by Ted Hughes
Fred ran into the house. His brothers were there with two friends, all going round on hands and knees, pretending to be dogs fighting, and Peter was taking part in frenzied delight, growling and barking and whacking the furniture with his tail.
As Fred came into the room he called to Peter, ‘Here boy!’, to get him away from his brothers. The dog jumped up erect and looked at Fred, tail swinging. But after that first look a strange transformation took place. Peter’s body seemed to double in size, as all his black hair stood on end, and all his teeth appeared as his face shrivelled up in a mad snarl, and he backed away crouching. Then suddenly he uttered a yell, and dashed from the room into the kitchen, yelling as if he had been run over.
Fred’s mother came out of the kitchen demanding to know who’d hurt the dog. His brothers stood up, baffled. Fred could hear his aunt in there, coaxing Peter.
‘Something’s absolutely terrified this dog. I can’t get him out,’ she called. Then they all went into the kitchen. His aunt was on her hands and knees, reaching under the stove where Peter had jammed himself far back against the wall.
Fred bent down, eager to reassure his friend, and reached a hand under the stove. ‘Come on, Petie boy,’ he kept saying, ‘come on.’
A noisy scramble turned into a black silent bolt of dog hurtling from the kitchen back into the living-room. Then everybody heard a crash of glass, followed by silence.
They went into the living-room and saw the jagged edges of the main front window. Peter had obviously gone straight through.
The boys rushed outside. Peter had disappeared. The boys started to hunt.
But Fred didn’t join the hunt. His meeting with Peter had frightened him afresh, more than it had frightened Peter. He knew that what had frightened Peter was a tiger.
Somehow, looking at his old friend Fred, Peter had seen a tiger.
Fred went to his bedroom. He took his shoes off and felt his feet, then sat looking into his eyes in the mirror. After a while, even though it was early afternoon, he crept under the blankets. What should he do? Ought he to tell somebody? What if he actually was turning into a tiger?
He just didn’t know what to do. And he didn’t dare tell anybody. He found a book and lay there, trying to read.
When bedtime came, Saturday night, his brothers were noisy, but Fred told them he had a headache and lay in bed with his face turned to the wall.
Gradually they fell silent. And Fred, too, eventually sank off to sleep.
THE END
About the Author
Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born in Yorkshire. His first book, The Hawk in the Rain, was published in 1957 by Faber & Faber and was followed by many volumes of poetry and prose for adults and children. He received the Whitbread Book of the Year for two consecutive years for his last published collections of poetry. He was Poet Laureate from 1984, and in 1998 he was appointed to the Order of Merit.
About the Illustrator
Joe McLaren is a freelance illustrator. He graduated from the University of Brighton in 2003, and now lives and works in Rochester, Kent. He has taught Foundation Illustration at Central Saint Martins, and has worked on internal and cover illustrations for a number of publishers.
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Collected Animal Poems volumes 1 to 4
Collected Poems for Children
(illustrated by Raymond Briggs)
Copyright
The Tigerboy was first published in The Storyteller (second collection) in 1979
By Ward Lock Educational Co Limited
This edition first published in 2016
by Faber & Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street
London, WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2016
All rights reserved
© The Estate of Ted Hughes, 1979
Design by Faber
Illustrations © Joe McLaren
Ted Hughes is hereby identified as author of this work in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–32063–9
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