The look in the tiger’s eyes was one of hunger. They’d starved him for this event. It was the very olden time of a semi-barbaric king, and his fancy for the public arena.

This tiger was the largest and most ferocious of the king’s arena tigers. He paced in his cage within a larger dark room. This room had two doors. The rear door was used to slide in the tiger’s cage. The opposite door opened to the arena. The front of the tiger’s cage was open, and abutted the arena door. Sometimes this door opened, and sometimes it did not.  If it opened, he would feast. From the stall beside his own, the tiger caught the scent of an eager young lady.

Suddenly the beast heard a mighty clamor from the crowd, followed by sudden silence. He put his nose to the door, and smelled the fear of a man. His muzzle oozed with the anticipation of a long-awaited meal. 

Then he heard footsteps approaching his door to the great amphitheater. He crouched, muscles tensed, nose almost to the ground. Ready. The door swung open, and he lunged at a young man--the king’s daughter’s tragically-fated lover.

© 2007 Michelle Pumphrey. Original for CCF  (Pumphrey grants CCF  first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).