Tigers at Twilight Read online

  “To the chatter of the monkeys, the rumble of the elephant, the roar of the tiger,” said the man. “I have listened for so long, they have all begun to sound like one voice—the one great voice of the forest.”

  “Did the voice tell you that a tiger got caught in a trap last night?” asked Annie.

  “Yes,” the hermit said.

  “And did it tell you that after we saved him, he tried to attack us?” said Jack.

  The blind man smiled.

  “Please bring me one of the white flowers floating on the stream,” he said.

  Jack wondered why the hermit was changing the subject.

  But Annie jumped up and hurried to the stream. She pulled at one of the large flowers. It came up, muddy root and all. She took it to the blind man.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  The man touched the flower’s large white petals and its dirty root.

  “This perfect lotus blossom grows from dark, thick mud,” he said. “Its beauty cannot live without its ugliness. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” said Jack and Annie.

  “When you saved the tiger, you saved all of him,” said the blind man. “You saved his graceful beauty—and his fierce, savage nature. You cannot have one without the other.”

  “Oh … right,” said Jack.

  “Take this lotus as a thank-you gift from all the forest for saving our fierce friend,” said the blind man. “Our world would not be complete without him.”

  Annie took the gift from the hermit.

  “A gift from a forest far away,” she said.

  Arf! Arf! Teddy wagged his tail.

  The langurs clapped.

  “We can go home now,” said Jack, “if we can just find the way.”

  “Do not worry,” said the blind man. “Your house in the trees is close by. The elephants walked in a large circle. So you are back at the place where you started.”

  “Really?” said Jack.

  The blind man pointed to the sky.

  There was the magic tree house, high in a nearby tree.

  “Oh, great,” breathed Jack.

  “I told you not to worry,” said Annie. She and Jack pulled on their socks and shoes and stood up.

  Before they left, Annie touched the hand of the blind man.

  “Thanks for everything,” she said.

  The man held her hand for a moment. Then he took Jack’s hand. Jack felt a wave of calm wash over him.

  “Thank you,” he said to the blind man.

  Kah and Ko chattered and held out their long arms. Jack and Annie hugged the two langurs.

  “We’ll miss you,” said Annie.

  “You were great tour guides,” said Jack. “Good-bye.”

  Then he and Annie took off for the magic tree house with Teddy scampering after them.

  At the rope ladder, Jack put Teddy into his pack and climbed up.

  Annie carried the lotus blossom as she followed them.

  Inside the tree house, Jack picked up the Pennsylvania book. But before he made a wish, he looked out the window with Annie.

  In the distance, they saw Saba and the other elephants bathing in the stream.

  They saw Kah and Ko swinging on vines.

  They saw the tiger sunbathing in the grass, licking his sore leg.

  They saw tiny deer grazing.

  They saw bright birds in the trees.

  They saw the blind man sitting in front of his cave. He was smiling.

  Jack opened the book. He pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.

  “I wish we could go home,” he said.

  The tree house started to spin.

  The wind started to blow.

  It blew harder and harder.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Jack opened his eyes.

  Late afternoon sunlight shined into the tree house.

  “Our third gift,” said Annie.

  She put the lotus blossom beside the pocket watch from the Titanic and the eagle’s feather from the Lakota Indians.

  “One more gift,” she said to Teddy, “and you’ll be free from your spell.”

  The little dog licked her hand.

  “Hey, tell me this,” said Jack. “How did you know Teddy wanted us to hide behind that rock?”

  Annie shrugged.

  “I just knew,” she said. “I think I saw it in his eyes.”

  “You did?” Jack looked into Teddy’s eyes.

  The little dog tilted his head and stared back at Jack.

  Teddy’s eyes twinkled, as if they held many secrets.

  “Who are you, really?” whispered Jack.

  Teddy just smiled a doggy smile and wagged his tail.

  “Come for us again soon,” Annie said. “Okay?”

  Teddy sneezed, as if to say, Of course!

  Jack grabbed his pack. Then he and Annie climbed down the rope ladder.

  When they stood on the ground, they looked up. A little black nose was poking out the tree house window.

  “Bye!” they called.

  Arf! Arf!

  Jack and Annie took off between the trees.

  Birds sang in the twilight. Squirrels scampered playfully through the leaves.

  The Frog Creek woods were very tame after the forest in India.

  Soon they came to their street. As they walked to their house, the last bit of daylight was slipping away.

  Before they went inside, Jack and Annie sat on their steps.

  “I have two questions,” said Jack. “If the hermit couldn’t see, how did he know about the tree house? And how did he know that we had traveled all night with the elephants?”

  “Easy,” said Annie. “The one great voice of the forest told him.”

  “Hmm,” said Jack.

  He closed his eyes for a moment and listened.

  He heard a car going down the street.

