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 Once upon a time in a small village in Southern India, there lived a young girl named Sundari. Her name meant beautiful, and beautiful she was. The youngest of four, she was born into a family of Brahmins, or religious scholars. Her parents and her three older brothers spoiled her and constantly tended to her every whim and fancy.
When Sundari reached adulthood, her parents began looking for a suitable husband for her. They spread the word to their friends in all the neighboring villages: "If you know of a good-looking, intelligent Brahmin, let us know."
Word spread and potential suitors began to call upon Sundari and her family. Who wouldn't want to marry such a likeable young woman?
Now one of the suitors who was very interested in marrying Sundari happened to be a tiger with magical powers. The tiger was a big fan of human food and had the habit of changing himself into a man every now and then so that he could go to temples and restaurants and satisfy his cravings.
"If I marry this young Brahmin girl, I can get human food every day," he thought. "I shall transform myself into a young, eligible bachelor and win Sundari's heart!"
 And that's exactly what he did. The following morning, he assumed the form of a handsome preacher, seated himself on the banks of the village's sacred river, and began to chant verses from the holy scriptures. Pretty soon, a crowd of women gathered around him. They were all very impressed by his knowledge—and his good looks!
Sundari was no exception. The moment she saw him, she turned to her mother and said, "Ma, I want to marry him. Go ask him if he would like to ask Father for my hand."
This was just what the tiger had been waiting for. When Sundari's mother asked him to visit their home, he quickly accepted the invitation.
Later the same day, the tiger arrived at Sundari's door, with a ripe bunch of bananas and an eloquent request for the young woman's hand. Sundari's parents were delighted and immediately agreed to the marriage.
A grand ceremony took place the following day, without the tiger's parents in attendance. "My parents are old," the tricky tiger had told Sundari's father. "They cannot travel through the forest without anyone to accompany them. I know they'd want me to get married as soon as possible."
For the next month, Sundari and her new husband stayed with her parents. Every day the hungry tiger was fed delicious, home-cooked meals by Sundari and her mother, both of whom treated him as though he was royalty.
Then the day came for the new bride and groom to travel to their new home. "I must return to my aging parents," the tiger told Sundari's father. "Don't worry about your daughter. I will take good care of her and she will be very happy in my village."
With tears in their eyes, Sundari's parents and her three older brothers bid her goodbye. Sundari and the tiger began their journey.
After a few hours of walking in the forest, Sundari spotted a pond. "Let's stop and have a picnic here," she exclaimed. "We can eat some of Mother's cakes and drink a cup of coconut juice."
Her handsome husband growled, "Shut up and keep walking, or I'll show you my original shape."
Sundari was stunned. Until that date, she had only seen a loving, soft-spoken man. What had happened to her husband, she wondered. The couple kept walking.
Several miles down the road, she saw another pond and tentatively raised the same question to her husband. His response was the same.
But this time, Sundari was very hungry so she replied, "Show me your original shape. I would like to see it."
As soon as she uttered these words, the handsome young man in front of her was transformed into a creature with four legs, striped skin, a long tail, and the bristling face of a tiger.
He stood before her and spoke strongly. "Listen carefully to what I have to say: I, your husband, am a tiger and you have no choice but to follow my orders for the rest of your life. We will, very soon, be approaching my home in the forest. There, you will serve me and do as I command. Every day, I will place six dishes outside the front door that you must fill up with home-cooked meals that you prepare from the food that I hunt and gather each day."
Sundari shuddered with fear and burst into tears.
"Stop crying, or else I will eat you," the tiger commanded. His wife nodded and bit her lip. She bowed her head and followed him through the dark woods until they had reached his home.
The next morning the routine began. The tiger would go out and search for provisions and prey. He would return to the home to deliver the food to Sundari who then had four hours to cook the meal. At the end of each day, Sundari was expected to fill up half a dozen tubs of meals.
And so life continued. Rise, bathe, cook, clean, sleep. Sundari had no joys in her life. Even when she had her first baby, she shed tears of sorrow—for she had given birth to an infant just like his father, a tiger.
After a few years of leading a miserable existence, Sundari decided to take action. Using an iron nail, she wrote a letter to her family on a leaf detailing all her sufferings and asking her brothers to rescue her.
When the letter reached her brothers, they immediately left home to find their sister. Along the way, the youngest brother saw a donkey and decided to bring him along on the expedition. Next, they encountered a tiny ant, which the middle brother put into his pocket. Then, they saw a big palm tree on the ground. The eldest brother decided they should take it to defend themselves against the tiger's ferocious nature. Finally, the found a big iron tub that belonged to a washerman. They took that with them too.
When they reached Sundari's home, the three brothers hugged and consoled their sister. "Don't worry, we'll take care of you," they said.
Sundari hid them in the attic so that the tiger wouldn't see them when he returned home. But when he walked in, his sense of smell tipped him off.
"What humans are in our home?" he thundered.
"My brothers," Sundari whispered. "They want to see you as soon as you've finished eating."
"I want to speak to them now," the tiger shouted. "What cowards they are."
When they heard his request, the three brothers acted fast. The youngest brother put the ant into the donkey's ear. When the ant bit the donkey, it began to bray loudly and angrily.
"Why do your brothers have such a gruff voice? I want to see their legs now."
The middle brother stretched out the trunk of the palm tree.
"I've never seen a leg like this," the tiger said. "Now I want to see their bellies."
The eldest brother showed the iron tub.
Upon seeing this, the tiger quaked with fear. "I've never heard a voice like this or seen a body of this sort."
The tiger ran away.
Quickly, Sundari packed her belongings and prepared to run away with her brothers. Before leaving, she picked up her tiger infant, ripped it into pieces, and hung it above the fireplace. It hurt her heart to do so, but she knew that she was helping another innocent woman from a similar fate.
When the tiger returned home, he mistook the smell of the baby tiger roasting for the smell of doughnuts. He was wrong. He entered his cottage, only to find his wife gone, his child in pieces, and his home destroyed.
Enraged, he determined to get revenge on his unfaithful wife. The next morning, the tiger set out for his father-in-law's home.
"I will get you, cunning wife of mine. You think you can get away with this? Well, you're wrong." he snarled, charging into the forest and streaking through the trees at lightning speed.
When he arrived at Sundari's parents' home, the tiger transformed himself into the form of the young scholar who, once upon a time, had wooed the charming young Brahmin girl.
Sundari's family knew what he was up to, but they played along anyway. "Welcome, we're so happy to see you," they invited him into the house and asked him to sit on a fine mat.
Little did the tiger know, but underneath the mat was a deep well filled with stones and other rubbish. The moment the tiger husband sat on the mat, it collapsed under his weight and he fell into the dark abyss.
Sundari's family rejoiced for they knew that the greedy tiger would no longer bring misery to her. As for, Sundari, she breathed a sigh of relief and shot a prayer up to the heavens.
Note: This story explains the Indian proverb: Be quiet, or I will show you my original shape."
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