of water falls from the s-ies, and araging river roars up at his feet.

'n all fours, with agonising efforts, he succeedsin scrambling up one of the mountain ridges. 8ereaches a -ind of plateau. 8e swims across araging torrent in order to reach an enormouscave which he sees on the other side of thestream, up in the roc-face. !inally, safe andsound in the cave, he meets.... the tigress.The tigress. And her tiger cub. In 4hina, the she&tiger has a very specific allegorical reference"you say that a woman, or a man, or a nationhas the tigress when they make a stand, at a

time when most people are running away, givingup, ta-ing to their heels, ditching the struggle,copping out, in short, coming to the point wherethey run down both themselves, and everythingin sight.#eople are said to have the tigress when theydont do this, when they hold firm, whenthey resist. And the peasants of hanghai haveanother saying" they ta-e their resistance so faras even to hold burning embers in the palm oftheir hands 3 so that when those who hadpanic-ed and fled later pluc- up courage and

return, they find someone there, someone whohas -ept the embers burning, so that they canbegin to organise again and re+oin the struggle.The tiger also has another allegorical meaning 3and this is perhaps the most important. A personhas the tiger when they never delegateanything to anyone else, when they neverexpect other people to solve their problems forthem 3 even when the person to whom thoseproblems might be delegated is the most valuedof leaders, a leader who has shown hiscapacities on countless occasions, perhaps the

most honest and trusted of #arty secretaries...No2 Never2 #eople who have the tiger arethose who underta-e to be inside the situation,to play their parts, to monitor and watch, to bepresent and resposible to the ultimate degree.Not out of any sense of suspicion, but in order toavoid that blind fidelity which is a cancer, astupid and negative element of the classstruggle, the enemy of both reason andrevoution.That, then, is the allegory of the tiger. I am nowgoing to tell this story... in 4hinese... because I

have discovered that this particular 4hinesedialect is fairly simple and easy for people to


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understand, since a lot of the words it uses arevery onomatopoeic... and also the story is full ofincidents which can be conveyed veryade/uately by gesture... All I need do is disguisethe words by adding here and there a word ortwo of our own dialect 3 the dialect of the #o

9alley 3 and you will be absolutely amaed todiscover that you understand virtually everythingI say. ;ou will imagine that the story is being toldin the dialect of the peasants of the 9eneto of5ombardy, of )milia and #iedmont... but in fact itwill be pure 4hinese2The wonder of theatre2 5ets begin.

BBBBBBB The Tale of a Tiger BBBBBBBThe soldier spea-s"

>hen we came down from e marched,loaded with pac-s and baggage. >e were dirtyand we were tired. And we pressed on, and ourhorses couldnt stand the pace, and the horsesdied, and we used to eat them, and we used toeat the don-eys too, when they died, and weused to eat dogs, and, when we ran out ofanything else to eat, we also used to eat cats,

liards and rats2 ;ou can imagine the dysenteryafterwards2 >e had the shits so bad that alongthat road, Id say that for centuries to come youllfind the tallest, greenest grass of anywhere inthe world2ome of us were dying, because 4hiang @aihe-s soldiers, the white bandits, were shootingat us.... from all sides.... every day.... >e werecaught in a trap.... wed find them lying in wait forus in the villages, and theyd poison the well&water, and we were dying, dying, dying.

>ell, we got to hanghai, and we continued outthe other side. =efore long we saw theenormous 8imalaya


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$ont worry, were here. >ell loo- after you....e come down from our loo-&outs.=ut now whos going to guard ourrearsC>e came down from our sentry&posts, verynervous. >e too- a careful loo- down the valleyfloor. Then, all of a sudden, +ust as we wereentering the mouth of the gorge, those banditssuddenly popped out, up above, and startedshooting at us" =lim, blam, blam....2 I saw twobig roc-s. I dived in between them, under cover,and started shooting" blam2 I loo-ed out.... andrealised that my left leg was still stic-ing out

from behind the roc-.8ell, lets hope they dont notice my leg.=5A


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their noses bloc-ed so as not to smell thestench.'ne night, we were within reach of what theycall the ?reat ?reen ea, and all night Id beenscreaming, swearing and shouting for my

