urrounded by the Himalayas on one side and a vast forest on the other was a small Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Monks of all ages lived a simple life there. Everything about the place spoke of quiet beauty – the early morning mist, the warmth of the setting sun, the lovely conifers and the beautiful wildlife.

One evening, all the monks had gathered inside the monastery for prayer. Cheekoo, the youngest monk, opened his eyes and looked around for Master Wu. He was nowhere to be seen.

The monks completed their evening prayer and, as they continued to sit cross-legged on their mats, Cheekoo suddenly felt as though he was being watched. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he could feel goose-bumps on his skin. Then, something moist tickled his ear. Startled, he turned around. There, in front of him, was Dorje, Master Wu’s tiger.

‘Dorje, you scared me! Bad tiger!’ scolded Cheekoo with an affectionate laugh. Looking up, he saw Master Wu standing behind the tiger.

‘Master Wu, where were you?’ Tsapang, another young monk, asked. ‘We missed you at prayer today.’

But before Master Wu could reply, Cheekoo started jumping up and down, madly gesticulating and pointing towards Dorje. ‘Look... look at Dorje! There is a long black stripe on his back!’

Everyone surrounded Dorje, whose golden coat of fur gleamed under the rays of the setting sun. He was sitting leisurely, licking his saucer-sized paws with his tongue. He thrashed his long tail about once or twice and then tilted his large head. With deep inset eyes, he looked towards Master Wu and the statue of the Buddha behind him.

And there, across his back was a long thick black stripe.

Everyone stood there, staring at Dorje and the new stripe on his back. Murmurs grew and became louder. Dorje got up gracefully, walked towards Master Wu and sat at his feet. Master Wu smiled and stroked Dorje’s head.

‘Do you remember that when I first brought Dorje here he was covered in bruises?’ Master Wu asked. The children nodded, sensing the beginning of a story, and quickly sat around him.

Master Wu continued. ‘His skin was heavily scratched and covered with layers of mud. He was weak and tired and had surely not eaten anything for days. He collapsed on the steps of this monastery.’

Master Wu paused and looked around as everyone nodded.

He closed his eyes and continued. ‘It was also strange that Dorje had very few stripes on his body. In fact, it was difficult to make out that he was a tiger. We fed Dorje the first few days and then, as he regained his strength, he was able to hunt on his own. Yet, Dorje feared us.’

‘But he is a tiger! How can he be afraid of us?’ a puzzled Cheekoo asked.

Master Wu looked sad as he responded, ‘Because man is the most dangerous animal on this planet. His very presence strikes fear in the hearts of the mightiest and bravest of animals. Only men can hunt down the greatest of all predators. Dorje only knew cruel men before he met us, and he feared us even more. He had never seen compassionate children like you.

‘Over the last few months, Dorje started accepting us as his friends. He played with you children and occasionally slept on the steps of the monastery, surrounded by all of us. But as you know, Dorje was still very sad and listless. Every now and then, he would feel angry and storm off into the jungle and roar till his throat went hoarse. All the other tigers in the forest ran away from him. And each time he came back, he would be missing a stripe. He would then be depressed and mope around for days on end. This kept happening till only the two spots on his forehead were left.’

With a sigh, Master Wu went on, ‘I could not bear to see this beautiful creature in so much agony and pain. So one day, while he was tossing and turning in his sleep, I entered his dreams.’

The monks gasped. Dream-walking was sacred – done only in the direst and rarest of circumstances.

Cheekoo looked intently at Master Wu and asked in a whisper, ‘What did you see in Dorje’s dream, Master Wu?’

A hush descended and Master Wu drifted into memory.‘At first, I saw Dorje’s home in Bengal - dense junglesfull of fiery, beautiful tigers,’ he murmured softly, his eyes closed.’

‘They were so bold and regal and they feared nothing and no one. It was the most majestic sight that I have ever seen.’

There was joy in Master Wu’s voice as he recreated a time when tigers roamed the jungles of Asia. Then, a note of sadness entered him. ‘One by one, the tigers started disappearing. As men encroached upon their jungles, started killing them for their skin and for sport, hunted down even their prey so they were left to starve, their numbers started to dwindle. Eventually, a time came when there were only a handful of tigers left in the mangroves of Bengal. Among them were Dorje and his clan.

‘In those days, Dorje had several stripes on his skin like every other Bengal tiger. But every time a tiger died, Dorje lost a stripe. It was as if the universe was keeping track of the number of tigers alive through him. As more tigers got poached or died of starvation, more stripes disappeared from Dorje’s skin, till one day there were only a handful of stripes left.

‘The poachers knew that there were only a few tigers left. So they set their traps all over the jungle, formed a circle and waited with loaded guns. The only way to survive was to leave the forest. Dorje tried to lead his brothers out of the jungle with him, but they refused to leave. They fought the poachers, and Dorje quickly escaped while his brothers held them off.

‘Dorje ran as fast as he could. Even when he heard gunshots being fired, he didn't stop. Even when he saw the two stripes on his forelegs fading away, he kept on running. He ran all day and all night, neither stopping for food nor for water. He ran all the way from Bengal to Tibet, till he reached the wall of our monastery and then collapsed. That is how I found him.’

The silence in the monastery was broken by the sound of children crying. The older monks consoled them gently, while wiping the tears out of their own eyes. Master Wu picked Cheekoo up and sat him on his lap.

‘But today something wonderful has happened,’ he said, ‘Something that gives me a lot of hope. Can you guess what, Cheekoo?’

In between his sobs Cheekoo tried to answer Master Wu. ‘Dorje ... got a ... new stripe on his back?’

‘Yes! And do you know what that means?’

The older monks quietly murmured among themselves. Cheekoo stood up and wiped his tears, a sudden realisation dawning on him. The other children were also charged up now. ‘Another tiger?’ Cheekoo guessed.

Master Wu looked around and a broad grin spread across his face, his eyes crinkling at the edges. ‘That’s right. Today, when Dorje and I were walking in the forest, I saw that a new stripe was beginning to form on Dorje's back. As we moved further into the forest, the stripe became longer and thicker.

‘And then we heard a loud roar and found another tiger – a tigress, in fact, a Royal Bengal tigress. They roared at each other, but unlike the other tigers in the forest, this one didn’t run away from Dorje. She circled Dorje a few times and even nudged him with her paws. They seem to have become friends. Dorje finally has someone to call family. And the proof is the stripe on his back.’

‘Will Dorje have children soon?’ Tsapang blurted out and then blushed with embarrassment.

‘He may,’ Master Wu chuckled. ‘In a few years, he might get all his stripes back.’

Everyone laughed. The children wanted to go with Dorje to see his new friend. But Master Wu stopped them.

‘Dorje has been our friend and companion for a long time. But it is time for him to go. The jungleis rightfully his. We have our villages and cities. It’s time to let our friend go home.’

Saying this Master Wu led them all back to the prayer hall. The monks followed with a spring in their steps. They all chanted a prayer for Dorje and his new family.

And in the jungle, two Bengal tigers stepped into the wilderness and shyly purred at each other.

There was hope for their clan once again.