  He heard a woodpecker pecking.

  He heard crickets chirping.

  He heard a screen door opening.

  He heard a mom saying, “Time for dinner, kids.”

  All the sounds were like one great voice—the one great voice of home.

  MORE FACTS FOR YOU AND JACK

  1) Adult elephants are plant eaters. They feed for 15 hours a day and can eat more than 400 pounds of vegetation every day.

  2) The average weight of an Indian rhino is 4,000 pounds.

  3) A giant python can grow up to 30 feet in length.

  4) India has 238 kinds of snakes, ranging from the giant python to the worm snake, which is just over 4 inches long.

  The Sacred Langur

  Hinduism is the main religion of the people of India. It is a religion with many gods and goddesses. One of its important gods is Hanuman, who saved a Hindu goddess named Sita.

  Hanuman has the body of a man and the face and tail of a langur monkey. Followers of Hinduism believe that Hanuman’s spirit is alive in the langurs of India. Hindu temples dedicated to Hanuman treat all langurs as special guests.

  Endangered Species

  In the nineteenth century, there were more than 40,000 tigers in India. Today there are fewer than 4,000. For this reason, the tiger is considered to be a critically endangered species.

  The Indian rhino is also a highly endangered species.

  The Wildlife Protection Society of India has been formed to help save India’s endangered animals. The society arrests illegal hunters and seizes wildlife products, such as tiger skins and bones, rhino horn, and elephant ivory. It also helps to alert other people around the world to India’s wildlife crisis.

  Here’s a special preview of

  Magic Tree House #20

  Dingoes at Dinnertime

  Available now!

  Excerpt copyright © 2000 by

  Published by Random House Children’s Books,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Annie sat on the porch steps. She stared down the street at the Frog Creek woods.
/>   “Hey, Jack,” she said. “Do you hear it?”

  Jack sat next to her. He was reading a book.

  “Hear what?” he said.

  “Teddy’s calling us,” said Annie.

  “You’re kidding,” said Jack. But he looked down the street and listened, too.

  A faint bark came from the distance.

  Arf! Arf!

  A big smile crossed Jack’s face.

  “You hear it!” Annie said.

  “Yep,” said Jack. “You’re right. Time to go.”

  He stood up and grabbed his backpack.

  “Be back soon!” Annie shouted through the screen door.

  “Don’t be late for dinner!” their dad called.

  “We won’t!” said Jack.

  He and Annie ran down the street and into the Frog Creek woods.

  Soon they came to the tallest oak.

  There was the magic tree house. A little black nose stuck out the window.

  “Hi, silly!” Annie called. “We’re coming!”

  Arf! came a happy bark.

  Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing.

  Jack followed her up into the tree house.

  A small dog sat in a circle of afternoon sunshine. His tail wagged.

  “Hey, Teddy!” said Jack.

  Jack and Annie hugged Teddy. And the dog licked both of them.

  “Morgan’s note is still here,” said Annie.

  “Yep,” said Jack. He knew the note by heart now.

  This little dog is under a spell and needs your help. To free him, you must be given four special things:

  A gift from a ship lost at sea,

  A gift from the prairie blue,

  A gift from a forest far away,

  A gift from a kangaroo.

  Be wise. Be brave. Be careful.

  Morgan

  Beside the note were the gifts from their first three trips:

  1. a pocket watch from the Titanic

  2. an eagle’s feather from the prairie skies

  3. a lotus flower from a forest in India

  “We just need to get a gift from a kangaroo,” said Annie, “and Teddy will be free from his spell.”

  “We must be going to Australia,” said Jack. “That’s where kangaroos live.”

  “Cool,” said Annie.

  Teddy whined and scratched at a book lying in the corner.

  Jack picked it up.

  “What’d I tell you?” he said.

  He showed the cover to Annie. The title was Adventure in Australia.

  “Great,” said Annie. She looked at Teddy. “Ready to meet a kangaroo?”

  Arf! Arf!

  Jack opened the book. He found a page with small pictures of different animals and a big picture of a forest. Jack pointed at the forest.

  “I wish we could go there,” he said.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

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  #1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK

  #2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN

  #3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING

  #4: PIRATES PAST NOON

  #5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS

  #6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON

  #7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH

  #8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON

  #9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK

  #10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN

  #11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME

  #12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME

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  #14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING

  #15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE

  #16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS

  #17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC

  #18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST

  #19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT

  #20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME

  #21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY

  #22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY

  #23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY

  #24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING

  #25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT

  #26: GOOD MORNING, GORILLAS

  #27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY

  #28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII

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  #33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT

  #34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS

  #35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS

  #36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON

  #37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN

  #38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS

  #39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA

  #40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN

  #41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE

  #42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS

  #43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER

  #44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME

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