Informal story texts: Tiger Stories

Previous +Popups Next Wordlist Pronunciation

（Play All）Informal story texts: Tiger Stories

These texts describe three individuals' very different encounters with tigers. In earlier centuries the region abounded in wildlife, including tigers and leopards and other large game. Although their numbers had already started to decline in the early 20th century, tigers still posed a considerable threat to livestock right up into the 1960s, when deforestation rapidly destroyed the large contiguous areas of forest habitat required by the tiger. Tigers were still seen in the 1970s (Tian Shunliang, the author of the second text below, saw one as late as 1975), and tiger paw prints were occasionally found locally in the 1980s. Today, the South China tiger is almost extinct in China, although small numbers probably survive further south in the jungles along the common border of Guangdong Province with Hunan, Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces.

2.4.1: Encounter with a Tiger
2.4.2: A Tiger and Some Pigs
2.4.3: Hunting a Tiger

Peng Wugen, Dianfang Township, Longshan County
recorded on 18 July 2002

01	na² si³jian¹ lao³gu¹lie¹ qi² sui² xie²-xi³-nie². At that time I was only seven years old.
02	nga² lei⁴ ka³ wo⁴-xie², nga² a³nie¹, guo² nga² jiao³: "bo¹li³, ni² lei⁴ ka³ yi² kong⁴ wo⁴-i, cu¹ ka³ tai² la, ga⁴ zi² ti³ ga⁴ zi², ni² wo³bi³ ca¹cei¹ lao⁴ wo⁴-lie³, ga⁴ zi² xie² jiu¹ xing³liao³." That day I was to go and fetch firewood. My mother called me: "Son, go and fetch a bundle of firewood today, there's none left in the house. Get what you can, take your small back-basket, whatever you find will be fine."
03	"ca²! nga² ka³ wo⁴-i, nga² lei⁴ wo⁴-i o, nga² zao⁴huan³ ga²-lie³ jiu¹ wo⁴-i-hu³." nga² wo⁴-xie², nga² wo⁴-lie³ kei²di¹ di²dian¹ me jiu¹ ti⁴lu³ jie³-la¹. "OK! I'll go and get firewood, I'll go today. I'll finish my breakfast and then go." So I went. I carried the firewood to a place called Tilu.
04	nga² la² hu³ luo, nga² la² hu³ luo, nga² be² hhi² a, hhi² a, ge⁴-dao². da²lu¹-sang¹ ye⁴-liao³, ei¹ ba³ti³ a¹nie¹ a¹di¹ li² lao⁴ re⁴-xi³! ao¹du¹ qi³hua¹ tong³kuo³zi¹ da⁴ze³, lie³pong² yi² pai⁴ hhe³ xie². I was all alone, just me, walking along, not afraid at all. When I reached the main track, there below me was a beautiful tiger! Those eyes, bright as copper coins, made me dizzy; his tail was over a yard long.
05	nga² da⁴ huo² ba⁴-lie³, nga² guo² yi³-alie³, nga² ge⁴-si³-la¹-hu³. nga² ai¹lie¹ xing¹ li¹kuo¹luo¹ jing¹zang¹ la! nga² lei⁴ li² ba⁴! da²-lie³! We eyed each other, I looked at him and I began to feel scared to death. Then my heart started thumping like mad, I've seen a tiger today! I fell!
06	yao¹gang¹ yi² gong¹! ta²ka¹ beng⁴ die³ nie¹ zang¹ hhe³ tiao²-lie³, pa³sao³sao³ la¹di³ la! heng! niao³! niao³! gu¹ce³ cang³cang³-liao³! ge⁴-si³-liao³! ge⁴-si³-liao³! ka³ duo³ wo⁴-tao¹, song¹kuo¹-i-hu³, song¹kuo¹-i-hu³, song¹kuo¹-i-hu³! The tiger arched its back. It jumped twenty feet right down into a pit, with a rustling sound! Oh! Oh! I was dripping with sweat and scared to death. Really scared to death. I didn't even take the firewood. I'm going home! I'm going home! I'm going home!