mother. In the morning, one of the soldiers, mycomrade, who was as dear to me as my brother,pulled out an enormous pistol. 8e pointed ithere. [He points to his forehead.] ;oure in toomuch pain, its too much to see you suffering li-ethis, let me do it.... +ust one bullet, and itll all beover.Than- you for your solidarity and yourunderstanding, I said. I realise that its saidwith the best of intenions, but I thin- well leavethat for another time. $ont go worrying yourself.Ill -ill myself, myself, when the time comes. I

want to fight, fight to live2 ?o ahead, leave me,because I can see that you cant go on carryingme li-e this. ?o on, go on2 Gust leave me a gun,a blan-et and a bit of rice in a mess tin2And so off they went. They left me. And as theystruggled through the mud of that green sea, Ibegan to shout after them"8ey, comrades, comrades.... 8ell....2 $ont tellmy mother that I died putrefied. Tell her that itwas a bullet, and that I was laughing when it hitme2 8a, ha2 8ey2

=ut they didnt turn round. They pretended thatthey hadnt heard me, so that they wouldnt haveto turn round and let me see. And I -new thereason" their faces were all strea-ed withtears....I dropped to the ground. I wrapped myself in theblan-et, and I fell asleep.I dont -now why, but as I slept, I had anightmare. I dreamt that the s-y was full ofclouds, and they suddenly split open, and a

great sea of water came gushing down.>hoomf2 A huge, frightening crash of thunder2 Iwo-e up. It really was a sea2 I was in the middleof storm, and all the rivers and streams werebrea-ing their ban-s, and flooding the valley.The water was rising fast" splish, splash,splish.... And before I -new it, it was up to my-nees.8ell, instead of dying from gangrene, Im goingto end up drownded2lowly, slowly, slowly, I clambered up a steep

slope covered in scree. I had to hang on tobranches with my teeth, +ust to get a hold. I


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bro-e all my nails. 'nce I was up on the ridge, Istarted running, dragging my useless leg behindme, so as to get across the plateau. I dived intoa raging stream, and swam and swam till Ireached the other side. I clambered up the ban-,and all of a sudden, right in front of me.... 8ey2 A

big cave2 A cavern. I threw myself inside"aved2 Im not going to die drowned.... Imgoing to die of gangrene2I loo- around. Its dar-. ater comes out....chploc-.... from its mouth" its stone dead,drowned.Theres another tiger cub too, wobbling aroundits mothers legs, loo-ing li-e its got a melon inits belly. This one is dragging a bellyful of water

too. The tigress raises her head. he ta-es asniff" sniff, sniff.... niffing the air in the cave....8ell, if she li-es high meat, Im done for2he fixes on me.... she comes towards me....8ere she comes.... That head, getting bigger,and bigger.... 2 I feel my hair beginning to standon end, so stiff that it ma-es a noise....24reeea-.... Then my other hairs start bristlingtoo.... in my ears, in my nose.... and other hairsas well2 A brush2hes coming, shes coming, here she is.... next

to me.... he sniffs me all over.


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%oooar2And off she went, slin-ing off to the bac- of thecave, where she lay down. Then she grabbedher son, the cub, and pulled him against herbelly. I loo-ed" her teats were full of mil-, almost

full to bursting, beause it must have been daysand days that nobody had suc-ed mil- fromthem, with all that water flooding down outside.In addition to which, one of her children, theother tiger cub, was dead, drowned.... o, themother shoved the little ones head next to herteat and said"%oooar2And the tiger cub"%ooar2

%oooar2%oooar2%ooar2%oooar2A family row2 That poor -id of a tiger cub wasright" he was li-e a little barrel, filled to the brimwith water.... what do you expect.... C Anyway,the tiger cub ran off to the bac- of the cave....

and started ma-ing a fuss.%ooar2The tigress is furious2 he gets up, turns round,and fixes her beady eye.... on me2 'n meCC22'h hell, she gets angry at her son, and then shecomes to ta-e it out one meC2 >hats it got to dowith meC 8ey, now loo-, Im not even one of thefamily2 4reeea-2 4reeea-2 [He imitates thesound of his hairs standing on end again.] Thebrush2

he comes over to me, with her great bigheadlamp eyes. he turns sideways on, and,smac-2 I get a teat in my face.>hat -ind of way is that to -ill people, hittingthem with your teatChe turns her head to loo- at me, and says"%ooar2As if to say" uc-2

>ith two fingers I ta-e her teat, and go to put itin my mouth.


