The Lady, or the Tiger? (Frank R. Stockton) — graded reader B1–B2

The Lady, or the Tiger?

A graded reader · Frank R. Stockton · B1–B2

Warm-up

• Do you like stories with a clear ending, or ones that leave you guessing?

• Are you quick to make decisions, or do you take a long time?

• Do you enjoy puzzles and riddles? Can you remember a good one?

• Is jealousy always a bad thing? Can it ever be useful?

The author and the book

Frank R. Stockton (1834–1902)

Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia, USA, in 1834. His father was an important Methodist minister, and he did not want his son to become a writer. So young Frank learned a trade instead. He became a wood engraver, cutting pictures into blocks of wood for printing.

But he kept writing. He wrote fairy tales and funny stories, and in them he laughed gently at greed, violence and people with too much power. Later, he helped Mary Mapes Dodge to edit St. Nicholas, a famous American magazine for children.

"The Lady, or the Tiger?" first appeared in The Century Magazine in November 1882, and it made him famous. Thousands of readers wrote to him, begging for the answer to its question. According to his biographer, Stockton finally replied that if you decide, "you find out what kind of a person you are yourself." He never said which it was.

He died in Washington, D.C., in 1902.

Key words

arena

accused

barbaric

a large round space with seats all around it, where crowds watch fights or shows

said to have done something wrong, and waiting for a trial

wild, cruel and not civilised

courtier

jealousy

a person who lives and works at a king's or queen's court

the angry, unhappy feeling that someone you love likes another person

Let's talk

• Readers begged Stockton for the answer. Why do people hate not knowing how a story ends?

• Can a decision made by pure chance ever be fair?

• Stories about a princess who loves a poor young man are very old. Why do we still enjoy them?

• The story is called "The Lady, or the Tiger?" What kind of choice might it be about?

PART 1 OF 4

The king's arena

PART 1 · THE KING'S ARENA

Long, long ago, there lived a semi-barbaric king. His neighbours had given him a few modern ideas, but his own ideas were still big, wild and free. He had a lively imagination and complete power, so whatever he imagined became real. He liked to talk things over with himself, and when he and himself agreed, the thing was done.

When everything ran smoothly, he was calm and pleasant. When something went wrong, he was even calmer and more pleasant. Nothing pleased him more than making crooked things straight and crushing the bumps flat.

From his neighbours, he had borrowed the idea of a public arena.

But his arena was not for watching gladiators die, or hungry lions eating people. It had a far better purpose. It was a place of justice, where crime was punished, or innocence rewarded, by chance: chance that was fair to everyone, and could not be bribed.

This is how it worked.

When a man was accused of a crime that interested the king, a day was announced for his trial. The people filled the galleries. The king sat high on his throne on one side, among his court. He gave a signal. A door beneath him opened, and the accused man stepped out into the arena.

Directly opposite were two doors, exactly alike, side by side. The man had to walk straight to them and open one.

PART 1 · THE KING'S ARENA

He could choose either door. Nobody guided him. Only chance.

If he opened one door, out came a hungry tiger, the fiercest and cruellest the king could find. It jumped on him at once and tore him to pieces, as a punishment for his guilt. Then iron bells rang sadly, hired mourners wailed, and the crowd went slowly home, sorry that someone so young and fine, or so old and respected, had deserved such a terrible end.

But if he opened the other door, out came a lady. The king had chosen her carefully to suit the man's age and position, and the man married her immediately, as a reward for his innocence. It did not matter if he already had a wife and family, or loved someone else.

The king did not let small things like that spoil his great plan. A priest came out, with singers and dancing girls playing golden horns. Happy bells rang, the people cheered, and children threw flowers in front of the man as he led his bride home.

This was the king's semi-barbaric way of doing justice. Its perfect fairness is obvious. The accused man could not know which door hid the lady. He did not know if, in the next moment, he would be eaten or married.

The people loved it. They never knew if they would see a bloody killing or a happy wedding. And thinking people could not call it unfair. After all, didn't the accused man hold his fate in his own hands?

There was no escape from the king's arena.

Book club

PART 1 · THE KING'S ARENA

1. How did the king's arena decide if a man was guilty or innocent?

2. What happened if the man opened the tiger's door? And the lady's door?

3. Why did the people enjoy trial days so much?

4. The narrator says the system's "perfect fairness is obvious". Does he mean it? Do you agree?

5. The innocent man must marry a stranger, even if he has a family. Is that a reward?

6. Who do you think will be the next person to face the two doors?

PART 2 OF 4

A crime of love

PART 2 · A CRIME OF LOVE

This semi-barbaric king had a daughter. She was as beautiful as his wildest dreams, and her soul was as passionate and proud as his own. She was the apple of his eye, and he loved her more than anyone in the world.

