The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Lady, or the Tiger?, by Frank R. Stockton

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Frank R. Stockton

In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas,though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness ofdistant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, asbecame the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberantfancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will,he turned his varied fancies into facts. He was greatly given toself-communing, and, when he and himself agreed upon anything, thething was done. When every member of his domestic and politicalsystems moved smoothly in its appointed course, his nature was blandand genial; but, whenever there was a little hitch, and some of hisorbs got out of their orbits, he was blander and more genial still, fornothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight and crushdown uneven places.

Among the borrowed notions by which his barbarism had become semifiedwas that of the public arena, in which, by exhibitions of manly andbeastly valor, the minds of his subjects were refined and cultured.

But even here the exuberant and barbaric fancy asserted itself. Thearena of the king was built, not to give the people an opportunity ofhearing the rhapsodies of dying gladiators, nor to enable them to viewthe inevitable conclusion of a conflict between religious opinions andhungry jaws, but for purposes far better adapted to widen and developthe mental energies of the people. This vast amphitheater, with itsencircling galleries, its mysterious vaults, and its unseen passages,was an agent of poetic justice, in which crime was punished, or virtuerewarded, by the decrees of an impartial and incorruptible chance.

When a subject was accused of a crime of sufficient importance tointerest the king, public notice was given that on an appointed day thefate of the accused person would be decided in the king's arena, astructure which well deserved its name, for, although its form and planwere borrowed from afar, its purpose emanated solely from the brain ofthis man, who, every barleycorn a king, knew no tradition to which heowed more allegiance than pleased his fancy, and who ingrafted on everyadopted form of human thought and action the rich growth of hisbarbaric idealism.

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 onone side of the arena, he gave a signal, a door beneath him opened, andthe accused subject stepped out into the amphitheater. Directlyopposite 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 ofthe person on trial to walk directly to these doors and open one ofthem. He could open either door he pleased; he was subject to noguidance or influence but that of the aforementioned impartial andincorruptible chance. If he opened the one, there came out of it ahungry tiger, the fiercest and most cruel that could be procured, whichimmediately sprang upon him and tore him to pieces as a punishment forhis guilt. The moment that the case of the criminal was thus decided,doleful iron bells were clanged, great wails went up from the hiredmourners 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 fromit a lady, the most suitable to his years and station that his majestycould select among his fair subjects, and to this lady he wasimmediately married, as a reward of his innocence. It mattered not thathe might already possess a wife and family, or that his affectionsmight be engaged upon an object of his own selection; the king allowedno such subordinate arrangements to interfere with his great scheme ofretribution and reward. The exercises, as in the other instance, tookplace immediately, and in the arena. Another door opened beneath theking, and a priest, followed by a band of choristers, and dancingmaidens blowing joyous airs on golden horns and treading an epithalamicmeasure, advanced to where the pair stood, side by side, and thewedding was promptly and cheerily solemnized. Then the gay brass bellsrang forth their merry peals, the people shouted glad hurrahs, and theinnocent man, preceded by children strewing flowers on his path, ledhis bride to his home.

This was the king's semi-barbaric method of administering justice. Itsperfect fairness is obvious. The criminal could not know out of whichdoor would come the lady; he opened either he pleased, without havingthe slightest idea whether, in the next instant, he was to be devouredor married. On some occasions the tiger came out of one door, and onsome out of the other. The decisions of this tribunal were not onlyfair, they were positively determinate: the accused person wasinstantly punished if he found himself guilty, and, if innocent, he wasrewarded on the spot, whether he liked it or not. There was no escapefrom the judgments of the king's arena.

The institution was a very popular one. When the people gatheredtogether on one of the great trial days, they never knew whether theywere to witness a bloody slaughter or a hilarious wedding. Thiselement of uncertainty lent an interest to the occasion which it couldnot otherwise have attained. Thus, the masses were entertained andpleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no chargeof unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person havethe whole matter in his own hands?

This semi-barbaric king had a daughter as blooming as his most floridfancies, and with a soul as fervent and imperious as his own. As isusual in such cases, she was the apple of his eye, and was loved by himabove all humanity. Among his courtiers was a young man of thatfineness of blood and lowness of station common to the conventionalheroes of romance who love royal maidens. This royal maiden was wellsatisfied with her lover, for he was handsome and brave to a degreeunsurpassed in all this kingdom, and she loved him with an ardor thathad enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong.This love affair moved on happily for many months, until one day theking happened to discover its existence. He did not hesitate nor waverin regard to his duty in the premises. The youth was immediately castinto 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 anddevelopment of this trial. Never before had such a case occurred; neverbefore had a subject dared to love the daughter of the king. In afteryears such things became commonplace enough, but then they were in noslight degree novel and startling.

