When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

Evidently I’m making a habit of reading Vo’s Singing Hills novellas in odd contexts. I read the first sitting on a gurney in an emergency room, and this one hanging out in a park near the Apple Store waiting for my phone’s batter replacement to be completed. This has nothing to do with the content of the books, but is a testament to their convenient length and engrossing content. The tie between the two books, aside from the alternate-China setting, is the framing character of the story-collector Chih who this time finds themself unwilling audience to three tiger shapechangers who are willing to be distracted from their hunger by the chance to set the record straight regarding a previous tiger-human interaction. One partaking variously of romance and the tricky etiquette of the circumstances under which one may eat a guest. There’s enough uncertainty in how the story will come out to keep the reader unsure of just what genre they’re reading. My favorite aspect was the characterization of the tigers, who are never anything but very very tigerish.

I love the way this novella tells a tale within another tale, or should I say tail. I feel immersed in the world created by these pages that feel too few and I look forward to the next story.

“When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain” is the second novella in the Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo. It is a fantasy, set in a Asian-inspired alternate world. The novella tells a story nestled within a story.

In the beginning story, Chih, a Cleric of the Singing Hills Temple is taken into the mountains by a member of the mammoth riding corps. When they reach their way station for the evening, they are menaced by three tigers. Chih speaks respectfully to these tigers, who then assume their human forms, and he engages them in conversation seeking to prevent them from attacking the party. He then begins to tell them the story within the story, which is about a poor scholar who meets a tiger on the way to take the Imperial Examinations.

The world in which this story is set resembles a medieval Asia of our world, but has a few supernatural and alternate historical differences. In addition to tigers who can assume human form, there are the mammoths. These elephantine animals are used by the northern people as mounts and in war. It’s a great story, and I look forward to future tales in the Singing Hills Cycle.