by neufer » Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:06 am
Loco wrote:What causes the Tiger stripes? Perhaps large, whale-like creatures in the oceans beneath the ice have a mating ritual somewhat like Hummingbirds, but instead of spiraling downard at high speeds in a spiral, the bird pulling out of its dive inches from the ground, the whales rocket upwards, striking the ice with their foreheads, causing the cracks, and displaying to their potential mates that they have the capacity to withstand the multiple shock of matrimony. These whale-like creatures must mate for life, as there would be no other reason for their ice-cracking antics, as casual affairs have little reason for shock, unless the participant was totally overtoxified the night before the awakening, but I'm sure the whales do not consume alcohol even if they should, using the substance to alleviate the urges which cause the displays. Perhaps the whale-like creatures are themselves decorated, like the surface of their home planet, with Tiger stripes.
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"How Fear Came to the Jungle" - by Rudyard Kipling
Pall Mall Budget, June 7 and 14 1894.
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<<It is a time of drought in the jungle, the rains have failed, the green plants are dying in the heat, and most of the sources of water have dried up. Hathi, the wild elephant, proclaims the Water Truce according to the Law of the Jungle, so that all animals can come and drink at the shrunken Waingunga River with no fear of being killed by predators. When all are drinking, Shere Khan comes to the river, boasting that he has killed Man because it is 'his right and his Night'. The lame tiger fouls the water as he drinks and is dismissed to his lair by Hathi and his sons. The great elephant then tells an old tale that shows what Shere Khan means:
- In the earliest times all the animals lived together in peace. There was no killing and no fear. Tha, the First of the Elephants, made the First of the Tigers the master and judge of the Jungle, but when there was a dispute between two bucks, the First of the Tigers leapt on one of them and broke his neck. The smell of the blood made the people foolish and they ran about wildly. The First of the Tigers fled, and Tha made the trees and trailing creepers mark the killer with stripes, which the tiger wears to this day. In the place of the Tiger he made the Gray Ape master of the Jungle, but the Ape mocked the people, and there was no Law. Tha decreed that since the first master had brought Death, and the second Shame, the jungle people should henceforward know Fear, the fear of Man. The First of the Tigers went to find Man and break his neck, but when he found him, standing hairless on two legs in his cave, he was afraid, and ran away. Thenceforward there was fear in the jungle; each 'tribe', the buffaloes, the deer. the pig, feared the others, and all feared Man.
The tiger was ashamed, and because of his role in the very beginning, Tha decreed that from that day forward there would be one night in the year when he would be free from fear, and Man would be afraid of him. But at all other times, Fear would follow the tiger, and that would be his fate, and the fate of the jungle peoples for ever.>>
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[quote="Loco"]What causes the Tiger stripes? Perhaps large, whale-like creatures in the oceans beneath the ice have a mating ritual somewhat like Hummingbirds, but instead of spiraling downard at high speeds in a spiral, the bird pulling out of its dive inches from the ground, the whales rocket upwards, striking the ice with their foreheads, causing the cracks, and displaying to their potential mates that they have the capacity to withstand the multiple shock of matrimony. These whale-like creatures must mate for life, as there would be no other reason for their ice-cracking antics, as casual affairs have little reason for shock, unless the participant was totally overtoxified the night before the awakening, but I'm sure the whales do not consume alcohol even if they should, using the substance to alleviate the urges which cause the displays. Perhaps the whale-like creatures are themselves decorated, like the surface of their home planet, with Tiger stripes.[/quote]---------------------------------
[url=http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_fearcame1.htm][b]"How Fear Came to the Jungle"[/b][/url] - by Rudyard Kipling
Pall Mall Budget, June 7 and 14 1894.
.............................................................
<<It is a time of drought in the jungle, the rains have failed, the green plants are dying in the heat, and most of the sources of water have dried up. Hathi, the wild elephant, proclaims the Water Truce according to the Law of the Jungle, so that all animals can come and drink at the shrunken Waingunga River with no fear of being killed by predators. When all are drinking, Shere Khan comes to the river, boasting that he has killed Man because it is 'his right and his Night'. The lame tiger fouls the water as he drinks and is dismissed to his lair by Hathi and his sons. The great elephant then tells an old tale that shows what Shere Khan means:
[list]In the earliest times all the animals lived together in peace. There was no killing and no fear. Tha, the First of the Elephants, made the First of the Tigers the master and judge of the Jungle, but when there was a dispute between two bucks, the First of the Tigers leapt on one of them and broke his neck. The smell of the blood made the people foolish and they ran about wildly. [b]The First of the Tigers fled, and Tha made the trees and trailing creepers mark the killer with stripes, which the tiger wears to this day.[/b] In the place of the Tiger he made the Gray Ape master of the Jungle, but the Ape mocked the people, and there was no Law. Tha decreed that since the first master had brought Death, and the second Shame, the jungle people should henceforward know Fear, the fear of Man. The First of the Tigers went to find Man and break his neck, but when he found him, standing hairless on two legs in his cave, he was afraid, and ran away. Thenceforward there was fear in the jungle; each 'tribe', the buffaloes, the deer. the pig, feared the others, and all feared Man.[/list]
The tiger was ashamed, and because of his role in the very beginning, Tha decreed that from that day forward there would be one night in the year when he would be free from fear, and Man would be afraid of him. But at all other times, Fear would follow the tiger, and that would be his fate, and the fate of the jungle peoples for ever.>>
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