Why the Tiger Has Stripes Fairy Tale

Long ago the tiger's coat had no stripes at all. It was plain yellow. One day the tiger saw a farmer ploughing a rice field with his water buffalo.

"Buffalo, you are much bigger than that man. Why do you obey someone so small?" asked the tiger. "Because the man has wisdom," answered the buffalo. The tiger was puzzled. "What is wisdom? Show it to me," he said, and he went up to the farmer.

"I left my wisdom at home," said the farmer. "I'll go and fetch it. But won't you eat my buffalo while I am away? Let me tie you to a tree." The tiger wanted to see wisdom so badly that he agreed.

The farmer tied the tiger tightly to a tree with a rope. Then he brought an armful of dry straw, piled it all around and said, "Here is my wisdom!" And he set the straw alight.

The fire blazed up, and the rope burned through and snapped. The tiger broke free and ran off into the forest. But the burnt rope had left black stripes all over his yellow coat.

The buffalo laughed so hard that he fell onto a rock and knocked out his top teeth. And that, they say in Vietnam, is why the tiger has stripes and the buffalo has no top teeth.