THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
1
THE LADY, OR THE
TIGER?
by Frank R. Stockton
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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In the very 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, 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 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.
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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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 him,
on the other side of the inclosed 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 the 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 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.
But, if the accused person opened the other door, there came forth
from it a lady, the most suitable to his years and 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 exercises, 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 airs on golden
horns and treading an epithalamic measure, advanced to where the pair
stood, side by side, and the wedding was promptly and cheerily
solemnized. Then the gay brass bells rang forth their merry peals, the
people shouted glad hurrahs, 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
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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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 this tribunal were not only fair, they were
positively determinate: 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 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 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 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 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 dared to love
the daughter of the king. In after years such things became commonplace
enough, but then they were in no slight degree novel and startling.
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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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 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, and neither he, 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 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, massed 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 princess 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 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 his 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
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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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 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 had she 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 wholly 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 any one 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 princess in discovering this mystery; and the moment he
looked upon her, he saw she had succeeded, as in his soul he knew she
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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would succeed.
Then it was that his quick and anxious glance asked the question:
"Which?" It was as plain to her as if he 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 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 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 fangs of
the tiger!
But how much oftener 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 rush 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, with his
joyous followers, advance to the couple, and make them man and wife
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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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 opened door,--
the lady, or the tiger?
THE LADY, OR THE TIGER?
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