Tigers?
I should think so! Tigers everywhere!' The elders pointed confidently to the heights, and men and women--even children--told us: 'Aye, by Allah! Hundreds--thousands of them; not just one or two.

As many as the most capacious man could possibly devour in forty years.' 'It looks as if we'd happened right at last,' our friend said, smiling for the first time in three days.
We pitched our tent upon the village threshing-floor, the only flat place, except roofs of houses, within sight.

The village elders dined with us, and stayed till nearly midnight, telling us about the tigers and the way to catch them.

Some of the stories they related were incredible, but not much more so than is usual in that kind of narrative.

It seemed unnecessary for one old man to warn us gravely on no account to take them by their tails.
'For snakes it is the proper way,' he said sagaciously, 'since snakes can only double half their length.