The first ray of the morning sun poured down on the sapling, unveiling the dark around it. In the middle of the forest, among the many greeneries, the sapling seemed to stand with its humble existence. Suddenly the wind picked up, stirring the trees. The sapling swung sideways as if it was nodding to the wind. The rustling of the leaves had drowned out the sound of an approaching animal. It was a deer. Her pelt was lightly golden, covered with white spots. She kept trotting until she reached the sapling. She lowered her head and uprooted the sapling with her teeth. And that made her first meal for the day.

The baby deer kept scampering through the forest until she reached a small pool of water. Sunlight kept reflecting off the water, as though it was a blessing in that lonely forest. The deer halted at the corner of the pool and bent to drink. Filling her stomach full to the brim, she jolted sideways to get rid of the water that had drenched her golden fur. Then she set off again.

He was licking his paws when he noticed the deer emerging from the bushes. Sitting in the cast shadow of an enormous tree, he was thinking about how he could satisfy his hunger for that day. She would make a small meal, but it was better than starving. He formed a stance, while meticulously observing the poor animal's movements. The deer did not see him; she began to proceed towards the clearing a little too far from where he sat. He rose straight, leaning his head towards the deer's direction, lifted one of his paws, and remained motionless. As though a single sound would alert his prey.

The deer stopped at the clearing and scratched her ear with her hoof. As she heard the sudden crunching sounds of the fallen leaves, she looked around and spotted a tiger behind one of the trees. The tiger had noticed too, and he was slowly approaching her. She made a run of her life; she had never seen one but somehow that creature seemed to be ominous. The tiger also quickened his pace, splashing through the puddles as he ran. The deer was dashing through the trees, but her small legs hardly could match that of the tiger. The tiger attacked her neck and at last, he got her. The deer made futile efforts but became still after a while. Pleased, the tiger carried the deer to a nearby tree and began to savor it. He pulled her tender flesh off the bones with his sharp incisors.

The western edges of the sky were slowly turning vermillion. The orange fur of the sleeping tiger dimmed in the fading light of the sunset. The vestiges of the deer laid beside him. Birds were retreating to their nests after a long search for foods, recurring twittering of them echoed through the forest. Then a thundering sound resounded followed by loud roars. The tiger struggled for a while and became still. One man came down by a ladder from a nearby tree.

He slowly approached the tiger, careful not to get too close.

"Dead?" said a voice up from the tree, breaking the silence.

Blood was gushing out from the tiger's head, soaking his fur.

"Yes," said the other, now finished checking.

The other man came down from the tree and joined his mate. Then they tied the tiger's paws with a rope and held the tiger upside down with the help of a long cane. Each of them took either side of the cane and lifted the tiger up from the ground. And then they hurried toward their village while the tiger's tail kept brushing against the soft grasses.

Dark had begun to veil everything slowly, as the sun had already sunk behind the forest.

The writer is a student of Textile Fashion and Design at Bangladesh University of Textiles.