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Than- you. If it ma-es you any happier... [Hemimes taking a little sip from the teat.]I should never have done it2 he turned round,with a mean loo- on her face"

%ooar2?od help anyone who spurns the hospitality oflady tigers2 They go wild2 Animals, they are2 o Itoo- her teat and... schloop schloop, schloop...[He mimes drinking fast and greedily from herteat.] hatC ;ou still hereC

And the tiger cub passes comment too"


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%oooar.And off they went to the bac- of the cave. Thetigress lay down. =y now, the cubs belly was alittle less swollen with water, but every now and

then" =uurp2 8e sic-ed up a drop or two, andthen laid himself down next to his mum. 8ismum gently too- hold of his head, and pushed itclose to her teat"%oooar2 [He mimes the tiger-cub refusing todrink.]The tigress"%oooar2%oooar2

The tiger cub went scuttling off. 8ed hadenough of li/uid refreshment2 [He mimes thetigress turning and looking at the soldier. Andthe soldier, resignedly, goes over to drink hismilk.]chloop, schloop, schloop. >hat a life2 Andwhile I was suc-ing on her teats, all of a suddenshe began lic-ing my wound"'h hell, shes trying me for taste2 If she decidesshe li-es me, while Im suc-ing her at one end,

shell be eating me from the other2=ut no, she was lic-ing. 5ic-ing. he was seeingto my wound.he started suc-ing out all the poison in theswelling. creee-... plosh2 he spat it out2 hespat it all out2 =liyaa2 8ell, what a splendid tiger2he was spreading her saliva, that special tigersaliva, all over the wound. And all of a sudden Iremembered that tiger balm is a wonderful,miraculous healing agent, a medicine. Iremembered that when I was a -id, in my

village, we used to have little old men cominground, fol- doctors, medicine men, who wouldturn up with little pots full of tiger balm. Andtheyd go round saying"4ome on, ladies2 4ant you produce mil-C Thensmear your breasts with this balm, and, presto2;oull get two big breasts, full to bursting2 Andyou old fol-, are your teeth falling outC 'ne wipeover the gums... and your teeth will stay put li-efangs2 Any of you got boils, warts, scabs... aninfectionC 'ne drop, and away they go2 4uresevery illness2


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Its true, that balm really was miraculous2 And itreally was tiger balm, it wasnt a tric-. They wentloo-ing for it themselves. Gust thin- of thecourage of those old fellows, those doctorsD offthey went, all by themselves, to ta-e tigerssaliva, from inside the tigers mouth, while she

was sleeping, with her mouth wide open.chploo-...2 chploo-2 [He mimes rapidlygathering the saliva.] And off they went. ;oucould always recognise one of these doctors,because they usually had one arm slightlyshorter than the other2 [He mimes a person withone arm shorter than the other.] Industrialin+uries2Anyway, maybe it was my imagination, but, asshe was lic-ing and suc-ing at me, I felt myblood thinning out all over again, and my big toebegan to feel li-e it felt before, and my -nee

began to loosen up...


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+ust wal- by. 'h no, he was very careful2 8ewal-ed by li-e this.[ith his arms and legs rigid, moving one infront of the other alternately, he mimes the tigerwalking sideways-on, careful to keep a safe

distance, and covering himself from any furtherblows to the testicles.]o, the tigress was asleep. The tiger cub fellasleep too, and I followed soon after. That night,I slept a deep, deep sleep. I wasnt in pain anymore. I dreamt that I was at home, with my wife,dancing, and with my mother, singing. In themorning, when I wo-e, there was no sign eitherof the tigress or of her cub. Theyd already goneout.=ut what -ind of family is thisC They dont stay

at home for a moment2 And now whos going toloo- after my woundC Those two are capable ofstaying out and about for days on end.I waited. Night came. till they didnt return.>hat -ind of mother do you call thatC A child asyoung as that, and shes ta-ing him out, wal-ingthe streets all night2 >hats going to become ofhim when he grows upC2 A little animal2The following day, they returned, at dawn. Atdawn2 Gust li-e that, as if nothing had happened.

