Although it needed food, the cub was confident. It kept rubbing its face against Fliss’s hand, looking for contact. Fliss was more than happy to give the little tiger some attention. She thought of the direction she’d gone in because of the elephant herd, and how that had helped her find the river. Then how she had strayed off the path and into the temple grounds. Everything had led her here, to this tiny, lonely tiger.
“I’ve got a feeling I was sent here to find you,” Fliss said. “And take care of you!”
The tiger mewed and rubbed the top of its head against Fliss’s knee. Just like a cat, she thought. In fact, the cub was about the same size as Bodkin, Ella’s cat. But Bodkin wasn’t this colourful! The tiger’s rich orange coat was the colour of a summer sunset and its tummy was white as snow. It was striped all over with beautiful black wavy lines.
Fliss took the cub’s face in her hands. It was a sweet face. Fluffy, with two dark-rimmed grey eyes, round as buttons.
“You’re a Bengal,” Fliss said, examining the tiger closely. “A royal Bengal tiger.”
Fliss knew all about Bengals. Two years ago, she’d been given a Wild Jungle Fund adoption for her birthday. Her adopted animal was an abandoned Bengal tiger cub called Dhoop, who had been taken in by a local sanctuary. They sent her letters and photo updates of Dhoop every month, showing how the cub was growing. Fliss had pinned them one by one to her bedroom wall – the perfect guide to a cub’s progress! She thought back to the timeline of Dhoop’s growth and looked at the cub in front of her.
“From your size, I guess you must be about two months old,” she said, tickling the cub behind the ear. “And you definitely need some care and attention. Luckily for you, I’m going to be a vet when I grow up. I’ve already made a promise to keep animals safe whenever I can.”
At that moment, the cub leaped up and placed both paws on Fliss’s knees. But it was weak and it fell backwards. Fliss saw from its underside that it was a boy.
“You may be a little thing now but I’m going to make sure you grow up to be king of the jungle!” Fliss said. The cub sprang back to his feet. “King of the jungle. You like the sound of that, huh?” Fliss tapped her chin.
She laughed as the tiger rolled over again on the wet ground. “Though right now you’re more like a clown than a king!”
“Come here,” she said, pulling him close. “You need a strong name for when you become king. Something majestic… I know, there’s a famous Indian palace called the Taj Mahal, which means crown of palaces. Taj means crown – it’s perfect! Now all we need is a crowning ceremony for Taj, the crown prince!”
Fliss skipped over to a nearby bush that was bursting with fragrant star-shaped flowers. “Mmm, smells like Mum’s candle at home,” she said, inhaling the honey scent. “But right now, the best thing about this plant is these stems!”
Fliss gathered a handful of the stringy stems and wound them round and round each other, forming a thick, woven circle. A jungle crown.
“Taj, come and be crowned!”
But the tiger cub wasn’t interested. He was chasing every insect that flew past, leaping and bouncing on his wobbly legs. Taj would never stay still long enough to wear a crown, so Fliss popped it on her own head to keep it safe. Then she sat on a fallen stone boulder and watched the cub play for a while. The poor little thing was so thin but his happy nature kept him going. Boing, boing! He was like a bouncy ball!
When Taj got tired of chasing tiny flies, he jumped into Fliss’s lap. He saw the jasmine crown on her head and reached up with a giant paw to try and knock it off, like a naughty child.
“Uh-uh.” Fliss shook her head so the crown wobbled, teasing the tiger even more.
Taj stood on his hind legs and rested both feet on Fliss’s forehead, then with one swipe, he knocked the crown off her head. Fliss reached to the floor to get it, but with a face full of furry tiger tummy, she rolled backwards and fell off the stone. It was so funny she couldn’t stop laughing.
“Yuk, you’re slobbering on me!” she said, feeling wet splats on her head.
Then there was more wet. Not slobber but rain. Heavy drops of it. The drumming grew louder on the canopy above. Then the rainwater began to fall right through it, pouring on to their heads. It was as if the sky had drawn up all the water in the world and was dropping it down upon them.
