jadetiger

       This story begins when one night when I had a dream about a tiger. In the dream the tiger's fur was like a blazing flame and whose roar sounded like thunder in a raging storm in the night sky. The tiger danced in the clouds as if on wings and was as graceful and agile an eagle soaring in the heavens. The dream inspired me to care about tigers and to learn as much as I could about them.

         Three years later I went to college and got a diploma for a zoologist. I then established a sanctuary where tigers were cared for and studied. Here we raised many tigers. My favorite tiger was one named Sekhmet and was very friendly. He was young and mischievious, but was very passionate and was always good company to have around. Another was White Blaze, who was a White Bengal Tiger, and his fur was like an immortal white flame and he was very playful and energitic. I would take those two on long runs through the mountains and they enjoyed running and trying to catch me. I made sure every tiger was fed well and was cared for.

       Millions of dollars were donated to the sanctuary and there were over 500 tigers living there. We also had a 2,000 acre jungle area where we would let grown tigers live for a while. The sanctuary also had many shallow pools of water where the tigers could cool off during the day.

        I was looking in Southern China once for Bengal Tigers and the elusive South Chinese Tiger since there were many poachers out trying to capture to them. My travels through the jungle accidententaly led me to an ancient jungle ruin. Inside I found some ancient Chinese writing inscribed on stone tablets. The words were as follows, "The chosen one will come in the new millenium and the Great Spirit of the Jade Tiger will present itself to him. Just then the ground started shaking and I fell through a hole into darkness.

       I was knocked unconsious and when I awakened, I sensed a great presence in the air. Just then a spirit of a tiger appeared before me. It was the tiger I saw in my dream thought that this must be the spirit of the Jade Tiger. He spoke, "You have done great good by building a sanctuary for tigers and I am very pleased. I foresaw you coming here and you can honor me by continuing taking care of tigers. You will find the South Chinese Tigers you were looking for in the mountains." The spirit disappeared and I fell asleep.

        When I woke up I found myself in the mountains. Above me on a ledge, bathed in the morning light, stood two South Chinese Tigers. Their fur was as bright and red as the sun and they roared with burning pride echoeing throughout the mountains. I was stunned at first since they came right up to me and sat and stared at me. Their eyes were dancing embers, but as gentle as a warm evening summer breeze.

        When I returned to the sanctuary, I was congraduated by my friends. I let the two South Chinese Tigers out
to the jungle area. In honor of the Jade Tiger, I renamed the sanctuary to Jade Tiger Sanctuary.

        Later that spring, over 100 tiger cubs were born. Ten of them were White Bengal Tigers and five of them were South Chinese Tigers. I feel as though the spirit of the Jade Tiger is watching over the sanctuary and all of the tigers.

        Inside every tiger's heart lives the Jade Tiger dancing through the heavens.