The End Of The Lady Or The Tiger
Without the slightest hesitation, he went to the door on the right and opened it, and there came out an awful tiger. The whole arena fell in a breathless silence. A terrible scream bursted out but soon died down and was replaced by the sounds of tearing clothes and flesh.  Doleful iron bells clanged, and never before had the princess’s face been so pale. All of a sudden, she felt that there was a smile flashing by on her father’s face，which was as evil as the Devil did. And now, she understood. Clever
as she was, her
archaicfather knew her too well. Her childish trick had never escaped his eyes. From the beginning till the end, his father, no, it’s the king that controlled everything, showing no mercy for the poor lady’s feeling whose name was called daughter. “Stupid is what I have done.” The princess finally made a bitter smile to herself. Her lover was dead, eaten up all by the monster but his bones. The most scaring sight of the world.  She felt things turned black in her eyes and unconsciously fell into a dead faint.
When she came to conscious, the funeral had already been given. She ran out insanely and found herself crying beside her lover’s grave alone. So miserable did she feel that she might even cry to death. But at that time, a shadow stepped towards her, which a broken heart would never have noticed until he stood just in front of her. She kept her eyes wide open and stayed in shock. “Her lover’s soul” tenderly bent over and kissed away her tears, and she felt, felt the breath came from him. He was alive! He handed over a letter to her which explained well for why he stood here and alive.
Dear brother,
News came that you were casted into prison and the trial is around the corner, which haunts me day and night. Though all our family told me that my illness will be cured of, I know Azrael will take me awa
y soon as it has got harder and harder for me to take even a breath. Now I have found a wonderful end of my life. Yes, quite as you expect at the moment, I will take the place of you. I am sure I can do that for we resemble each other in both appearance and nature if it is not because of my illness. Sorry that I can’t tell you a bit earlier to do the farewell. When you see the letter, I shoule have been in Heaven. So just pray for me, and don’t forget to tell my story to my fairy
sister-in-law.
Farewell…
Your sincere
That night, the couple married in front of his brother's tomb. There was no music and no priest , but they had got the most precious blessing of the world.
They ran away and no one knew where they had gone, only the moon and the tree that night saw the sweet secret.
An Appreciation of “the Lady, or the Tiger” by Frank Richard Stockton
Abstract：As the most popular short story written by Frank R. Stockton, “the Lady, or the Tiger”, known for its suspending end, sparked heated and enduring discussion and remained a staple in literature classes. How could a fairy tale be so fascinating as to draw perennial attention among readers? The present paper is an attempt to explore the depth of the story and the subliminal message of the text to throw light on readers’ understanding of Stockton’s works.
A widely read American novelist and humorist in his time, Frank R. Stockton produced a number of influential works like “the squirrel Inn”, “Mrs. Cliff’s yacht”, and so on. But today he is remembered chiefly as the author of “the Lady, or the Tiger”, a fairy tale characterized by wizard plotting, bold imagination, archaically elegant language and most of all, a dangling end, or rather, an end without end, that strikes burning curiosity and initiated a persistent “sequel-itis”续集炎，续篇炎among
readers of intense interest. Its popularity, as a result, has spanned generations since its first publication in 1882.
In telling the story, Stockton designed an ancient country as the background where there lived a semi-barbaric king who institutes a savage penal system gloried by himself as an embodiment of the “poetic justice”. As is prescribed by this primal首要的，根本的legal system, when a subject is accused of a cri
me serious enough to interest the king, he would be taken to an arena in which there are two doors—behind one of them is a ravenous饿极了的tiger and the other a lady. The accused person is given a chance to open either of them to decide his fate. If he chooses the former, he would be ripped into pieces by the tiger as a punishment for his crime. But if chance decides otherwise with his choice of the latter, he would be married to that lady. The system is thus applauded by all subjects for its “absolute justice”. When one day the king happened to discover the romance between his cherished daughter and a young man far beneath her status, he doesn’t hesitate for a single moment to implement his “great scheme of retribution报应，惩罚and reward”. The young man, as a result, is forced to bet his luck in the arena. Before he made a decision between life and death, however, he cast his inquisitive好奇的，好问的eyes upon the

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