Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
The Cat Teaches the Tiger
猫教老虎
The Cat Teaches the Tiger (猫教老虎, Māo jiāo lǎohǔ) is a set of traditional Chinese tales, retold in simple Mandarin as 3 short stories with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
A Chinese folk tale retold simply: a clumsy tiger begs a clever little cat to teach him, and learns why tigers can never climb trees.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — A warm older storyteller.
- Tiger · 老虎 — A big, strong, clumsy tiger who wants to learn everything.
- Cat · 小猫 — A small, quick, clever cat who becomes the tiger's teacher.
- Mouse · 小老鼠 — A cheeky little mouse who gets pounced on.
3 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: Please Teach Me
请你教我
A clumsy tiger begs a little cat to be his teacher. The first lesson is a wobbly pounce, but the cat warns that one lesson she will never teach.
Free to read
Chapter 2: The Best Student
最好的学生
The tiger learns to hide and to jump, and soon he is the best student ever. Then his stomach growls, and he looks at his teacher in a strange new way.
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Chapter 3: The Last Lesson
最后一课
The hungry tiger pounces on his teacher! But the cat still has one skill left, and it is the one skill she never taught.
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Key words in The Cat Teaches the Tiger
Behind the story
This is a well-loved Chinese folk tale, told to children for generations. It explains, in a funny way, why the cat is a much better climber than the tiger, even though the two animals look so alike.
In China the cat and the tiger are often called cousins. A tiger is a big cat, and the tale plays with that idea: the small cat is clever enough to keep one trick for herself. Like many folk tales, the message is gentle: be grateful to your teacher, and a wise teacher always keeps something back.
Did you know?
- In Chinese, 猫 (māo) means cat and 老虎 (lǎohǔ) means tiger. Many people say the tiger is the cat's student, and there is a Chinese saying about it.
- The tiger is one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, and it is a symbol of strength and courage.
- In real life, adult tigers rarely climb trees because they are so heavy, while cats climb easily with their sharp curved claws.