The tiger-cages of the kingdom were searched for the most savage andrelentless beasts, from which the fiercest monster might be selectedfor the arena; and the ranks of maiden youth and beauty throughout theland were carefully surveyed by competent judges in order that theyoung man might have a fitting bride in case fate did not determine forhim a different destiny. Of course, everybody knew that the deed withwhich 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; butthe king would not think of allowing any fact of this kind to interferewith the workings of the tribunal, in which he took such great delightand satisfaction. No matter how the affair turned out, the youth wouldbe disposed of, and the king would take an aesthetic pleasure inwatching the course of events, which would determine whether or not theyoung man had done wrong in allowing himself to love the princess.

The appointed day arrived. From far and near the people gathered, andthronged the great galleries of the arena, and crowds, unable to gainadmittance, massed themselves against its outside walls. The king andhis court were in their places, opposite the twin doors, those fatefulportals, so terrible in their similarity.

All was ready. The signal was given. A door beneath the royal partyopened, and the lover of the princess walked into the arena. Tall,beautiful, fair, his appearance was greeted with a low hum ofadmiration and anxiety. Half the audience had not known so grand ayouth had lived among them. No wonder the princess loved him! What aterrible thing for him to be there!

As the youth advanced into the arena he turned, as the custom was, tobow 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 herfather. Had it not been for the moiety of barbarism in her nature it isprobable that lady would not have been there, but her intense andfervid soul would not allow her to be absent on an occasion in whichshe was so terribly interested. From the moment that the decree hadgone 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 thevarious subjects connected with it. Possessed of more power, influence,and force of character than any one who had ever before been interestedin such a case, she had done what no other person had done,—she hadpossessed herself of the secret of the doors. She knew in which of thetwo rooms, that lay behind those doors, stood the cage of the tiger,with its open front, and in which waited the lady. Through these thickdoors, heavily curtained with skins on the inside, it was impossiblethat any noise or suggestion should come from within to the person whoshould approach to raise the latch of one of them. But gold, and thepower 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 whothe lady was. It was one of the fairest and loveliest of the damsels ofthe 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 farabove him; and the princess hated her. Often had she seen, or imaginedthat she had seen, this fair creature throwing glances of admirationupon the person of her lover, and sometimes she thought these glanceswere perceived, and even returned. Now and then she had seen themtalking together; it was but for a moment or two, but much can be saidin a brief space; it may have been on most unimportant topics, but howcould she know that? The girl was lovely, but she had dared to raiseher eyes to the loved one of the princess; and, with all the intensityof the savage blood transmitted to her through long lines of whollybarbaric ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behindthat silent door.

When her lover turned and looked at her, and his eye met hers as shesat there, paler and whiter than any one in the vast ocean of anxiousfaces about her, he saw, by that power of quick perception which isgiven to those whose souls are one, that she knew behind which doorcrouched the tiger, and behind which stood the lady. He had expectedher to know it. He understood her nature, and his soul was assured thatshe 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 theyouth in which there was any element of certainty was based upon thesuccess of the princess in discovering this mystery; and the moment helooked upon her, he saw she had succeeded, as in his soul he knew shewould 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 hestood. There was not an instant to be lost. The question was asked in aflash; it must be answered in another.

Her right arm lay on the cushioned parapet before her. She raised herhand, and made a slight, quick movement toward the right. No one buther 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 emptyspace. Every heart stopped beating, every breath was held, every eyewas fixed immovably upon that man. Without the slightest hesitation, hewent to the door on the right, and opened it.

Now, the point of the story is this: Did the tiger come out of thatdoor, or did the lady?

The more we reflect upon this question, the harder it is to answer. Itinvolves a study of the human heart which leads us through deviousmazes of passion, out of which it is difficult to find our way. Thinkof it, fair reader, not as if the decision of the question dependedupon yourself, but upon that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess, hersoul at a white heat beneath the combined fires of despair andjealousy. She had lost him, but who should have him?

How often, in her waking hours and in her dreams, had she started inwild horror, and covered her face with her hands as she thought of herlover opening the door on the other side of which waited the cruelfangs of the tiger!

But how much oftener had she seen him at the other door! How in hergrievous reveries had she gnashed her teeth, and torn her hair, whenshe saw his start of rapturous delight as he opened the door of thelady! How her soul had burned in agony when she had seen him rush tomeet that woman, with her flushing cheek and sparkling eye of triumph;when she had seen him lead her forth, his whole frame kindled with thejoy of recovered life; when she had heard the glad shouts from themultitude, and the wild ringing of the happy bells; when she had seenthe priest, with his joyous followers, advance to the couple, and makethem man and wife before her very eyes; and when she had seen them walkaway together upon their path of flowers, followed by the tremendousshouts of the hilarious multitude, in which her one despairing shriekwas lost and drowned!

Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go to wait for herin 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 madeafter days and nights of anguished deliberation. She had known shewould be asked, she had decided what she would answer, and, without theslightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right.

The question of her decision is one not to be lightly considered, andit is not for me to presume to set myself up as the one person able toanswer it. And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of theopened door,—the lady, or the tiger?

End of Project Gutenberg's The Lady, or the Tiger?, by Frank R. Stockton

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