In "The Story of Little Black Sambo," the main character finds themselves confronted by four tigers. To avoid getting eaten, the boy cleverly offers them his new clothes, shoes, and umbrella. This leads the tigers to vainly argue about who looks the best, and they start chasing one another around a tree. They move so quickly that they're turned into ghee (clarified butter) which the boy collects and takes home to his parents. The speaker — being a young child when they heard the story — fixates solely on the striking image of tigers turning to butter.