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  • Tigrino and Tigrene
  • Nina Cassian

This story was adapted from the original Romanian, "Povestea A Doi Pui de Tigru, Numiti Ninigra Si A ligru," by the author and Ilinca Bartolomeu. It won the Writers' Union Award in Romania in 1964 and has been reprinted three times in the original. This is its first publication in English. © 1986 Nina Cassian.

Chapter One —Brief Encounter

In the jungle with no end and no fence,you can learn about a lot of events;e.g. two little tigers appear on the scene.Their names? Tigrino and Tigrene.Tigrene's stripes are black and gold,as I was told,like a bumble bee's belly;Tigrino, probably being a male,his stripes show only on his tail.

One sunny day while jogging, Tigrino hearda tragic cry. . . . A mouse? A rabbit? a bird?Searching, he found a little she-tiger, her tail entangledin the wicked weeds of the dark, treacherous jungle.She was scared and full of doubt,so he helped her out.They introduced themselves.She said: "I'm so very tigrateful to you."He said: "You're WHAT? It was the simplest thing to do."She said: "In that tigruesome bush I felt tigribly upset!""What a charming accent you have," he said."What jungle do you come from?""Why? That's the way I speak with my dad and my mom!""Oh, sure, I expectit's an old Tigrish dialect."Tigrino took her home. The twilight was floating aroundlike a transparent bird with eyes so deepand the colors lost their identity falling asleep. [End Page 112] "Could I see you tomorrow?" asked Tigrino."Gee!That is, it will be a tigreat pleasure for me."Said and done. They saw each other several times,talking in most peculiar rhymes,they played hop-scotch, trivial pursuit, press your luck,and watched cartoons, like"The Marriage of Jana of the Jungle with Donald Duck."He cared for her more and morebut mysterious things were still in store.

Chapter Two —A Merry-Go-Round Which Doesn't Turn Round

The Jungle Fair, the most exciting event of the year,happened each sixteenth monthon the forty-third day,a truly jungle hey-dayand it was set right here,under the palm trees, heavy with decorations,light bulbs, can openers, cookie jars, electric plugs,mats and hats and a few jacks-in-the-box.On the stands, they always sellso many things I cannot tell:slippers and zippers,gas stoves and garlic cloves,plush pets and TV sets,guns (for the Americanos)and concert pianos.While Tigrene was leaning against a contrabassTigrino shows up and utters this amazing phrase:"I see you like thatextremely important instrumentvery much in usein the classical orchestrato give the music special hues.""You sound like a college tigraduate," said Tigrene."You so flatter me. We'd better go.I really want you to enjoy the show."They tenderly strolled together, hand in hand,among the zebras, silvery striped, among [End Page 113] elephants with their trunk so surprisingly long,among party-colored snakes, fishes and frogsilluminated as if under the spot-lights of the Twentieth Century Fox,and they were blinded by the huge kaleidoscopeand when Tigrino said, "What a beautiful fair!"he noticed that Tigrene was no longer there.He looked around —no trace at all.He called her name —no answer at his call.He asked the hippopotamus (just in case)who said he had seen her by the contrabassbut nor was the contrabass there anymore."Maybe it is playing an encore,thought Tigrino.Although that's most unlikely, . . . I meanI rather suspectthe contrabass has kidnapped Tigrene;that is, somebody who was hiding inside(it's a wonderful place to hide).But who, and what for, and why, and how come, and where?!"So, Tigrino's heart sank into the darkest dispair.The palm trees were no longer green.His only obsession: to find Tigrene.

Chapter Three —The Cruel Naked Truth

What happened in fact?A big bad apewas indeed hiding in the instrumentwith the peculiar shapeand, in the...

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