Tian Shunliang, Pojiao Rural Township, Longshan County
recorded on 19 July 2002

01	ai¹ la² long¹ si¹ yi² jiu¹ lu² ai² nian³, cuo⁴-nie³ zi⁴-ni³ga³ long⁴-la¹, zi⁴-nie³ ce³mong²-ta³. zi⁴-ni³ga³ nie¹ long³, ai¹ lao⁴ bi²bi¹ nie¹ long³ xia²-lie³. me³ ri¹-la¹, di²ai² hu³ lao⁴ zu²-lie³ la¹ ba⁴-lie³, lao⁴ yi³-da², It was 1962, we were raising sows, and the sty was near the well. There were two sows, and one gave birth to two piglets. I had a [bad] feeling, and when I went out to have a look the next day, one piglet was gone.
02	ai¹lie¹ nga² zi² xian⁴ luo⁴die¹ duo³ hhe²-lu³. ai¹lie¹ lang³qi¹-cai³ jiu¹, nga² guo² ai¹lie¹ cong² a la² zi² kuai⁴-xie². I just thought someone had stolen it. So that evening, I had slung a gun over my shoulder
03	ai¹lie¹ nga² ka⁴-xie², ai¹lie¹ zeng²zai¹ guo² zi⁴cuo⁴ ai¹di¹ la¹meng³, ai¹di¹ ka¹tao¹ lang³gang³ ga³ha² gu¹du⁴-bo³ mo³ zi¹-bo³-la¹. ei! nga² guo² zun¹bei³ ha³-i, hang² xian⁴, and gone out to keep watch [by the sows]. There it was, [a tiger], right by the sty, by the door, crouching on top of the railings, and staring intently. I got ready to shoot, or at least that was my plan.
04	ai! nga² jie² la² ci³ le you si¹lang¹ la² pi¹ be⁴-bo³-la¹, la² ci³ le you² jiu¹ cong² kuai⁴-bo³-la¹. ai¹lie¹, nga² ka³kei¹die³ si¹lang¹ li⁴ti³ la² po¹, kuo¹neng³ li² le, guo² nga² hua¹jiao³-liao³, One of my hands was clutching a quilt, and the other, that was holding the gun. So I quietly put the quilt on the ground, but perhaps the tiger heard me.
05	ai¹lie¹ nga² zun¹bei³ cong² bang¹ du¹ bang¹-liao³, nga² bang¹ mo³ ceng¹tu¹ ti³-da²-nie², guo² duo³ beng⁴ die³ yi² dong² le jiu¹ xi⁴ca³-lu³. ai, jiu¹ hang² la² qie² yi³. Then I prepared the gun, loading it with powder, but I hadn't finished when the tiger jumped down and ran off. So, that was the time I saw [a tiger].

