The Jewel Tribe

by Matilda Bradley

A thousand years ago there lived a tribe in the deep jungle of Indonesia called the Jewel Tribe. They got that name because their ancestors had told them that there was an enormous jewel in a tiger's heart. Their chief was called Zumbra and his daughter was named Rani. She had long, black glossy hair that fell down her back and amber eyes just like a tiger's.

One day the chief caught an adult tiger but he did not realise it was not dead it was just wounded. As soon as Rani was told to try and find the jewel she immediately did as she was told but was extremely relieved to find the tiger was still alive. She carefully placed the wounded exquisite animal on the table, found a palm leaf and wrapped it around its body to keep it warm. All of a sudden the tiger talked to Rani. It gently purred, "Please do not hurt me, your ancestors did not mean that tigers have jewels inside of them but that tigers are the jewels of the jungle and need to be treasured. You must stop them killing us before it's too late!"

Rani nursed the tiger in secret until it was better and could get back into the wild. She was very sad to see her new friend leave and wept as the tiger elegantly prowled back into the emerald green forest.

However, her father had sneakily hidden behind the lush bushes and saw everything. Her father was furious and a storm of rage flushed his face in anger and disappointment. Zumbra shot as quick as a flash towards Rani. They argued and he threw words at her as viciously as throwing knives at a wall.

'I never want to see you again!' he yelled terrifyingly and Rani sped off into the jungle.

As she walked through the luxurious environment she heard the beautiful multi- coloured birds chirping, the mysterious jaguar roaring, wild boar snorting, insects scuttling and monkeys squealing all in one big row. It was VERY noisy. Suddenly, she heard the slithering of a gigantic, dangerous object sliding past her. She heard her mother's voice warning her but she was too curious to turn back and started to creep towards the hissing noise which was getting louder and louder. She followed it up a tree and found that she was trapped in an anaconda's nest. She screamed with all her might and amazingly, as quick as lightning, the tiger appeared out of nowhere and bit the anaconda's neck as hard as it could. Rani was safe. Her father heard her screams so he came too with his bow held high and straight, targeted at the tiger. When he saw what had happened he lowered it again and felt ashamed of himself. Rani hugged her tiger friend. Zumbra bowed to the tiger and thanked him for saving her life. The tribe now understood their ancestors' words and tigers were never killed again.