The Princess and the Puma
Lies are easy to start but hard to stop. Once one lie is told, the odds of having to tell another lie to back up the first one and so on is practically inevitable. The Princess and the Puma is a story about a man, Ripley Givens, working on Espinosa Ranch who wants to marry the princess, Josefa O’Donnell, but decides to be deceitful in doing so. Ripley Givens is a perfect example of when someone resorts to lying as a way to impress somebody else, they turn out looking like fools in their web of lies when caught in the end.
In The Princess and the Puma, Ripley Givens begins his web of lies when saying “You see, he 's been our camp pet for two years” (Henry). Men are looked at as being the protector of women, so when Ripley Givens is saved by Josefa O’Donnell, he feels as though he must gather what little of his “man pride” he has left and come up with a story to make himself look better. As soon as he realizes that Josefa was the one to save him instead of it being the other way around, he tries to make himself make it seem as if the Mexican lion had not been as big of a threat as she thought. He then goes on to tell her that the Mexican lion’s name was Bill and was a pet at their ranch (Henry). Ripley Givens’ second addition to his web of lies is when he tries to explain how the Mexican lion had escaped from their ranch. He puts the blame on a terrier dog who “made life miserable for Bill--he used to chase him around and chew his hind legs for hours at a time” (Henry). First of all, a terrier is considerably small and although they can be intimidating to humans, especially children, and other small animals, the probability of him terrorizing a fully grown Mexican lion is next to none. Second, Josefa takes notice of the dead Mexican lion, whose large front paw could probably break the terrier’s bones effortlessly and appears to decide to play along with whatever story Ripley Givens is trying to come up with as they move on in their conversation (Henry). The
In The Princess and the Puma, Ripley Givens begins his web of lies when saying “You see, he 's been our camp pet for two years” (Henry). Men are looked at as being the protector of women, so when Ripley Givens is saved by Josefa O’Donnell, he feels as though he must gather what little of his “man pride” he has left and come up with a story to make himself look better. As soon as he realizes that Josefa was the one to save him instead of it being the other way around, he tries to make himself make it seem as if the Mexican lion had not been as big of a threat as she thought. He then goes on to tell her that the Mexican lion’s name was Bill and was a pet at their ranch (Henry). Ripley Givens’ second addition to his web of lies is when he tries to explain how the Mexican lion had escaped from their ranch. He puts the blame on a terrier dog who “made life miserable for Bill--he used to chase him around and chew his hind legs for hours at a time” (Henry). First of all, a terrier is considerably small and although they can be intimidating to humans, especially children, and other small animals, the probability of him terrorizing a fully grown Mexican lion is next to none. Second, Josefa takes notice of the dead Mexican lion, whose large front paw could probably break the terrier’s bones effortlessly and appears to decide to play along with whatever story Ripley Givens is trying to come up with as they move on in their conversation (Henry). The
Cited: Henry, O. "The Princess and the Puma." Classic Reader. Web. 21 Oct. 2012.