ne day the tiger was out hunting
when, it being in the middle of the hot season, the jungle caught fire,
and a strong wind blowing, it was not long before the whole country was
in flames. The tiger fled, but the fire followed. Never mind how fast he
ran, the flames followed him, till he was in great fear of being burned
alive. As he was rushing along he saw the ox feeding on the other side
of the river and called out to him:

"O friend ox, you see the fire is following me wherever I go. Where is a
place of refuge that I can escape the fire?"

Now close to the tiger was a jungle full of dried grass, such as the
Shans use for thatching their houses, and the ox replied, "Go to the
grass jungle yonder, my brother, and you will be safe."

But dried grass is the most inflammable thing in the whole hill and
water country, and so here, not only did the flames follow the tiger,
but they ran ahead of him and threatened to engulf him on every side. In
great anger he roared at the ox, "False deceiver, if ever I escape from
this danger, I will return and kill you," but the ox only laughed at him
and continued eating.

In desperation, the tiger leaped over the flames and found himself near
the horse. "O friend horse," he cried, "where can I go? I am in great
danger of being burned to death."

Now it happened that once the tiger had been very rude to the horse and
called him many bad names, so now he thought this was a good opportunity
to be revenged; so he said: "Yonder is a big bamboo jungle, run to that
and you are safe"; but the tiger found that the horse was also a false
friend, for the fire following him speedily ignited the tall bamboos
which burned fiercely and falling from above, almost completely covered
the poor beast.

At the beginning of the world the tiger was a beautiful yellow color,
but the bamboos falling all over him, burnt him in stripes, and since
that time his descendants have had long black stripes all over their
coats.

"When I have escaped from this," yelled the angry tiger, "I will come
back and kill you."

"Very good," sneered the horse, "and I will arch my neck so that you can
get a good bite," but this was said to deceive the tiger, as the horse
intended to lash out with his hind feet when the tiger came to fight
him. Nevertheless, from that day the necks of all horses have been
arched, and they cannot fight an enemy in front, but are obliged to arch
their necks, lower their heads, and kick from