Revised

Frank Stockton

The Lady Or The Tiger?

Altered By Saun

Rated: PG - For Tora..er...Tigers and shoujo ai

In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric Uranian king, whose ideas, though

somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Neptunian neighbors,

were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric.

He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at

his will, he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given to self-communing, and, when he and himself agreed upon anything, the thing was done. When every member of

his domestic and political systems moved smoothly in its appointed course, his nature was bland and genial; but, whenever there was a little hitch, and some of his orbs got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, for nothing pleased him so much as

to make the crooked straight and crush down uneven places.

Among the borrowed notions by which his barbarism had become semified was that of the

public arena, in which, by exhibitions of manly and beastly valor, the minds of his

subjects were refined and cultured.

But even here the exuberant and barbaric fancy asserted itself. The arena of the

Uranian king was built, not to give the people an opportunity of hearing the

rhapsodies of dying gladiators, nor to enable them to view the inevitable conclusion

of a conflict between religious opinions and hungry jaws, but for purposes far better

adapted to widen and develop the mental energies of the people. This vast amphitheater,

with its encircling galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its unseen passages, was an

agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtue rewarded, by the

decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.

When a subject was accused of a crime of sufficient importance to interest the king,

public notice was given that on an appointed day the fate of the accused person would

be decided in the king's arena, a structure which well deserved its name, for, although

its form and plan were borrowed from afar, its purpose emanated solely from the brain

of this man, who, every barleycorn a king, knew no tradition to which he owed more

allegiance than pleased his fancy, and who ingrafted on every adopted form of human

thought and action the rich growth of his barbaric idealism.

When all the people had assembled in the galleries, and the king, surrounded by his

court, sat high up on his throne of royal state on one side of the arena, he gave a

signal, a door beneath him opened, and the accused subject stepped out into the

amphitheater. Directly opposite them, on the other side of the enclosed space,

were two doors, exactly alike and side by side. It was the duty and the privilege

of the person on trial to walk directly to these doors and open one of them. They

could open either door they pleased; they were subject to no guidance or influence

but that of the aforementioned impartial and incorruptible chance. If they opened

the one, there came out of it a hungry tiger, the fiercest and most cruel that

could be procured, which immediately sprang upon them and tore them to pieces as a

punishment for their guilt. The moment that the case of the criminal was thus decided, doleful iron bells were clanged, great wails went up from the hired mourners posted on

the outer rim of the arena, and the vast audience, with bowed heads and downcast hearts, wended slowly their homeward way, mourning greatly that one so young and fair, or so

old and respected, should have merited so dire a fate.

2

But, if the accused person opened the other door, there came forth from it a lady,

the most suitable to their years and station that his majesty could select among his

fair subjects, and to this lady they were immediately mated, as a reward for their

innocence. It mattered not that they might already possess a lover or family, or that

their affections might be engaged upon an object of their own selection; the king

allowed no such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme of

retribution and reward. The exercises, as in the other instance, took place immediately,

and in the arena. Another door opened beneath the king, and a barrister, followed by a

band of choristers, and dancing maidens blowing joyous airs on golden horns and treading

an epithalamic measure, advanced to where the pair stood, side by side, and the wedding

of sorts was promptly and cheerily solemnized. Then the gay brass bells rang forth their merry peals, the people shouted glad hurrahs, and the innocent person, preceded by

children strewing flowers on his path, led their new life mate home.

This was the king of Uranus' semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of which door would come the lady;

they opened either they pleased, without having the slightest idea whether, in the next instant, they were to be devoured or mated. On some occasions the tiger came out of

one door, and on some out of the other. The decisions of this tribunal were not only

fair, they were positively determinate: the accused person was instantly punished if they

found themselves guilty, and, if innocent, they were rewarded on the spot, whether

they liked it or not. There was no escape from the judgments of the king's arena.

The institution was a very popular one. When the people of this backward planet gathered together on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether they were to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious life-mating. This element of uncertainty lent an interest

to the occasion which it could not otherwise have attained. Thus, the masses were

entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person have the whole matter in their own hands?

3

This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most florid fancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As is usual in such cases, she was the apple of

his eye, and was loved by him above all humanity. Among his ambassadors was a young

woman of that fineness of blood and highness of station common to the conventional

heroines of romance who love royal maidens. This royal maiden was well satisfied with

her lover, for the aqua-haried lass was beautiful and brave to a degree unsurpassed in

all this kingdom, and she loved her with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to

make it exceedingly warm and strong. This love affair moved on happily for many months,

until one day the king happened to discover its existence. He did not hesitate nor waver

in regard to his duty in the premises. The young Neptunian ambassador was immediately

cast into prison, and a day was appointed for her trial in the king's arena. This, of

course, was an especially important occasion, and his majesty, as well as all the people,

was greatly interested in the workings and development of this trial. Never before had

such a case occurred; never before had a courtier dared to love the lovely blonde daughter

of the king. In after years such things became commonplace enough, but then they were in

no slight degree novel and startling.

The tiger-cages of the kingdom were searched for the most savage and relentless beasts,

from which the fiercest monster might be selected for the arena; and the ranks of maiden youth and beauty throughout the land were carefully surveyed by competent judges in order that the young woman might have a fitting mate in case fate did not determine for her a different destiny. Of course, everybody knew that the deed with which the accused was

charged had been done. She had loved the princess, and neither she, nor any one else,

thought of denying the fact; but the king would not think of allowing any fact of this

kind to interfere with the workings of the tribunal, in which he took such great delight

and satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned out, the young woman would be disposed

of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure in watching the course of events, which would determine whether or not the young maiden had done wrong in allowing herself to love the princess.