The tigress had an enormous animal in hermouth. I dont -now what it was. A huge goatthat shed -illed, about the sie of a cow... withhuge great horns2 The tiger came into the cave"slam, she tossed it to the ground. The cubparades in front of me, and says"%ooar2As if to say" It was me that -illed it2[He shows his fist threateningly, and mimes thereaction of the tiger cub, who is terrified and

starts walking sideways-on.]Anyway, bac- to the goat. The tigress whips outa huge claw. he tosses the goat on its bac-,with its feet up in the air. critch... a deep gash.criitch again. he tears open its wholestomach, its belly. he pulls out its innards, all itsintestines, its heart, its spleen... criitch...scratch... she scrapes it clean as a whistle... andthe tiger cub... plip, plop... leapt right inside2 Andthe tigress... a flaming fury2 %ooar2;ou see, you should never climb into a tigers

lunch... They get terribly upset2


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Then the tigress buried her whole head in theanimals belly, in the empty stomach... And thetiger cub was in there too... >hat a terribledin... 2 ;um... ;um... lurp.... cric-... )nough toburst your eardrums2

>ithin an hour they had eaten everything insight2 All the bones gnawed clean. All that wasleft was part of the animals rear end 3 its tail, itsthigh, its -nee, and the great big hoof at the end.The tigress turned round and said"%oooar.As if to say" Are you hungryChe pic-ed up the leg, and tossed it over in mydirection"

%ooar...As if to say" Try this little snac-.[He mimes being unable to handle the situation .];u-... 2 ell, whats upC ;ouve eaten your dirty

disgusting meat, havent youC All raw anddripping with bloodC >ell, if you dont mind, I


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prefer mine coo-ed. o scram2 [He mimes thetigress, cowering, frightened.]'ne should always get the upper hand over thefemale of the pecies2 )ven if she is wild2 o I satmyself down with my two stones.. critch...

critch... and once again, hey presto... !ire2 Thefire caught the grass, then the leaves, and theflames started rising" niiice... 2 And all the fatbegan to roast, and the melted fat went downinto the fire... And a thic- cloud of blac- smo-erose to the cave roof... and drifted towards thebac- of the cave. And as the cloud of smo-ereached the tiger, she went"Atchoo2 [A roar which suggests a snee!e.]Is the smo-e bothering youC >ell scram, then2And you, Tiggles2 [He threatens the tiger cub

with his fist, and mimes the frightened cubwalking out, sideways on.] 'ut2And I roast and roast and baste and baste andturn and turn. chloop... creee-... #ssss... =utthen I thin- it doesnt /uite smell right.If only I could find something to flavour it with28ey, thats right2 'utside I remember seeingsome wild garlic.I go out. In the clearing there, yes, right in front

of the cave... I pic- a good handful of wild garlic.cric-... Then I see a green shoot 3 I pull it up">ild onion2And I find some hot peppers... I ta-e a fla-e ofbone. I ma-e some cuts in the thigh, and I stuffthe cloves of garlic inside, together with theonion, and the peppers. Then I go loo-ing forsome salt, because sometimes you find roc- saltin cave. I find saltpetre.>ell, that will have to do, although saltpetres a

bit bitter sometimes. >hats more, theres theproblem that it might explode with the fire. =utnever mind. Ill +ust have to watch out.I stuff some pieces of saltpetre into the cuts. Andin fact, after a while, the flames... =lim... blam...crac-le... And the tigress"%oooar. [He mimes the tigress gettingfrightened.]This is mens business2 ?et out, out of my-itchen2


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%ound and round and round goes the meat... =ynow its giving off a lovely clean smo-e. Andwhat an aroma2 After an hour, my friend, thesmell that came off that meat was divine.8aha, what a meal2

creee-" I pull off a strip of meat. [He mimestasting it.] chloop, schloop.8ey, thats good2Its been years and years since I last ate as wellas this. Its really tasty, delicate, sweet.I loo-ed round, and there was the tiger cub... 8ehad +ust come in. And he stood there, lic-ing hiswhis-ers.

