After a long and productive tiger life, Uncle retired. He took time to write his own memories, published and read by many in the website of the clan. He travelled to his teachers one more time, enjoying again their land and its pace, their talk and what was to be learn from it, always something to be learn. In the blink of an eye, though, he was back at the flatlands, at his own land and home.
What now? many asked. What does a retired tiger do? Does he become some sort of wise old man, ready to impart philosophical wisdom to the younger leopards and panthers and cats and dogs and all other animals that regularly came to visit him? Would perhaps a philosophy book follow the memoirs? Or would he slowly disappear from our midsts, vegetating in the ample forest to find some well deserved rest?
Uncle Tiger smiled.
It must be said that the smile of a tiger is not necessarily friendly nor funny. People that had followed Uncle Tiger for a while knew that he could be friendly, and funny. His many students proved his passion and skill at passing the knowledge that he made his own. But also many were the legends of his personality, the harshness of the trainings that he lead, the high expectations he hold for his best followers. We know that it is not wise to pet a tiger, so I don’t think anybody felt totally easy at that smile of Uncle Tiger.
He smiled again.
What do you think I am going to do? he asked aloud, in his no-nonsense tone that all of us recognised “I am retired, youngsters… but I am still a tiger!” It would not be exaggerated to say that some of us crawled, even if a bit, in our skins. Did we missed something that he thought obvious? Our confusion amused him, the smile broadened into an open laugh. “We’ll keep training!” he said between laughs, what else? Once a tiger, always a tiger, one should have known.
And so we trained, hearing what he had to say to bring us further along. It is said that the road never ends. Why would Uncle Tiger stop walking it indeed?