Among the king's courtiers was a young man of fine blood but low rank, like the heroes of old romances who fall in love with princesses. The princess was very happy with her lover. He was more handsome and braver than anyone in the kingdom. And she loved him with a love that was half wild, and so it was very warm and very strong.

For many months, the love affair went happily. Then, one day, the king found out.

He did not hesitate for a moment. He knew his duty. The young man was thrown into prison at once, and a day was set for his trial in the king's arena.

Of course, this was a very special occasion. Never before had a subject dared to love the daughter of the king. In later years, such things became quite common. But at that time, they were new and shocking.

The king's men searched every tiger cage in the kingdom for the most savage beast. And expert judges looked carefully at all the young and beautiful women in the land, so that the young man would have a suitable bride, if fate did not choose a different end for him.

PART 2 · A CRIME OF LOVE

Everybody knew that he had done what he was accused of. He had loved the princess. Nobody denied it: not he, not she, not anyone. But the king would not let a little fact like that interfere with his beloved arena. However it ended, the young man would be gone. And the king would enjoy watching events decide whether or not the young man had been wrong to love the princess.

The day arrived. People came from near and far, and filled the great galleries of the arena. Crowds who could not get in pressed against the outside walls. The king and his court sat in their places, opposite the two doors: those terrible doors, so terrible because they looked exactly the same.

Everything was ready. The signal was given. A door below the royal party opened, and the princess's lover walked into the arena.

He was tall, beautiful and fair. When the crowd saw him, a low sound went round, of admiration and of fear. Half the people had never known that such a fine young man lived among them. No wonder the princess loved him! How terrible that he was there!

As the custom was, the young man turned to bow to the king. But he was not thinking about the king at all.

His eyes were fixed on the princess, who sat to the right of her father.

Book club

PART 2 · A CRIME OF LOVE

1. What was the young man's "crime", and how did the king react?

2. How did the king prepare for this special trial?

3. Everyone knew the young man was "guilty". Why did the king still want a trial?

4. The king says he is doing his duty. What do you think his real reasons are?

5. Should parents ever have the right to stop their children's relationships?

6. Why is the young man looking at the princess? What could she do for him?

PART 3 OF 4

The secret of the doors

PART 3 · THE SECRET OF THE DOORS

If the princess had not been half barbaric, she would probably not have come. But her passionate soul could not stay away from a day that mattered so terribly to her.

Since the trial was announced, she had thought of nothing else, night and day. She had more power, more influence and a stronger will than anyone before her. And so she had done what nobody had ever done. She had discovered the secret of the doors.

She knew which of the two rooms behind them held the tiger's cage, open at the front, and which held the lady. The doors were thick, and covered on the inside with heavy animal skins, so no sound could reach the man outside.

But gold, and the power of a woman's will, had brought the secret to the princess.

And she knew more than that. She knew who the lady was. It was one of the loveliest young women at court, chosen as the young man's reward, if he was found innocent of loving someone so far above him. And the princess hated her.

Many times she had seen, or imagined that she had seen, this beautiful girl looking at her lover with admiration. Sometimes she thought he noticed these looks, and even returned them. Now and then she had seen them talking together. It was only for a moment or two, but a lot can be said in a moment. Perhaps they talked about nothing important. But how could she know?

PART 3 · THE SECRET OF THE DOORS

The girl was lovely, but she had dared to look at the man the princess loved. And so, with all the fierce passion of her wild ancestors, the princess hated the woman who stood, blushing and trembling, behind that silent door.

Now her lover turned and looked at her. She sat there paler than anyone in the whole sea of anxious faces. Their eyes met. And with the quick understanding of two people whose souls are one, he saw that she knew. She knew which door hid the tiger, and which hid the lady.

He had expected it. He knew her nature. She would never rest until she had discovered the secret hidden from everyone else, even the king.

His only real hope was that she would succeed. And the moment he looked at her, he saw that she had.

Then his quick, anxious look asked the question: "Which?"

It was as clear to her as if he had shouted it across the arena. There was not a second to lose. The question was asked in a flash. It had to be answered in another.

Her right arm lay on the cushioned wall in front of her. She raised her hand and made a small, quick movement towards the right.

