Page:Indira and Other Stories.pdf/156

DOCTOR MACRURUS
OR
Vyaghracharya Brihallangul^[1]

I.

Once upon a time, the tiger folk held a great Congress in the forests of the Sunderbans. On a plot of rising ground in the heart of the woods sat row upon row of the great beasts, the gleam of their shining teeth showing bravely in the dense gloom of the jungle. By an unanimous vote, an aged tiger named Gastrimargos^[2] had been chosen to preside over their deliberations. The honourable Gastrimargos, sitting up gravely, and supported by his tail, began the business of the meeting by thus addressing the distinguished assemblage.

1. I have substituted Greek names for the Sanskrit polysyllables in the original, which mean Doctor Long-tailed Tiger.—[Translator's note].
2. Amitodar or "Boundless-bellied" in the original.

142