Page 31 - Poetry-Whimsy
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“The Lady, or the Tiger?” or Both?*
1. THE PROBLEM.
A monarch wise; two ladies fair;
A youth not blessed with rank or money;
A Royal Tiger from his lair;
These are our dramatis personae.
The king was great! That potentate
Full wisely steered the ship of State;
And most of all, his shrewdness showed
In his Majestic Penal Code.
An amphitheater, nobly used,
Served as a court where each accused
By his own act strict justice got;
Or— ‘t was his fault if he did not.
The culprit, real or supposed,
Was placed before two portals closed;
Then, uncontrolled, self-guided quite,
He took his choice ‘twixt left and right.
Behind the one, in wait for him,
A tiger lurked, severe and grim.
The other hid a lovely maid,
Young, rich, for wedlock all arrayed.
Which door to open? Death or life?
A beast of prey! A lawful wife!
No wonder if he gasped and tarried:
We all do, when we’re killed—or married!
The trial, from its institution,
Down to the final execution
(Not having any lawyers in it),
Took just the space of half a minute.
*See “The Lady, or the Tiger?” by Frank R. Stockton, published in The Century, November, 1882 –
available at victorianvoices.net/ARTICLES/VT/fiction/1707-Tiger.pdf
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