The Lady or the Tiger? (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Francis Richard Stockton
- First Published: 1882
- Type of Plot: Fairy tale
- Time of Work: The distant past
- Setting: A semi-barbaric land
- Principal Characters: A semi-barbaric king, His semi-barbaric young daughter, A young courtier at the king's court
- Genres: Short fiction, Fairy tale
- Subjects: Love or romance, Punishment, Kings, queens, or royalty, Mysteries, Fate or fatalism, Princes or princesses, Doors
The Story
In “the very olden time,” a half-barbaric king, who was also half-civilized, because of the influence of his distant Latin neighbors, conceived a way of exercising justice on offenders against his rule. He placed his suspect in a Roman-like arena and had him choose to open one of either of two doors that would open into the arena. Behind one of the identical doors lurked a ferocious tiger that would leap out and devour the accused; behind the other door awaited a lovely maid who would, if her door was the one opened, come forth and be married at once to the...
[The entire page is 1590 words long]
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