Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

     A traveler gives the following anecdote of a tiger kept at the British Residency at Calcutta; “But what annoyed him far more than our poking him with a stick, or tantalizing him with shins of beef or legs of mutton, was a mouse introduced into his cage. No fine lady ever exhibited more terror at the sight of a spider than this magnificent royal tiger betrayed on seeing a mouse. Our mischievous plan was to tie the little animal by a string to the end of a long pole and thrust it close to the tiger’s nose. The moment he saw it he leaped to the opposite side, and stood trembling, and roaring in such fear, that we were almost obliged to desist in pity to the poor brute. Sometimes we insisted on his passing over the spot where the unconscious little mouse ran backwards and forwards. For a long time, however, we could not get him to move, till at length, I believe, by the help of a squib we obliged him to move, but instead of pacing leisurely across his den, or of making a detour to avoid the object of his alarm, he generally took a kind of flying leap, so high as to bring his back in contact with the roof of his cage.