Stockton highlights the harrowing experience of “hearing the screams and seeing the blood of one's beloved as the tiger tears him apart” (207 ). It would be very difficult to cope with the violent death of your loved one, but seeing him get torn apart by the man-eating tiger is only temporary; while the marriage would last a lifetime. Why should the princess let him live happily ever after? After all, Stockton states that “the girl was charming, but she had dared to look up at the princess's beloved; and with all the intensity of the savage blood passed to her through long lines of entire barbarian ancestors, she hated the woman who blushed and trembled behind that silent door” (205). The princess had many hours to think about her decision and as she comes from a long line of savagely cruel ancestors, it is very likely that she made this savage decision. Instead of seeing her lover be overjoyed and married to a woman she despises, it is likely that she would rather see her beloved being violently attacked and