'h I see... so you want a taste tooC =ut yourenot going to li-e this stuff. $o you really wantsomeC 5oo-. [He mimes cutting a piece of meatand throwing it to the tiger, who gulps it down.]8opla2The tiger cub had a taste, swallowed it, and thensaid"%oooar.>as that goodC $o you li-e it... C ;ou bad&mannered thing22 8ere, ta-e this, hopla2 [Again

he mimes cutting off some meat and throwing it,and the tiger cub stuffing it down.]%oooar... wallow... ;um... 'ooh... 2Than- you, than- you... ;es, all my owncoo-ing. >ould you li-e some moreC >atch out,because if your mother finds out that youvebeen eating this stuff...2I cut off a nice piece of fillet"Ill -eep this bit for myself, but Im going to leave

the rest, because theres too much for me. 8ereyou are, you can have the leg. [He mimesthrowing the goat's leg to the tiger cub .]=lam... 8e got it full in the face, and it sent himflying. 8e pic-ed it up, and started dragging itaround, li-e a drun-ard. Then his mother turnedup" what a row2%oooar... >hat are you eating there... thatdisgusting burnt meatC 4ome here, give ithere... %oooar.

%oooar. 'ooh. %ooar.


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A piece of the meat happens to end up in themothers mouth. he swallows it. he li-es it.%oooar... ;um... %ooar2 said the mother.%oooar... ;um2 answered the tiger cub. [Hemimes the mother and the cub fighting over the

meat.] A /uarrel22cree-... chloop... Nyum...I as- you2 The bone2 tripped bare2 Then thetigress turns towards me, and says"%oooar, isnt there any moreC8ey, this is mine2 ["ointing to the piece of meatthat he had cut off shortly before .]As I was eating, the tigress came close to me... I

thought that she wanted to eat my meat, butinstead she was coming over to lic- my woundto ma-e it better. >hat a wonderful person2 helic-ed me, and then she went over to her part ofthe cave. he sprawled out on the ground. 8er-id was already asleep, and I soon fell asleepmyself.>hen I wo-e up in the morning, the tigers hadalready gone out. This was getting to be a habit2I waited all day, and there was still no sign ofthem. They didnt even turn up for supper. I wasgetting a bit nervous2 The day after, thy still

hadnt come bac-2>hos going to lic- meC >hos going to loo-after my woundC ;ou cant go off leaving peopleon their own at home li-e this2They finally turned up three days later.Now Im going to have a showdown2Instead I stood there, struc- speechless" thetigress came in, and in her mouth she had awhole animal, double the sie of the last one2 A

wild bison, or something, I dont -now what itwas2 And the tiger cub was helping her to carryit, too. =oth of them came into the cave...>hoomf, sideways on... as if drun- with theeffort... >hoomf.. they came over to me. Thud...[He mimes the tigers putting the dead animal infront of him.#

The tigress says"#ant... #ant... [He imitates the panting of thetigress.] And then"

%oooar.


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As if to say" 4oo- that2[He makes as if to tear his hair, in desperation.]>hat a terrible thing2 ;ou should never let tigersdevelop bad habits2

=ut, excuse me, tiger, Im afraid youvemisunderstood. ;ou dont thin- that Im going tostand here, getting scorched, slaving over a hotstove, while you go out en+oying yourself, ehC>hat do you thin- Ive becomeC A housewifeC2[He mimes the tiger rearing up as if to attackhim.]%oooar2top2 8ey, hey... 8ey2 At least we can tal- aboutit, cant weC >hats the matter, dont we tal-

about things any moreC 5ets have a bit ofdialectics... 2 Alright, alright... 8ey... 2 $ont get allwor-ed up about it2 Alright, Ill be the coo-... Illdo the coo-ing. =ut youre going to have to goand get the wood.%oooarC [He mimes the tigress pretending notto understand.]$ont play dumb with me. ;ou -now what woodis, dont you2 5oo-, come outside here. ;ou seethose things stic-ing upC Thats wood. =ring allthose bits in here.

he had indeed understood. he set to straightaway, gathering wood, all the stumps and trun-s,going to and fro, so that after an hour, the cavewas half full.And hey, you, tiger cub2 A lovely life, ehC >ithyour hands in your poc-etsC [$urning to theaudience.]8e really did have his hands in his poc-ets2 8ehad his claws tuc-ed in, and, arms a-imbo, hewas standing with his paws on two blac- tiger

stripes, one here and one here. [He puts hishands on his hips.] Gust as if he had his hands inhis poc-ets24ome on2 >or-2 Ill tell you what youre going tohave to do" onion, wild garlic, wild pepper, all thetrimmings.%oooarCC;ou dont -now what Im tal-ing aboutC Alrightthen, Ill show you. 5oo-, over there, that isonion, and this is a pepper.


