The Last Tiger

This fable about wildness and captivity by Horácek (Grumpy Duck) makes its point with single-minded focus. Hunters are coming to the forest, and the animals flee. In the melee, a monkey tries to warn a tiger, who scoffs: “I’m the strongest, most powerful animal in the forest.” Horácek conveys the landscape with intermingling textures and shadowy forms, against which the tiger’s striped coat stands out boldly. “Catching this tiger would make us the strongest and most powerful,” the hunters say, wearing pith helmets in a colonial throwback. They do, then bring him to a city and put him in a cage for people to look at. The tiger is despondent: “Now, in captivity, he realized that his strength and power meant nothing anymore. What he longed for was freedom.” Horácek gives the tiger complex, almost human features (indeed, all the characters have thoughtfully developed expressions). At last, the tiger escapes, and he melts away into the forest. He has learned his lesson, one conveyed with a somewhat heavy hand: strength and power are useless without the liberty to enjoy them. Ages 4–8. [em](Aug.) [/em]