Extract from Public Domain Book

The judge's questions were of no avail. The Widow T'ang kept up her
clamour. She would not be turned away until she had gained her purpose.
The hall echoed with the noise of her howling. The mandarin could stand
it no longer. "Hold! woman," he cried, "stop your shrieking. I will do
what you ask. Only go home and wait until I summon you to court. The
slayer of your son shall be caught and punished."

The judge was, of course, only trying to get rid of the demented mother,
thinking that if she were only once out of his sight, he could give
orders not to let her into the hall again. The old woman, however, was
too sharp for him. She saw through his plan and became more stubborn
than ever.

"No, I cannot go," she answered, "until I have seen you sign the order
for that tiger to be caught and brought into this judgment hall."

Now, as the judge was not really a bad man, he decided to humour the old
woman in her strange plea. Turning to the assistants in the court room
he asked which of them would be willing to go in search of the tiger.
One of these men, named Li-neng, had been leaning against the wall, half
asleep. He had been drinking heavily and so had not heard what had been
going on in the room. One of his friends gave him a poke in the ribs
just as the judge asked for volunteers.

Thinking the judge had called him by name, he stepped forward, knelt on
the floor, saying, "I, Li-neng, can go and do the will of your worship."

"Very well, you will do," answered the judge. "Here is your order. Go
forth and do your duty." So saying, he handed the warrant to Li-neng.
"Now, old woman, are you satisfied?" he continued.

"Quite satisfied, your worship," she replied.

"Then go home and wait there until I send for you."

Mumbling a few words of thanks, the unhappy mother left the building.

When Li-neng went outside the court room, his friends crowded round him.
"Drunken sot!" they laughed; "do you know what you have done?"

Li-neng shook his head. "Just a little business for the mandarin, isn't
it? Quite easy."

"Call it easy, if you like. What! man, arrest a tiger, a man-eating
tiger and bring him to the city! Better go and say good-bye to your
father and mother. They will never see you again."

Li-neng slept off his drunkenness, and then saw that his friends were
right. He had been very foolish. But surely the judge had meant the
whole thing only as a joke! No such order had ever been written before!
It was plain that the judge had hit on this plan simply to get rid of
the wailing old woman. Li-neng took the warrant back to the judgment
hall and told the mandarin that the tiger could not be found.

But the judge was in no mood for joking. "Can't be found? And why not?
You agreed to arrest this tiger. Why is it that to-day you try to get
out of your promise? I can by no means permit this, for I have given my
word to satisfy the old woman in her cry for justice."

Li-neng knelt and knocked his head on the floor. "I was drunk," he
cried, "when I gave my promise. I knew not what you were asking. I can
catch a man, but not a tiger. I know nothing of such matters. Still, if
you wish it, I can go into the hills and hire hunters to help me."

"Very well, it makes no difference how you catch him, as long as you
bring him into court. If you fail in your duty, there is nothing left
but to beat you until you succeed. I give you five days."

During the next few days Li-neng left no stone unturned in trying to
find the guilty tiger. The best hunters in the country were employed.
Night and day they searched the hills, hiding in mountain caves,
watching and waiting, but finding nothing. It was all very trying for
Li-neng, since he now feared the heavy hands of the judge more than the
claws of the tiger. On the fifth day he had to report his failure. He
received a thorough beating, fifty blows on the back. But that was not
the worst of it. During the next six weeks, try as he would, he could
find no traces of the missing animal. At the end of each five days, he
got another beating for his pains. The poor fellow was in despair.
Another month of such treatment would lay him on his deathbed. This he
knew very well, and yet he had little hope. His friends shook their
heads when they saw him. "He is drawing near the wood," they said to
each other, meaning that he would soon be in his coffin. "Why don't you
flee the country?" they asked him. "Follow the tiger's example. You see
he has escaped completely. The judge would make no effort to catch you
if you should go across the border into the next province."

Li-neng shook his head on hearing this advice. He had no desire to leave
his family for ever, and he felt sure of being caught and put to death
if he should try to run away.

One day after all the hunters had given up the search in disgust and
gone back to their homes in the valley, Li-neng entered a mountain
temple to pray. The tears rained down his cheeks as he knelt before the
great fierce-looking idol. "Alas! I am a dead man!" he moaned between
his prayers; "a dead man, for now there is no hope. Would that I had
never touched a drop of wine!"

Just then he heard a slight rustling near by. Looking up, he saw a huge
tiger standing at the temple gate. But Li-neng was no longer afraid of
tigers. He knew there was only one way to save himself. "Ah," he said,
looking the great cat straight in the eye, "you have come to eat me,
have you? Well, I fear you would find my flesh a trifle tough, since I
have been beaten with four hundred blows during these six weeks. You are
the same fellow that carried off the woodman last month, aren't you?
This woodman was an only son, the sole support of an old mother. Now
this poor woman has reported you to the mandarin, who, in turn, has had
a warrant drawn up for your arrest. I have been sent out to find you and
lead you to trial. For some reason or other you have acted the coward,
and remained in hiding. This has been the cause of my beating. Now I
don't want to suffer any longer as a result of your murder. You must
come with me to the city and answer the charge of killing the woodman."