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The poor thing spent ages going to and fro, withhis mouth full of garlic, pepper and onions...8a... 2 And after two or three days, his breathsmelt so overpowering that you couldnt get nearhim. >hat a stin-2

And there I was, all day long, over the fire,roasting. I was getting burnt to a frale... hat a life2 And thetigers 3 they would eat, then go for a piss, andthen come bac- to sleep. I as- you" what -ind ofa life was thatC2Anyway, one night when I was feeling scorchedall over, I told myself"

Thats enough... 2 Ive had enough. Im leaving.>hile the two of them were sleeping, fed tobursting, half drun- with food, which I had doneon purpose, I crept off on all fours towards thecave exit. I was +ust about to go out, I wasalmost out... when the tiger cub wo-e up andstarted yelling"%oooar...


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8ey... #eople2I ran tumbling down the hillside.Im safe, people2 Im alive2 Im a soldier of the

!ourth Army, thats what I am... No sooner did they see me arrive than theybegan shouting"Its $eath2 A ghost2And they all ran off into their little houses. Andthey loc-ed themselves in, barring and chainingtheir doors.=ut why... what do you mean, a ghost... No,people...

I passed in front of a glass window, andhappened to catch sight of my reflection. Iscared myself silly" my hair was all white andstanding on end. ham2


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hile I was telling my story, they stood there,giving each other meaningful loo-s, as if to say"

#oor fellow, hes brains gone for a wal-... 8emust have had a terrible fright, the poor devilsgone mad... And I replied"$ont you believe meC=ut yes, yes, of course we do. Its normal todrin- mil- from tigers teats... )veryone drin-smil- from tigers teats2 %ound these parts thereare people who grew up drin-ing mil- fromtigers. )very now and then you see them going

off. >here are you goingC To drin- mil- from atigers tits. Not to mention coo-ed meat2 'h...8ow they love it2 'h yes, tigers are real gluttonsfor their coo-ed meat22 In fact, weve set up acanteen, specially for tigers... They come down,specially, every wee-, so as to eat with us2I got the impression that they were ta-ing themic-ey, a bit.At that moment, we heard a tiger, roaring"%ooar. A mighty roar2 :p on the mountainsideyou could see the profile of two tigers. The

tigress, and the tiger cub. The tiger cub by nowwas almost as big as his mother.


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And I even lic-ed you2 %oooar. >hich issomething that I wouldnt even have done for myown man... for one of my own family... %oooar.And you wal-ed out and left me. %oooar. Andyou taught us how to eat coo-ed meat, so thatnow every time... %oooar... that we eat raw

meat, we want to throw up... and we getdysentery... and were sic- for wee-s... %ooar2And to this, I replied"%oooar. >ell, so whatC $ont forget that I savedyou too, by drin-ing your mil-, becauseotherwise you would have burst... %oooar2 Andwhat about when I stood there, coo-ing andslaving, with my balls getting all scorched anddried up, ehC %oooar2 And you, there, behaveyourself, because, even if you are grown upnow... [He threatens the tiger cub with his fist.]

Then, you -now how these things are, when afamily loves each other... >e made our peace. Igave her a little tic-le under the chin... Thetigress gave me a lic-... and the tiger cub gaveme his paw... And I gave him a wallop.. And Ipulled his mothers tail a bit... And then I gaveher a whac- on the tits, which she li-es... and a-ic- in the bolloc-s for the tiger cub, and he waspleased too. [$urning to the people locked intheir houses.] Alright2 %ows over. >eve madepeace again... $ont be afraid, dont be afraid2[$o the tigers.]

