When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle, #2)

by Nghi Vo

“Tsk, don’t compliment her in front of the others. They’ll get jealous, and then they’ll refuse to do anything until you praise them as well. You can only praise a mammoth when you are alone with her and no one else can hear.” “I am going to put that into my record, and when I get home, it will be copied twice over into the volumes kept at Singing Hills. You must be very careful about what you say to me, or you may go down in history as a liar,” said Chih in amusement.

Well, at least Almost Brilliant isn’t here to make fun of me.

“Why are we talking to tigers?” asked Si-yu. “Because they are talking to us,” Chih said, stifling a somewhat hysterical giggle. “They can talk, and now they’ve seen that we can. That’s—that means that they’ll treat us like people.” “But there’s still a chance that they’re going to eat us.” “Oh yes. Some people are just more . . . edible than others if you are a tiger.”

“There is an addition for your books, cleric. Make a note of it so that they will find it after we eat you. Please continue.”

“When she shared the food that Scholar Dieu offered her rather than eating it all, she was expressing . . . fond feeling and fascination. When she offered her name without asking for Scholar Dieu’s, she was opening the door.”

“And so you came to my house on the soft pads of a midwinter kitten, the whisper of your black tresses sweeping your heels, and so you came to my heart just as quietly. Why, then, did you make such a terrible noise when you let go of my hand and departed, a great trumpeting of horns, a great beating of drums? We had always kept our home in the sweetest of silence, broken only with a dropped spool of scarlet thread or a soft cry from your lips early in the morning. Now your departure crashes like a thunder, and the timbers of the house shake with the force of the space you left behind.”

When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.

“Very well. But believe me, if this story is told to me like that a second time, I will not wait to hear more, and I will certainly eat the teller.” Chih wanted to say something about the fact that stories took longer than that to spread, but

“I am yours, and so I will be your light and your laughter. I am yours, so open your eyes to look at me, and open your mouth so that I may kiss it. I am yours, I am yours, and nevermore will I leave.”