Journal #1

This is the story of how the tiger got its stripes. Wild cats have always been the "top dogs".  Lions, tigers, all at the top of the food chain. Tigers have not always been there though. A long time ago, lions were the only reigning felines of the desert. As you know, lions travel in prides and one of the most famous and first prides in history lived in Africa in the Zambian plane. In this pride, there was of course a leader and his name was Tiger meaning , protector. Tiger was the fastest, strongest, bravest, and most suitable for head lion of the pride. He lead with great power and was a good leader and cared for everyone in his pride. Everyone looked up to Tiger and aspired to be just like him. Tiger had a loving lioness partner and a cub, which they named Tau. Tiger loved Tau more than anything in the world. One afternoon, in was extremely hot in the Zambian plane, and the pride could not remember the last time it had rained. Everything was dry and the heat was too powerful to bare. Tiger knew they were running low on food though and took a small group of lions out to hunt. Tiger licked his cub, Tau goodbye and headed out. When Tiger and the group were done hunting, they came back to find the entire plain in flames. A forest fire had struck and the fire was engulfing the entire area. The lions were scattered about helplessly trying to escape the flames. Tiger acted quickly ordering all of the lions to follow him to the river. When they reached the river, all of the lions were accounted for but one, his cub, Tao. Without hesitation, Tiger sprinted back to the plain as fast as his legs could carry him. He searched frantically, yelling for his beloved son. Then, trapped in the branches of a fallen thorn tree, he saw Tao unconscious from the smoke. Tiger crawled his way through the tangled thorn branches, tearing his skin with every step. He reached his son, scooped him up in his mouth, and traveled the same painful route out of the thorns. He slowly makes his way out of the now dying flames and travels back to the river where he collapses. He succeeded in saving his son, but he himself was not so lucky. Out of respect for their fallen leader, the pride uses the ashes left from the fire, to draw on black stripes to represent and remember the cuts Tiger endured, as the ultimate protector.