8ey, youd better -eep all your teeth in, li-e this.:mmm. [He completely covers his own teethwith his lips.] $ont let them see them. :mmm.And -eep your claws in your paws. 8ide yourclaws, under your armpits... >al- on yourelbows, li-e this. [He indicates how.]The people began to come out... A couple ofthem stro-ed the tigresss head...'h, isnt she lovely... 2 'oochy coochycoochy... And loo- at the little one... 4oochy&coo...

)ndless lic-ings, little tic-les, head&scratchings,and for the tiger cub too. Then the children, fourof the children, got up on the tigresss bac-. Theour of them got up there, and, schloop, schloop,schloop... the tigress wal-ed to and fro, li-e ahorse. Then she lay down, and stretched out.Then four other young lads grabbed the tigercubs tail, and started dragging him off. [Hemimes the tiger cub being dragged backwards,and trying to stop himself by digging his clawsinto the ground.]

%oooar.


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And I was there, wal-ing behind, to -eep an eyeon him. [aving his fist.] =ecause tigers havelong memories2Then they began to play, rolling around anddoing somersaults. ;ou should have seen them"

they played all day, with the women, and withthe children, and with the dogs, and with thecats, although every now and then one of thecats disappeared, but nobody noticed, becausethere were so many of them anyway2'ne day, while they were there romping around,we heard the voice of one of the peasants, alittle old fellow, coming down from themountains, yelling"8elp, people, help2 The white bandits havearrived at my village2 Theyre -illing all our

horses, theyre -illing our cows. Theyre carryingoff our pigs... and theyre carrying off our womentoo. 4ome and help us... bring your rifles...And the people replied"=ut we havent got any rifles2=ut we do have the tigers2 said I.o we ta-e the tigers... #lod... plod... pod...scramble... scramble... >e go up the hill, and wego down the other side, to the other village.

There were the soldiers of 4hiang @ai he-,shooting, stealing, looting and -illing.The tigers2%oooar2The minute they saw these two beasts andheard them roaring, the soldiers of 4hiang @aihe- dropped their trousers, shat on theirshoes... and off hey ran2And from that day on, every time that 4hiang @ai

he-s men arrived in one of the nearby villages,they used to come and call us"The tigers2And off wed go. ometimes they used to turn upfrom two different places at the same time. Theywanted us all over the region. They even used tocome and boo- us a wee- in advance. 'netime, twelve villages turned up all at once...>hat were we going to doC>eve only got two tigers... >e cant be

everywhere at once... >hat are we going to doC


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!a-e ones2 >ell ma-e fa-e tigers2 I said>hat do you mean, fa-eCimple. >eve got the model here. >ell, wema-e heads out of a mixture of glue and paper,

papier machK. >e ma-e a mas-. >e ma-eholes for the eyes, +ust the same as the tiger andthe tiger cub, and then we ma-e a hinged +aw.'ne person goes inside, li-e this, in the head,and goes" /uin-... s/uin-... s/uin-... movingtheir arms... Then another one gets in behindthe first one, and then a third one, behind, withhis arm out behind, to be the tail, li-e this. Then,to end up with, we need a piece of cloth to goover the top, a yellow cloth. All yellow, with blac-stripes. And wed better ma-e sure to cover theirlegs, because six legs for one tiger is a bitexcessive. Then were going to have to roar. o,

now were going to have roaring lessons. 5etshave you, over here. All those who are going tobe fa-e tigers, over here. >ere going to startlessons, and the tigers will be our teachers.4ome on. 5ets hear how well you can roar22%oar2 There you are. Now, you, repeat. [Heturns to one of the peasants.]%ooar2Again.

%ooar.5ouder. 5isten to the tiger cub.%oooar2Again.%oooar.Again. 5ouder2%oooar.

In chorus2 [He begins conducting like theconductor of an orchestra.]%ooooarrr2All day long there was such a rac-et in thevillage that a poor old man who was passing by,a traveller, was found stone dead, behind a wall.8e died from fright. [He mimes someone fro!enstiff, like a statue.]=ut this time, when 4hiang @ai he-s soldiers

came bac- again they saw, they heard, and theyscreamed"


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The tigers222%oooarrr2'ff they ran, and they didnt stop till they got to

the sea. And then, one of the #artys politicalcommissars came to see us, and applauded us,and said">ell done, well done2 This invention of the tigeris extraordinary. The people has a degree ofinventiveness and imagination, a creativity thatyoull not find anywhere else in the world. >elldone2 >ell done2 8owever, from now on, youreally cant -eep the tigers with you. ;oure goingto have to send them bac- to the forest, as theywere before.

