Tuesday's Straits Times (15 Feb) carried this amazing story of how an aboriginal man, hunting for squirrels deep in the jungle in Perak, Malaysia, himself became hunted -- by a tiger. He tried to climb up a tree, but was dragged down by the beast and faced certain death.
But his wife, who was cooking a meal in their jungle settlement home, heard a tiger's roar and a man's cries, and she sensed that her husband was in danger. Without hesitation, she rushed out to his aid, ladle still in her hand.
Somehow, when I read the story, I thought of William Blake's awesome poem, The Tiger (Tiger, tiger, burning bright). With profuse apologies to the great poet, I penned the following lines:
Tiger, tiger, turned in fright
Whacked by ladle in the night
Stalked, trapped, man thought he'd die
In jungle dense, nowhere to flee
But cries heard, wife did fly
Faced the beast, eye to eye
Ladle struck! Beast lost its fire
Love quelled fear, again she struck!
Beast met its match, from one brave heart
It backed, turned tail, knew it was beat
Saved, man got back on his feet
Tiger, tiger, turned in fright
Whacked by ladle in the night
A mortal hand quenched its ire
Dared tame its fearful symmetry
To see the actual poem, here's one link:
http://www.bartleby.com/101/489.html
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