The Lady or the Tiger Audiobook short story by Frank R. Stockton Learn English through Story
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the lady or the tiger
by frank r stockton
in the very old olden time there lived a
semi-barbaric king
whose ideas though somewhat polished and
sharpened by the progressiveness of
distant latin neighbors
were still large florid and untrammeled
as became the half of him which was
barbaric
he was a man of exuberant fancy and with
all 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 moves 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 notion by which his
barbarism had become simified
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 in barbaric
fancy asserted itself
the arena of the 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 the 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 a
pointed 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 barlikorn king knew no
tradition to which he owed more
allegiance than pleased his fancy and
who engrafted on every adopted form of
human thought in 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 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 him
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
he could open either door he pleased
he was subject to no guidance or
influence but that of the aforementioned
impartial and incorruptible chance if he
opened one there came out of it a hungry
tiger the fiercest and most cruel that
could be procured which immediately
sprang upon him and tore him to pieces
as a punishment for his guilt
the moment that the case of the criminal
was thus decided
doleful iron bells were clanged
great wells went up from the hired
mourners posted on the outer rim of the
arena and the vast audience with bowed
heads and downcast hearts
winded slowly their homeward way
mourning greatly that one so young and
fair or so old and respected should have
merited so dire a fate
but if the accused person opened the
other door
there came forth from it a lady
the most suitable to his years in
station that his majesty could select
among his fair subjects
and to this lady he was immediately
married as a reward of his innocence
it mattered not that he might already
possess a wife and family or that his
affections might be engaged upon an
object of his own selection
the king allowed no such subordinate
arrangements to interfere with his great
scheme of retribution and reward
the exercise is as in the other instance
took place immediately and in the arena
another door opened beneath the king and
a priest followed by a band of
choristers and dancing maidens blowing
joyous heirs on golden horns and
treading an epithalamic measure advanced
to where the pair stood side by side and
the wedding was promptly and cheerily
solomonized
then the gay brass bells rang forth
their merry peels the people shouted
glad haras and the innocent man preceded
by children strewing flowers on his path
led his bride to his home
this was the king’s semi-barbaric method
of administering justice
its perfect fairness is obvious
the criminal could not know out of which
door would come the lady
he opened either he pleased without
having the slightest idea whether in the
next instant he was to be devoured or
married
on some occasions the tiger came out of
one door
and on some out of the other
the decisions of the tribunal were not
only fair they were positively
determinant
the accused person was instantly
punished if he found himself guilty
and if innocent he was rewarded on the
spot
whether he 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 gathered together on one
of the great trial days they never knew
whether they were to witness a bloody
slaughter or a hilarious wedding
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 his own hands
this semi-barbaric king had a daughter
as blooming as his most floored 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 courtiers was a young man of
that fineness of blood and lowness of
station common to the conventional
heroes of romance who love royal maidens
this royal maiden was well satisfied
with her lover for he was handsome and
brave to a degree unsurpassed in all
this kingdom
and she loved him with an order 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 youth was immediately cast into
prison
and a day was appointed for his 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 subject dare to love
the daughter of the king
and 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 beast 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 man might have a fitting
bride in case fate did not determine for
him a different destiny
of course everybody knew that the deed
with which the accused was charged had
been done
he had loved the princess
neither he she nor anyone 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
youth 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 man had done wrong in allowing
himself to love the princess
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 mass themselves against its
outside walls
the king 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
tall
beautiful
fair
his appearance was greeted with a low
hum of admiration and anxiety
half the audience had not known so grand
a youth had lived among them
no wonder the princes loved him
what a terrible thing for him to be
there
as the youth advanced into the arena he
turned as the custom was to bow to the
king
but he did not think at all of that
royal personage
his 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 possible
that
lady would not have been there
but her intense and fervent 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 his
fate in the king’s arena she had thought
of nothing night or day but this great
event in the various subjects connected
with it
possessed of more power influence and
force of character than anyone 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 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 woman’s will
had brought the secret to the princess
and not only did she know in which room
stood the lady ready to emerge all
blushing and radiant should her door be
opened
but she knew who the lady was
it was one of the fairest and loveliest
of the damsels of the court who had been
selected as the reward of the accused
youth
should he be proved innocent of the
crime of aspiring to one so far above
him
and the princess hated her
often she had seen
or imagined that she had seen this fair
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 lovely 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 holy barbaric ancestors
she hated the woman who blushed and
trembled behind that silent door
when her lover turned and looked at her
and his eye met hers as she sat there
paler and whiter than anyone in the vast
ocean of anxious faces about her
he saw
by that power of quick perception which
is given to those whose souls are one
that she knew behind which door crouched
the tiger and behind which stood the
lady
he had expected her to know it he
understood her nature
and his soul was assured that she 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 the youth in which
there was any element of certainty was
based upon the success of the princes
and discovering this mystery
and the moment he looked upon her he saw
she had succeeded as in his soul he knew
she would succeed
then it was that quick and anxious
glance asked the question
which
it was as plain to her as if he had
shouted it from where he 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 his was fixed on the man
in the arena
he turned and with a firm and rapid step
he walked across the empty space
every heart stopped beating
every breath was held every eye was
fixed immovably upon that man
without the slightest hesitation he 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 on 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 princess her soul at a
white heat beneath the combined fires of
despair and jealousy
she had lost him but who should have him
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 things of the tiger
but how much often her had she seen him
at the other door
how in her grievous reveries had she
gnashed her teeth and torn her hair when
she saw his start of rapturous delight
as he opened the door of the lady
how her soul had burned in agony when
she had seen him rushed to meet that
woman with her flushing cheek and
sparkling eye of triumph when she had
seen him lead her forth his whole frame
kindled with the joy of recovered life
when she had heard the glad shouts from
the multitude and the wild ringing of
the happy bells when she had seen the
priest his joyous followers advanced to
the couple and make them man and wife
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 him to die at
once
and go to wait for her in the blessed
regions of semi-barbaric futurity
and yet
that awful tiger those shrieks 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 open door
the lady
or the tiger
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end of the lady or the tiger by frank r
stockton
read by patricia hayes
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