“Uh-oh, Taj,” she said. “I think we’re about to get very wet.”
It poured and poured – Fliss had never seen anything like it before! The leaves in the trees bent under the weight of the big warm drops, and the water tumbled down on top of Fliss and Taj. Just like a monsoon, Fliss thought. Hang on…
“It is the monsoon!” she cried. “The rainy season. Of course! Quick, Taj, we need to get inside! This might go on for a while.”
Fliss was already soaked through by the time she reached the temple room. She called for Taj, who was still standing in the middle of the stone courtyard, drenched. With his fur wet and flattened, the cub looked even thinner than before. Poor little thing!
“What are you doing? A prince shouldn’t stand in the rain!” Fliss called, crouching down in the doorway. “Come here, little one!”
Taj looked up at the sound of her voice and ran right into Fliss’s arms. Then he shook his coat, spraying droplets all over her.
“Thanks, your highness,” she laughed.
As rainwater began to pool in the doorway, they retreated into the dry temple room. There was nothing for them to do now but play until the monsoon shower eased. Fliss gave Taj plenty of cuddles and scuttled her hand across the floor, allowing him to pounce on it. Occasionally he gripped her hand between his teeth. It tickled most of the time, but when the cub got overexcited, his bite got harder.
Fliss yelped. Taj bounced back, not realizing he’d nibbled her thumb a bit too hard. Fliss would have to be more careful. Cuts and bites could get infected and there wasn’t any medical equipment nearby.
“Perhaps we should play a game with no teeth,” she said. “How about hide-and-seek? I’ll hide – you find me.”
Fliss hid behind a boulder in the centre of the room and Taj followed her.
“No, no, no. You stay here.” She sat Taj down facing one way, then ran off in the other direction and hid behind a pillar. “Taj, come!”
She waited for him to come, trying not to giggle as she imagined him sniffing her out. When he found her, she praised him with lots of back rubs.
“Well done, Taj. Well done for finding me. Now try again.”
Fliss sat behind a stone seat. “Taj, come!”
He came padding along quickly this time and hopped on to her lap. As he nuzzled against her neck, Fliss felt ridiculously happy. She’d never dreamed she would be close to a wild tiger – now she was playing hide-and-seek with one! Taj was the cutest playmate. And he was smart too. After a few goes, Fliss was certain that the cub actually understood her when she said ‘Taj, come’.
“You are a clever little prince,” she said, giving his ears a good scratch. She noticed their extraordinary markings. The fronts of his ears were orange and fluffy but the backs were black with a single white splodge in the centre of each. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
Outside, the rain was still falling and the water in the doorway was now creeping into the room. Perhaps there was a different way out or another room they could move to. Fliss searched the far end of the temple. It was dry, apart from a crack in the ceiling. It let in raindrops but a shaft of light also shone through and Fliss saw that there were paw prints in the dust – lots of them. Some looked the same size as Taj’s, some were bigger. There was also a large bedding area of matted leaves… This temple wasn’t just a shelter, it was a tiger’s den.
“At some point you must have had brothers and sisters here with you,” Fliss said. “And a mum.”
She looked back at the doorway. The courtyard outside was now flooded and water was moving in fast. Fliss realized what had happened.
“After the last big
rainfall, your mum must have been worried the den would flood. Perhaps she moved her litter … but you got left behind.” Fliss was overcome with emotion. She ran to Taj and took him in her arms. “How could anyone forget you?”
Then as suddenly as it had started, the rain stopped. After the splattering and drumming, the silence was strange. The light outside grew brighter and the birdsong started again. But in monsoon season, Fliss knew that the rain could come at any time. She placed Taj on the ground next to her.
“Your mum was right. The river is so close and the ground is already soaking – if it rains again soon, the water will fill this room. We need to go.”