4

The appointed day arrived. From far and near the people gathered, and thronged the great galleries of the arena, and crowds, unable to gain admittance, massed themselves against

its outside walls. The king of Uranus and his court were in their places, opposite the

twin doors, those fateful portals, so terrible in their similarity.

All was ready. The signal was given. A door beneath the royal party opened, and the lover

of the princess walked into the arena. Graceful, beautiful, fair, her appearance was

greeted with a low hum of admiration and anxiety. Half the audience had not known so exquisite a lady had lived among them. No wonder the princess loved her! What a terrible thing for her to be there!

As the maiden advanced into the arena she turned, as the custom was, to bow to the king,

but she did not think at all of that royal personage. Her eyes were fixed upon the

princess, who sat to the right of her father. Had it not been for the moiety of

barbarism in her nature it is probable that lady would not have been there, but her

intense and fervid soul would not allow her to be absent on an occasion in which she

was so terribly interested. From the moment that the decree had gone forth that her

lover should decide her fate in the king's arena, she had thought of nothing, night

or day, but this great event and the various subjects connected with it. Possessed

of more power, influence, and force of character than any one who had ever before

been interested in such a case, she had done what no other person had done - she had possessed herself of the secret of the doors. She knew in which of the two rooms,

that lay behind those doors, stood the cage of the tiger, with its open front, and

in which waited the lady. Through these thick doors, heavily curtained with skins

on the inside, it was impossible that any noise or suggestion should come from within

to the person who should approach to raise the latch of one of them. But gold, and

the power of a strong woman's will, had brought the secret to the teal-eyed princess.

And not only did she know in which room stood the maroon haired lady ready to emerge,

all smiling and radiant, should her door be opened, but the princess knew who the lady

was. It was one of the swiftest and handsomest of the damsels of the court who had been selected as the reward of the accused woman, should she be proved innocent of the crime

of aspiring to one so golden; and the princess hated the lady behind the door. Often

had she seen, or imagined that she had seen, this fey creature throwing glances of

admiration upon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glances were perceived, and even returned.

Now and then she had seen them talking together; it was but for a moment or two, but

much can be said in a brief space; it may have been on most unimportant topics, but

how could she know that? The girl was strong, but she had dared to raise her eyes to

the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensity of the savage blood transmitted

to her through long lines of wholly barbaric ancestors, Haruka hated the woman who stood

tall and confident behind that silent door.

5

When her lover turned and looked at her, and her blue eyes met the teal as the princess

sat there, paler and more severe than any one in the vast ocean of anxious faces about her, Michiru saw, by that power of quick perception which is given to those whose souls are

one, that her lover knew behind which door crouched the tiger, and behind which stood

the lady. She had expected her to know it. She understood the blonde's nature, and her

soul was assured that Haruka would never rest until she had made plain to herself this

thing, hidden to all other lookers-on, even to the king. The only hope for Michiru in

which there was any element of certainty was based upon the success of the princess in discovering this mystery; and the moment she looked upon her soulmate, she saw the blonde princess had succeeded, as in her soul she knew the Uranian would succeed.

Then it was that her quick and anxious glance asked the question: "Which?" It was as plain

to Haruka as if Michiru shouted it from where she stood. There was not an instant to be

lost. The question was asked in a flash; it must be answered in another.

Her right arm lay on the cushioned parapet before her. She raised her hand, and made a slight, quick movement toward the right. No one but her lover saw her. Every eye but

hers was fixed on the woman in the arena.

She turned, and with a light and rapid step she walked across the empty space. Every

heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eye was fixed immovably upon that

young woman. Without the slightest hesitation, she went to the door on the right, and

opened it.

Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the

lady ?

The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. It involves a study

of the human heart which leads us through devious mazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way. Think of it, fair reader, not as if the decision of the

question depended upon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric Uranian

princess, her soul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair and jealousy.

She had lost Michiru, but who should have her?

6

How often, in her waking hours and in her dreams, had she started in wild horror, and

covered her face with her hands as she thought of her lover opening the door on the other side of which waited the cruel fangs of the tiger!

But how much oftener had she seen her at the other door! How in her grievous reveries

had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, when she saw Michiru's start of rapturous

delight as she opened the door of the lady Elsa! How her soul had burned in agony when

she had seen the Neptunian rush to meet that woman, with her flushing cheek and

sparkling eye of triumph; when the princess had seen Michiru lead her forth, her

slight frame kindled with the joy of recovered life; when Haruka had heard the glad

shouts from the multitude, and the wild ringing of the happy bells; when she had seen

the barrister, with his joyous followers, advance to the couple, and make them one

before her very eyes; and when she had seen them walk away together upon their path

of flowers, followed by the tremendous shouts of the hilarious multitude, in which

her one despairing shriek was lost and drowned!

Would it not be better for her lover to die at once, and go to wait for Haruka in

the blessed regions of semi-barbaric futurity?

And yet, that awful tiger, those screams, that blood!

Her decision had been indicated in an instant, but it had been made after days

and nights of anguished deliberation. She had known she would be asked, she had

decided what she would answer, and, without the slightest hesitation, she had

moved her hand to the right.

The question of her decision is one not to be lightly considered, and it is not

for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able to answer it. And so I

leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door - the lady, or the tiger?

Alterer's notes:

Any thinkers out there?

So which one was it and why? Back up your answers with manga, anime, or myu. I am very interested:-D Original Fiction Coming very soon. I am trying to finish 4 stories at

once F1-6 is priority.