In this novel, the tiger is presented as both a mythical and real figure: Shere Khan from The Jungle Book and a real tiger who escaped from a zoo. The tiger symbol contains many layers of meaning in this novel.

The tiger symbolizes wildness and fear; he is the extreme manifestation of the villager’s fear of others’ differences. That which is different is feared, demonized, and ultimately, must be destroyed. However, Dariša the Bear is unable to kill the tiger; even his skill, talent, and hunting prowess cannot overcome the tiger’s power and the tiger’s wife’s magic.

In modern Galina, the villagers still fear the tiger of their imaginations, though they realize that the real tiger must be long dead. The fact that the villagers teach their children to avoid going out at night speaks to the power of their generational fear.

While a feared predator both in legend and reality, the modern-day zoo tiger expresses another symbolic identity, as a war victim. He must be euthanized because he chews off his own legs in a traumatized response to the bombing. The natural world is terribly damaged by man’s horrifying actions. His cubs survive, however, living in the homes of their keepers.

The tiger is also a personal talisman for the grandfather, a representative of all that is wild and dangerous, unpredictable, beautiful, and transcendent in the world.