Fliss took a step towards the doorway and froze. Blocking their exit was an enormous snake. It was grey-brown with white stripes. Its body was as thick as a rounders bat and longer than a skipping rope. Taj ran ahead, unaware.
“Taj!” Fliss called. But the snake had seen him. It began to uncoil its body. It raised its head and pulled itself up so it stood tall in front of them. “Come, Taj! Come here!”
Taj turned and ran back to her but Fliss couldn’t take any more chances. She picked up the cub. Then she stamped her feet, hoping the vibrations would scare the snake away.
Instead, the alarmed snake raised its head even higher and fanned out its neck to form a hood. In the Animals of India programme Fliss had seen, this snake was the star. It was a cobra, one of the most venomous snakes in the land. And it wasn’t going anywhere.
The cobra watched her, swaying its body every time Fliss moved. It was so big it could lurch forwards and bite her if it wanted to but for now it was just keeping her in its sights.
Fliss was terrified. She knew snakes only attacked if they thought they were in danger – it was making itself big to scare her away – but there was nowhere to go. And if the rain came again, it would push the snake further into the temple room with them. Taj wriggled and writhed in her arms. If he got loose and upset the cobra…
There was nothing for it – Fliss would have to outscare the snake. Gulping back fear, she stamped closer. Then closer again. But the snake jerked its head forwards, making a rasping sound. A warning. To go any nearer would be foolish. There was only one other thing to do – she would have to distract it.
Wedging Taj tight under one arm, Fliss took the jasmine crown from her head and danced it in the air, looping it from side to side in front of the cobra. The snake fixated on it with its blank, beady eyes. It was bristling. Its tongue flicked in and out. Fliss’s heart rattled. It was now or never.
She waved the crown in the air again, closer and closer, and then she threw it at the snake. It hit the side of its neck. Not hard but hard enough to make the snake twist round. The crown bounced off its body and the cobra darted after it as it skidded across the floor. Fliss ran as fast as she could. Past the thick coils of the beast, and out into the open.
Wading through the huge monsoon puddles as deep as paddling pools, she didn’t stop until she reached the opposite side of the stone courtyard. She looked behind her.
The snake hadn’t followed. Phew! Fliss relaxed and breathed deeply, and Taj leaped from her loosened grip.
“OK, Taj, you can walk now, but we need to watch out. The monsoon rain has probably flooded lots of animals’ nests. There could be plenty more snakes looking for shelter.”
Everything was dripping with rain, and at the edge of the temple grounds where the stone met grass, Fliss was shocked at how wet the ground was. It was over her sandals and up past her ankles. The ground wasn’t just waterlogged, it was totally flooded! She looked up to see that the river had burst its banks and waves of muddy brown water were spreading into the forest!
Taj had spotted something in the murky wash and paddled out towards it. Fliss ran after him.
“What are you doing?” she panted. “We’re wet enough!”
But Taj was toying with a fish that had been washed up on the bank. He was at the age when he could start to eat meat, just like Dhoop had done at two months old. This fish would be something to build up his strength. Who knew when food would come along again this easily?
Fliss grabbed the fish with both hands and ran backwards to drier land. Taj followed, captivated by the silvery object. Fliss held out the fish and the cub licked it, making funny faces as his tongue struggled with the scaly texture. Fliss tried not to laugh in case it put him off.
As Taj grew more confident with the fish, he started to snap at it with his little teeth. After his mother’s milk, it would be a very funny flavour, but the cub didn’t seem to mind. He wolfed down little mouthfuls, stopping only to lick his chops and whiskers.
“You’re growing up fast, little prince,” Fliss said. “Your mum would be proud of you.”
But where was his mother? She must be worried about her lost cub.
“That’s why I’m here!” she said to herself. Yes, that’s why she was a million miles away from her own home. She had to help this little tiger cub find his mother.
She gazed at the cub. “Eat every last piece, Taj. We’re going on a journey and you’re going to need all your strength!”
Fliss remembered what Luke had said – about needing energy to look after all those kids. If only she could find something to boost her energy, she’d be able to look after Taj better.
