It was one drizzly night in India when a young cat had her first kitten, Cara. Being all alone, with nowhere to go and nobody to stay with, the cat wanted desperately to care for her new kitten, but could not.
So she crept into the Indian jungle to find a surrogate mother for her new baby. There were wolves huddling together, snakes dancing with each other, and monkeys playing with one another, but none of them seemed to fit Cara’s needs.
Finally, the mother came across a tiger’s den. Although vacant at the moment, the cat could tell there was a family living there by their scent. She placed the kitten in front of the den, gave her a little snuggle and a soft kiss, and then ran off into the night.
Cara was now all alone. Without her mother, she began to cry.
The tigress then arrived at the den with her litter of cubs. She looked at the newborn Cara and could see that she had no one to take care of her. So the tigress picked the kitten up and brought her into the den with her own cubs.
Cara became a part of the family. She nursed with the cubs, played with them, and cuddled with them at night. In time, they all grew to the age at which they would have to go out on their own.
As they matured, Cara looked at her brothers and sisters. They were full-grown tigers, while she was just a cat. “Why aren’t I as big as they?” Cara asked the tigress. “Why am I still small? Will I ever be big like them?”
The tigress drew her close and licked her ear. “Not everyone is made for being big and strong,” she said softly.
"But I want to run and hunt like them! What good am I if I can’t catch a deer like they can?” She drew closer to the tigress and looked up at her with large, sad eyes.
“Cara, you are on a different track than your brothers and sisters. You are not the same as them.”
“So you’re saying I can’t live like they do, with all the excitement of being big and strong?” Cara sniffled.
“You have other abilities. You were meant for other things,”
“Like what?” Cara wiped away a tear with her paw.
“You will have to find that out on your own,” said the tigress. “No one can choose your path for you.”
“That helps a lot!” Cara tried to roar, but only managed a small “grrr.” She wept even more, curled up into a ball, and cried herself to sleep.
The next night, Cara took a long, contemplative walk through the jungle. What did it mean to have “different abilities” than her siblings? They were so strong, and they could take down giant animals, while she could only manage an occasional rat or two. Why couldn’t she be like them?
She was returning home hungry when a girl crossed her path. Cara had never seen a human before. Terrified, she tried to run away.
However, the girl carried a piece of meat. She called out to Cara and left it on the ground.
Cara conquered her fear and decided to take the bait. As she ate it, the girl drew closer and tried to pet her.
Cara whirled around to bite the girl. However, when Cara looked up at her and saw the love in her eyes and the beauty of her spirit, Cara knew she had no reason to fear her and did not bite.
Every day, at the same time, the girl appeared with a snack for Cara. One day, the girl left Cara’s snack in the doorway to see if she would come inside the house. After many days, Cara would still not come in. But one day it was raining and thundering, and Cara at long last came into the house so she could be dry.
Stepping inside the house was like being on another planet for Cara. All around her were mysterious gadgets- cubes with moving pictures on them, thin devices that rang once in awhile, which the large humans would speak into, and glowing orbs in the ceiling.
Cara looked up at the towering, erect humans. She was full of questions. Why did they make so much noise? Why were they hairless, with strange sheets of cloth on them? How did they build all the gadgets? Why did they smell strange?
The weirdest thing about being in the house was the feel of the floor. All her life, Cara had only walked on dirt. Standing on the hard floor felt cold and alien to her. But everything was so fascinating! She decided to return later. As time went by, Cara became a familiar sight around the house.
One evening, her brother Mihn came looking for her because he had not seen her lately. But when the man of the house saw the tiger, he drew out his gun.
Cara yelped and distracted the man by clawing at his pants so her brother had time to hide in safety. But the tiger, not understanding the situation, continued to approach the man.
The man kicked Cara away and aimed his gun at Mihn. Before Cara could do anything to rectify what was about to happen, the gun went off, and Mihn fell lifeless on the dirt.
Cara learned from this that tigers may be big and strong, but they are also more likely to be killed. On the other hand, she herself, tiny and weak, had been treated well by the humans. Maybe there was merit in being small and unassuming after all.
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