No one but her lover saw it. Every other eye was on the man in the arena.

Book club

PART 3 · THE SECRET OF THE DOORS

1. What secret had the princess discovered, and how did she get it?

2. Who was the lady behind the door, and why did the princess hate her?

3. How did the young man ask his question without speaking?

4. Was the princess's jealousy reasonable, or was she imagining things?

5. Would you trust someone completely with your life, in a single second?

6. Will he follow her signal? What do you think waits behind the door on the right?

PART 4 OF 4

The opened door

PART 4 · THE OPENED DOOR

He turned. With firm, quick steps, he walked across the empty arena. Every heart stopped beating. Every breath was held. Every eye was fixed on him. Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right, and opened it.

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

The more we think about this question, the harder it is to answer. It takes us deep into the human heart, through a maze of passions where it is difficult to find the way out. Think about it, dear reader. But don't ask what you would do.

Ask what that hot-blooded, semi-barbaric princess would do, her soul burning white-hot with despair and jealousy. She had lost him. But who should have him?

How often, awake and in her dreams, had she started up in wild horror and covered her face with her hands, imagining her lover opening the door where the tiger waited with its cruel teeth!

But how much more often had she seen him at the other door! In her terrible daydreams, she had ground her teeth and torn her hair. She saw his start of joy as he opened the lady's door.

PART 4 · THE OPENED DOOR

She saw him rush to meet that woman, with her red cheeks and her bright eyes full of triumph. She saw him lead her out, his whole body glowing with the joy of life given back to him. She heard the happy shouts of the crowd and the wild ringing of the bells. She saw the priest and his joyful followers come to the couple, and make them man and wife before her very eyes. And she saw them walk away together on their path of flowers, while the crowd roared, and her own single, desperate scream was lost and drowned.

Would it not be better for him to die at once, and go and wait for her in the happy land of the semi-barbaric afterlife?

And yet: that awful tiger, those screams, that blood!

Her answer had been given in a second. But she had made her decision after days and nights of terrible thought. She had known he would ask her. She had decided what she would answer. And, without the slightest hesitation, she had moved her hand to the right.

The question of her decision is not one to take lightly, and it is not for me to pretend that I am the one person who can answer it. And so I leave it with all of you:

Which came out of the opened door — the lady, or the tiger?

Book club

PART 4 · THE OPENED DOOR

1. How did the young man respond to the princess's signal?

2. What had the princess imagined, again and again, about the lady's door?

3. How long had the princess spent making her decision?

4. The narrator says, "She had lost him." Why was that true, whichever door he opened?

5. Which came out of the door, the lady or the tiger? Give your reasons.

Big questions

1

Who is most to blame for this situation: the king, the princess or the young man?

2

Is it more loving to let someone marry a rival, or to let them die?

3

Stockton said your answer shows what kind of person you are. What does yours show?

4

The young man didn't hesitate for a second. Was that love, trust or desperation?

5

Is the open ending clever, or is it a trick? Would you prefer a clear answer?

6

When do people today face a "lady or tiger" choice, where no option is safe?

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

Part 1 · 1 By chance. The accused man opened one of two identical doors: a tiger behind one meant he was guilty, a lady behind the other meant he was innocent.

Part 1 · 2 The tiger jumped on him and tore him to pieces, and the crowd went home sadly. If the lady came out, he married her at once, in the arena, with music, bells and flowers.

Part 1 · 3 They never knew if they would see a bloody killing or a happy wedding, and the uncertainty made it exciting.

Part 2 · 1 He had loved the princess, the king's daughter. The king threw him into prison at once and set a day for his trial in the arena.

Part 2 · 2 His men searched every tiger cage for the most savage beast, and judges looked at all the young women in the land to find a suitable bride.

Part 2 · 3 He would not let a fact interfere with his arena; he enjoyed watching events decide whether the young man had been wrong.

Part 3 · 1 She knew which door hid the tiger and which hid the lady. She got the secret with gold and the power of her will.

Part 3 · 2 One of the loveliest young women at court. The princess thought she had seen her looking at her lover, and talking to him.

Part 3 · 3 With a quick, anxious look that asked "Which?"

Part 4 · 1 He walked straight across the arena without hesitating and opened the door on the right.

Part 4 · 2 That he opened it with joy, rushed to the lady, married her in front of her, and walked away with her on a path of flowers.

Part 4 · 3 Days and nights. She had decided her answer long before he asked.