And Tigers, Too

The story goes that, in bygone days, whenever a baby girl was born in China's Fukien Province, her family planted 100 trees as her future dowry. Consequently, Fukien abounds in lush woodlands which, unfortunately, provide ideal hideouts for various killers, including Communists and tigers. Nationalist soldiers (as if the Communists were not enough) have found themselves beset by the tiger menace.

Last week, a Fukien official reported that during the past year 100 men had been lost to the beasts. Fukien provincial troops would henceforth receive special instruction in big-game hunting. A TIME correspondent retold an ancient story with a new twist:

"Some villagers say that recently the ghost of Confucius, accompanied by the wraiths of several disciples, was seen wandering through a certain Fukien forest. There it met an old woman weeping beside a grave. She said: 'My husband's father was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also; and now my son has met the same fate.' Confucius asked why she didn't return to her village instead of living in so dangerous a place. The old woman wailed: 'I am a refugee from the Communists. Here there are tigers but no oppressive government.'

"Whereupon Confucius turned to the wraiths of his disciples and said: 'My children, remember this: an oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger.' "

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.