"There weren't any women paragons, were there?" asked Taro.
"Oh, yes," said the Mother. "Once there was a young girl who loved her father dearly, and honored him above everything in the world, as a child should. Once she and her father were in a jungle, and a tiger attacked them. The young girl threw herself upon the tiger and clung to his jaws so that her father could escape."
"Did the tiger eat her up?" said Taro.
"I suppose he did," the Mother answered.
"Was it very noble of her to be eaten up so her father could get away?" Take asked,
"Oh, very noble!" said the Mother.
"Well, then," said Take, "was it very noble of the father to run away and let her stay and be eaten up?"
"The lives of women are not worth so much as those of men," her
Mother answered.
Take bounced on her cushion. "I don't see how she could honor a man who was so mean," she said.
Take's mother held up her hands. She was shocked. "Why, Take!" she said. "The man was her father!"