Informant SW is a USC student who went to high school in Hong Kong but his nationality is Korean, so he grew up hearing a lot of Korean folk stories and doing a lot of Korean traditions.

SW: “There was once a tiger who terrorized the people in the village. One day a guy was walking around in the forest when he came across the tiger who had fallen into a pit and couldn’t get out. The tiger begged the guy to help him out. The guy said he would help him only if the tiger didn’t eat him. The tiger said okay, so the guy helped the tiger out. The moment the tiger got out he attacked the guy. However, before the tiger could eat the guy the guy said they should ask for a second opinion on whether the tiger should eat him or not. Since the tiger liked playing games with his prey, the tiger said okay. So, the guy asks a nearby rabbit if the tiger had the right to eat him. The rabbit said, okay reenact everything so I can see what happened. The tiger jumps into the pit again and the rabbit tells the guy to run away and don’t be stupid like that next time.”

wait but what was the moral of the story?

SW: “I kind of forgot but I think the moral of the story is that you have to think before you act or else you might end up doing something stupid.”

I think this story is very funny because even though this story is about thinking before you act, both the tiger and the man failed to do so. The man should’ve left the tiger in the pit and the tiger should not have jumped into the pit. I guess it is kind of a double warning to people. I have heard of similar stories to this one, except the tiger was a hideous monster and I forgot how but somehow it relates to why people release firecrackers during Chinese New Year.