The Ungrateful Tiger

The 22-year-old informant was born in South Korea and moved to the U.S. at a very young age. She chose to share this story because they are commonly told in Korean culture.

“So basically this tiger falls into this deep, deep pit. And he calls out for help and this rabbit comes, and the tiger’s like ‘Please help me! Please help me out of here!’ and the rabbit’s like, ‘No if I do, you’ll eat me.’ And the tiger’s like, ‘No no, I promise I won’t eat you!’ and the rabbit’s like ‘Are you sure? Do you promise?” and the tiger’s like, ‘Yes, I promise,’ so the rabbit agrees to help him. So he throws down this long vine and he the tiger uses it to climb back up. And when he gets back up, he’s like, ‘Ok now I’m going to eat you,’ and the rabbit’s like ‘Hey that’s not cool! You can’t do that. Let’s ask someone else their opinion,’ and the tiger’s like, ‘Fine, let’s ask someone else what they think.’ So this other animal–I forget what kind of animal it is–but some other animal comes along and is like, ‘Woah what’s going on here?’ and the rabbit’s like, ‘This tiger’s trying to eat me!’ and tries to explain what happened. And then, the rabbit’s like, ‘I know, I’ll just show you what happened. Tiger, can you show us what happened?’ And the tiger’s like ‘Yeah sure.’ and he jumps in the pit, and then they leave.”

I find this piece to be quite funny, but what I find interesting about it is the lesson to not be cruel or too foolish, as it will cause problems in one’s life, just like what happened to the tiger.