Tian Xintao, Daba Township, Yongshun County
recorded on 05 August 2002

01	nga²-nie³ a³qi⁴-nie³ ge⁴ze¹ li² ha³. My family and my uncle's family fought a tiger.
02	a³ba¹ lao⁴ xie², guo² kang³ku¹ wu² ka⁴, ngo¹ guo² ba⁴ mo³ be a, "eng nga² la² hu³ gei²du¹ wu² ka⁴, qing³mo¹ wu² nie¹ la¹hu³ xie² la?" My father was looking after his cow in the hills, "I was looking at it; here I am on my own looking after our cow, so why are there two of them?"
03	ei! guo² la¹ ba⁴-lie³. "li² ou", guo² ge⁴-lie³, kang³ku¹-bo³ gu³, ka³mong³ ga³ha² gu³, ka³mong³ ga³ha² gu³-lie³, He looked carefully at it: "Tiger!". He was really frightened, and up the hill he went, up a tree he climbed, up he went.
04	guo² jiu¹ jie³ a, jie³ a: "ei¹ya¹, luo⁴ eng³qie², luo⁴ eng³qie²! kang³ku¹ li² lao⁴ nga²-nie³ wu² ga² la!" He shouted and shouted: "Hey! Help! Help! There's a tiger in the mountains, eating my cow!"
05	ang² cuo⁴ le qi⁴-nie³-xi², luo⁴ le a²bu¹ ri³. hou ma²ni¹ yi²xi¹ eng¹ge¹ li² ha³, li² ha³-lie³. Our household was a big one, with lots of people. We all went there to fight the tiger and kill it.
06	a¹di¹ li² a, cong² le yi²si¹ zua³zi³cong², guo² le, ang²-nie³ be³be¹ lao⁴ cong² la¹ ha³, la¹ ha³ yi¹hou², a¹di¹ li² ou, cong²-nie³ ke²ka⁴ da⁴ha³ mo³ eng³jiu³. That tiger! The guns they had were a special type of gun. The tiger, one of our uncles fired a shot at it. After firing the shot, that tiger, it came towards us out of the gunsmoke.
07	guo² ang²-nie³ a²be¹ kuo¹ba¹ la¹ za⁴, hao⁴! guo² jiu¹ se²-liao³, se² [huo¹] se²-da², ang²-nie³ ang¹bei¹, guo² jiu¹ ji⁴-bo³ mo³ a a¹di¹ li² da⁴ da⁴ha³, The tiger took a swipe at my uncle's head, and died; but was it dead or not? There was my uncle, straddling the tiger, fighting with that tiger.
08	guo² guo²-nie³ ma¹pa³ za⁴-bo³, jie² la² qi³ li²-nie³ kong¹di¹ be⁴-bo³, guo² guo² da⁴ha³ da⁴ha³. yo! kang³ku¹ la a³sa³ gai⁴ [gao¹] ga³ha² geng¹ke⁴-lie³ geng¹ke⁴, geng¹ke⁴-lie³ ba³zi², ba³zi², ba³zi² ri³. He held the hair under its chin in one hand, cradling the tiger's neck with the other, struggling together. They rolled around there on the steep mountainside, rolling to and fro, there was a lot of mud.
09	hao⁴! a¹di¹ li² ye, guo² be⁴-tao¹, guo²-nie³ jie² be² die³-la¹-hu³ a. ei¹ya¹! ang²-nie³ la² cuo⁴ ji²di¹ji²ga² ou, se² la, li² guo² bo³ ga² mo³ se² la, li² guo² bo³ jie² be² ga²-bo³ die³ la. Well, that tiger, it couldn't hold him, and was about to break my uncle's arm. Our household was on tenterhooks. The tiger was biting him, tried to bite his arm and break it.
10	ei¹ya¹! yi²xia⁴ la² cuo⁴ ji²di¹ji²ga² ou, ang²ni¹ li² ge⁴di¹ge⁴ga², ang²ni¹, li² a xi¹pa¹-la¹ da⁴ze³. qie⁴ hui¹ mo³ li² ha³. Well! Our household was very anxious, we were terrified of the tiger, we, the tiger seemed to be crawling still, so we hit it with whatever we could find to hand [and so it died].
11	a⁴duo³ ang²ni¹ be³be¹ lao⁴ xie², ge⁴ze¹ a¹duo¹ luo⁴ you² luo⁴ pu¹ci³, ge⁴ze¹ a¹duo¹ a li² ha³-nie³ cuo⁴ lao⁴ su². ge³di¹ cuo⁴ wo²tu¹ le a⁴duo³ a bi²kui¹ cuo⁴ su²-bo³; bi²kui¹ wo²tu¹ le ha⁴lie³ lao⁴ ti²-bo³. Another of our uncles came from a part where there were few people; they had built a tiger trap, inside the outer cage they built a smaller one, and put a dog inside, tied up.
12	lang³cei¹, li² eng³jiu³ hong³tong³... wa li², guo² ha⁴lie³ ga²-duo³. ha⁴lie³ be² kuan³kuan³kuan³... ei! At night a tiger came, roaring, and wanted to bite the dog. The dog was also growling.
13	ge³di¹ li² a, ei¹ cuo⁴ wo²tu¹ la hhi², beng⁴, la³-zu² la, hou ma³li² a, cong² a, li² ha³, la³-bo³ mo³ cu³ li², ni² la¹ ca³, guo² la¹ ha³, hou cong² jiu¹, li² a jiu¹ ha³ se² la. Well, that tiger, he went into the kennel in one bound, and they shut the kennel door. Quickly, the gun, shoot the tiger, keep the door closed, you two take turns to hit it, well, the gun, they shot the tiger dead.