Local gamekeeper Yegor Palych has lived his entire life in a small village, in places that are harsh, but beautiful and attractive in their own way. Here he grew up, matured and grew old. His wife died 13 years ago, and he thought his life was over, but he still found the strength to live on, and his favorite craft helped him a lot.

The daughter, having got married, moved to a big city and did not visit her father as often as they both would have liked, the road was long after all, and the grandfather saw his grandson, who was already 12 years old at that time, about once every two years. This year was exactly like that, for the entire two-week vacation the daughter and grandson came to visit the old man, enjoy the virgin nature and, of course, listen to his famous tales. “Grandpa, do you know the stories about the tiger?” Vanka asked with undisguised interest, sitting down next to Yegor Palych.

“I don’t know about the tiger, but I can tell you about the tigress. Do you want to?” the grandfather answered, grinning. “Well, then listen,” and grandfather Yegor began his story.

It was about twenty years ago, as I remember it now. I was already an experienced huntsman, I knew the local forests like the back of my hand, I was on first-name terms with weapons, and with the local fauna too. It was the very end of spring, the rivers were free of ice, there was less and less snow, and the bright sun caressed my skin with its warmth more and more often.

The trees and the ground turned green and everything around began to be colorful. My house was the closest to the forest, literally forty steps from the fence across the road. That day I was just doing my usual things, digging the garden, feeding the cattle, improving the territory.

In general, the daily routine of a villager. My wife was also keeping up, bustling about the house, cooking, cleaning the house. What happened that day was etched in my memory for the rest of my life.

I had noticed various animals at the edge of the forest before. Grandfather Yegor looked at Vanka, who was listening to his every word. Well, it was a very ordinary, unremarkable day.

I was busy with my chores in the yard, when suddenly out of the corner of my eye I noticed the figure of an animal flashing in the trees at the edge of the forest. Yes, an unusual animal, very rare, which an ordinary person would hardly see in his entire life. I thought that this could not be, that it seemed to me, and continued to do my chores.

Literally a minute later, she flashed through the trees again and came out of the forest. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was a big tigress. She stood motionless and looked at me with an intent gaze…