=ut whyC >e li-e our tigers... were friends...were comrades... They protect us, and theresno need... >e cannot allow it. Tigers are anarchisticallyinclined. They lac- dialectics. >e cannot assigna role in the #arty to tigers, and if they have noplace in the #arty, then they have no place at thebase either. They have no dialectics. 'bey the#arty. Ta-e the tigers bac- to the forest.o we agreed"

'-, then, well ta-e them bac- to the forest.=ut we didnt. Instead, we put them in a chic-encoop. >e too- out the chic-ens, and put thetigers in instead. The tigers on the chic-ensperch, li-e this... [He mimes tigers swinging toand fro on a perch.] And when the #artybureaucrats came by, we had already taught thetigers what they had to do"4oc-&a&doodle&doo2 [He imitates the crowingof a cockerel.]

The #arty bureaucrat too- one loo-, scratchedhis head, and said" 'bviously a tiger coc-, andaway he went.And +ust as well that we had -ept the tigers,because, a short while after, the Gapanesearrived2 Thousands of them, little fellows, reallymean, with bandy legs, their bums trailing alongthe ground, with great big swords and enormouslong rifles. >ith white flags, with a red circle inthe middle, on their rifles, and another flag ontheir helmets, and another flag up their bums,with another red circle and the rays of the rising

sun2


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The tigers222%ooarr222They chuc-ed the flags from their rifles, and theychuc-ed the flags from their helmets2 All that

was left was the one up their bums. Loom...whoosh... they ran off, li-e a load of chic-ens2This time a new #arty leader turned up, and hetold us">ell done, you did well to disobey that other#arty commissar, the last time, because, apartfrom anything else, he was a revisionist, acounter&revolutionary. ;ou did well... 2 ;ou mustalways -eep the tigers present, when the enemyis around. =ut as from now on, you wont needthem any more. The enemy has gone... Ta-e the

tigers bac- into the forest now2>hat, againC'bey the #arty2Is this because of the dialecticsC;es indeed2Alright, fair enough2=ut we didnt. >e still -ept them in their chic-en

coop. And +ust as well, because once again4hiang @ai he-s men turned up, armed by theAmericans" with their artillery and their tan-s.They came pouring down. Thousands,thousands of them.The tigers222%oooarr2And off they ran, li-e the wind2 >e chased themoff to the other side of the sea. And now therewere no more enemies. No more at all. And

once again all the party leaders arrived. All theleadership, with their flags in their hands... Andthe flags were waving... and they wereapplauding us2 The fellows from the #arty, andthose from the Army. And the highercoordinating intermediary cadres. And thehigher, higher intermediary central coordinatingcadres. All of them, applauding and shouting">ell done2 >ell done2 >ell done2 ;ou wereright to disobey. The tiger must always remainwith the people, because it is part of the people,an invention of the people. The tiger will always

be of the people... In a museum... No. In a oo...It can live there2


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>hat do you mean, in a ooC'bey2 ;ou dont need them now, any more.Theres no need for the tigress now, because wedont have any more enemies. Theres +ust the

#eople, the #arty, and the Army. And the #eopleand the #arty and the Army are one and thesame thing. Naturally, we have a leadership,because if you dont have a leadership, youdont have a head, and if theres no head, thenone is missing that dimension of expressivedialectic which determines a line of conductwhich naturally begins from the top, but thendevelops at the base, where it gathers anddebates the propositions put forward by the top,not as an ine/uality of power, but as a sort ofseries of determinate and invariate e/uations,because they are applied in a factive

coordinative horiontal mode 3 which is alsovertical 3 of those actions which are posed in thepositions ta-en up in the theses, and which arethen developed from the base, in order to returnfrom the base to the leadership, but as betweenthe base and the leadership there is always apositive and reciprocal relationship ofdemocracy... .T8) TIIII?)%2 [He mimes the peopleattacking the "arty leaders.]Aaaaaargh2

Ends

The Tale of a Tiger

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Transcript of The Tale of a Tiger