The tiger that became a cat

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You are a man who owns many cats at home. I was a tiger you found in the wild. The moment you saw me you looked and thought to yourself “aah, such a beautiful creature but it’s a tiger and all I have are cats.” But then, after some examination, you discovered I had some of the same features as a cat and you decided to take me in and try to tame me to become a cat. But alas inside me I still felt like a tiger. Every now and then I would feel my bones ache from being locked in a cage too long.

One day you tried to put the tiger with other cats but it made me angry to see cats so tame who had never seen the beauty of the wild. So you decided to put me in a cage by myself. There were days that tiger would look out of the cage and find you playing with the cats who you had trained to be tigers for a short period of time. The cats had all the same features as a tiger but I could see inside they had grown up as cats and only been trained to be tigers. I thought to myself “How unfair to be tamed as a wild animal where no matter what, you feel caged. I would much rather grow up domesticated and allowed out on occasion to see the forest and the birds but know I was truly happier domesticated.

After a long time the tiger finally changed completely into a cat and you decided to let it back into the wild. Only you had forgotten something important. The cats you had trained on the outside to become tigers but were still cats on the inside. You had trained them to only use their claws and kill when necessary. Otherwise they were happy to stay in the house and be petted. However, I had changed completely into a cat, inside and out. Since I was a tiger before you didn’t want me to keep the same features as a tiger. So when you let me out I had completely forgotten how to use my claws. When I came face to face with the wild animals I was still tame and was stripped into bits as other animals ate me.

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