She looked around and saw Taj loping back towards the river. He was further out than he’d been before and dangerously close to the full force of the river. Tigers could swim but not necessarily in a fast-flowing river flooded with monsoon rain.
Taj may have been weak but he was fearless. He was running deeper into the murky floods, right up to his tummy. Fliss ran after him, sploshing though the water as fast as she could. But Taj thought it was a game and hurled himself backwards into the waves that rippled over the ground and sucked back into the river.
“Stop! It’s too dangerous!” Fliss called.
Taj seemed to understand the tone of her voice and stood still, waiting for her. But before Fliss could reach him, he was knocked off his feet by a rush of water. The muddy wave returned to the river, taking Taj with it.
Fliss heard a last, desperate mew before he was gone, out of sight.
Fliss plunged into the river. The water was warm but it still took her breath away and the undercurrents spun her round and round. She kicked her legs to stay upright, using her arms to keep her body facing the right way. She had so little energy but she couldn’t give up. She had to get down the river as fast as possible after Taj. Where was he?
It was hard to see anything with so much debris. Old tree trunks, branches and twigs uprooted by the monsoon bobbed alongside her, blocking her view. They were floating… Yes! Fliss grabbed hold of a drifting log and wrapped her arms around it. Now she could keep her head above water, and rest her arms and legs.
Fliss had seen enough wildlife documentaries to know that there might be other things in the river too – living things, like giant catfish or even freshwater crocodiles! But she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She had to be strong for Taj.
“Taj!” she called but her voice seemed to go nowhere. “Taj!” she cried.
Fliss began to feel utterly helpless. She bit her lip to stop herself crying. Being upset wouldn’t help her now – she had to keep her mind sharp while she worked out what to do. She saw something bobbing in the water. It looked like a large knot of wood. It had two round nobbles on top… A crocodile!
Fliss gulped and tried to steer her log float away, but her legs thrashed helplessly against the current. She got nearer and nearer. Then she saw – they weren’t crocodile eyes. They were tiny tiger ears. It was Taj!
The cub was struggling to keep his head above water and Fliss was still too far away to save him if he went under… More determined than ever, she kicked her feet hard, but no amount of determination could fight the fast-flowing river.
Just when Fliss thought she might never catch up, Taj was suddenly sucked over to the far side of the river where the water was moving
more slowly. There must have been shallows or rocks beneath the surface, breaking its speed. Yes! This was her chance.
Fliss was swept nearer to the cub. She could see him clearly now. She couldn’t hear his mews above the noise of the river’s splashing but she could see his mouth opening and closing, revealing little fangs. He was turning slowly on the spot. The different speeds of the water currents crashed together, creating a gentle whirlpool. As he turned, Taj spotted her and his eyes widened.
Mew. Mew.
“Yes, Taj. It’s me. Hang on!”
Fliss was still travelling in the fast stretch of water. There was a danger she would whoosh right past him if she didn’t time it right. If that happened, they would be separated forever. She carefully let go of the log with one hand and reached out towards Taj as far as she could. She was getting close. Closer. Three, two, one … stretch.
Fliss’s fingers met damp fur. She gripped Taj and yanked him into the fast-flowing stream alongside her. Then she pulled him out of the water and on top of the log. The little cub was shaking like a leaf.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” she soothed. But the river still had them both and she didn’t know where it was taking them. Now it was only going to get faster – the monsoon showers had started again.
The raindrops made the water dance around them. It drummed and crackled. And then, out of nowhere, came an almighty roar, like a football stadium cheering a goal. Fliss peered through the rain. The water up ahead was white and foaming. Rapids!
This was bad. There might be big rocks breaking up the water, or maybe even a waterfall! Fliss felt panic rise in her throat. They had to get out of there – fast. She looked around for something they could cling to but there was nothing. The rain eased and in the fine spray at the start of the rapids, she spotted a bridge.
Little Tiger Rescue Page 2