The Tiger

Tigers begin to mate on the day of the Great Cold The last of the 24 solar terms, occurring in late January and give birth seven months later. Their nature is exceedingly fierce; even when pursued, they will linger and look back as they retreat. If a tiger is seriously wounded, it departs with a series of roars. By counting these roars, one can determine the distance of its retreat: generally, each roar signifies a distance of one li A traditional Chinese unit of measurement, roughly 500 meters.

When pouncing on prey, the tiger does not exceed three leaps; if it fails to catch its target within those three attempts, it abandons the hunt. When eating, it stops once it reaches the ears of the carcass, for it is believed that touching the ears would violate its own name This likely refers to a linguistic taboo or a folk belief that the tiger’s identity or "spirit" is concentrated in its name, which shares a mystical connection with the ears (er) of its prey. Those tigers that have previously harmed humans always have notched ears, looking much like the teeth of a saw.

At night, the tiger sees by emitting a beam of light from one eye while using the other eye to observe objects. Hunters lie in wait to shoot them; if successful, the beam of light falls to the ground and can be gathered up, appearing like a white stone. The tiger also possesses mystical arts, such as the ability to draw signs upon the ground to perform divination original: 畫地以卜 (huà dì yǐ bǔ). A tiger with white fur is called a Biao|彪, and one that is black is called a Shu|虪.