National Republican., 1883-01-16
"ruE LADY AND THE rreER.o
A Sequel to Mr.. Frank stoclston's Ingeni-
GUS story.

A Sequel to Mr.. Frank stoclSton's Ingeni-
Gus story.
Readers of the Century Magazine who rcmcm.
ber Mr.. Frank Stoctton's ingenious absurdity,
"Tho Lady and tho Tiger" will be interested
in the sequel TO it by William Taylor, of san
Francisco, who is represented as having dug
it out of the folklore of India In order to
mako the connection clear, Mr.. StoclSton's
story may be outlined. A powerful and abso-
luto eastern king, just enough inoculatcd
with civilization Go be consistently and in.
gcniously barbarous, after canvassing the
relative merits of tho test by hemlock and
honsbanc, and of trial by jury, conceived the
following scheme Of perfect Justice. lTo
caused to be constructed vast amphithcatcr
called "tho kings arena" Whenever anyone
was accused of crime sufficiently black to
merit the attention of the king, the accused
was cast into prison. and IL was announced
that on certain day he would be brought into
the arena. On tho floor of the arena opposite
the kings high throne were two doors. When
the prisoner was brought into the arena he
was allowed to look around tho vast amphi-
theator. He then bowed 20 the king, and
Immediately thereafter crossed tho arena and
opened one of the two doors. Now, behind
one of those doors was u lady, generally
young, fair, aniablc and with generous
dowry, but always suitable to the age, station
temper, and character ofthc accused. Behind
the other door crouchcd fcrco and flmsh.
| ing tiger. The accused could not possibly
know behind which door lurked the tiger or
waited tho lady. Hence the exact justice of
| the scheme. Tho accused might open either
door he pleased, and blind and impartial
! chance decided which door. If the accused
! opened the lady's door he was married forth
with whether he had another wife or not.
So smoothly worked this plan that the di-
vorcc mill of the kingdom was kept running
ut its maximum capacity in order TO free
| those fortunate or unfortunate husbands who
had found the ludys door But after awhile
n presumptious youth of the people dared to
! fall in love with the kings pct daughter
whom the king loved as the apple of his eye
/ The kings daughter returned tho young
mans love, for, though not of royal blood, he
was handsome and bravo and good, and
drove the finest tandem In all the kingdom
/ But they met once too often, presumably at
the free library, and the royal papa found it
out. The daughter was taken home, and the
! young man was dragged to tho dungeon cell
/ The next day il was announced that the cul-
! prit would be brought into tho kings arena.
]
] in mt the death. On the morning of the trial
| the amphithcatcr was packed, but the prin.
| cess had not been idle. VOthC cunning ola bar
bariau she added the persistent clovcrncss of
| II ci' ili2Cd modern detective. She had bribCd
/ the most trusted servant of the king. When
| her lover was led into the arena the princess
! knew behind which door CrouChcd the tiger,
behind which walked the lady. And the
| lover, reading his 5wcGthcart's eyes, to all
Others inscrutablc, to him eloquent with
meaning, detected n swift signal, and, acting
thereon, opened the right-hand door
Here the story closes Whether the lady or
the tiger was behind the door is nottold. The
question, the author tells MS, demands for its
| solution knowledge of all the intricate
mechanism of human affection, barbarian rs
| well rs civilized. Love and hate, trust and
| Jealousy, scliishness and scll-abncgatOn, must
all be weighed, measured, and put into an
equation of two or more unknown quantities,
! before any decision fairly may be rcachcd.
| unul put into action, woman's idea Of
| good or i'll arc always unknown quantities
So il seems idle TO seek 20 determine whether
the princess would have counted the agony of
seeing her lover welded TO CnOthCr less or
! greater than the horror of seeing him torn
| into sanguinary tidbits by n properly ravcnOus
| tiger. So much may he said on both sides,
that one is reminded of the famous problem
of the owl "Did the first owl come from the
egg, or the first egg from the owlY
| This is Mr.. Taylors sequel: Without the
slightest hesitation he went to the right hand
door and opened it," He did not know
that his coyal sweetheart had threaded all the
"deyious ;nazes of passion" ere she arrived
at her decision. lie believed that she knew
that life at tho price named would not be
worth having, So he believed that behind
the right hand door lurllcd Che tiger. lie
opened it, and then stepped forth the lady,
! The lover looked at his sweetheart roproaCh-
fully, at her rival respectfully hut sadly.
Then he turned away, walked rapidly TO the
left hand door and opened that. There was II
bound, Il roar n small scream, n sickcning
wcltcr. But is was not the lover whose man
glod limbs the savage beast was Aorcely
crunching. With the unfailing accuracy of
discrimination which is n trait of his royal
! lineage the tiger had chosen the lady for his
rcpast and the lover stood unscathod. lIo
would have been unworthy immortality if he
had not taken tho largess Of fate at its face
value, He did. lie passed through the door
and closed it, Tho princess tainted, the king
rclentcd, tho lovers were wed, and in lieu of n
trial by blind chance the generous monarch
instituted the system of an elective judiciary.