A Deathless Man

Doctors are treating the patients in camps, children are sitting quietly in fear and parents are helpless. In this war-torn area, comes a girl who is also a doctor by profession and keeps a deep influence on his grandfather.

"The Tiger's Wife" is a story in which Natalia is a doctor by profession. She comes to an orphanage in a worn torn unnamed Balkan state that suffers from World War II. The state has become a victim of massive destruction and uncountable human rights violations.

She treats the victims of war humbly and passionately. However, with children, her attachment is appreciably different. She disappears fear of children by telling stories that her grandfather used to tell her. She uses the same strategy to help children get out of fear.

This story not only explores human and animal instincts but also highlights the societal norms, the grave consequences of war, and the conditions of people in a war-torn region.

Natalia’s grandfather was also a doctor by profession who had extensive knowledge of herbs which he used to treat people. It shows how cultural and historical knowledge helps individuals in grave times.

Natalia started her journey with her friend Zora helping the orphans there and exploring the reason behind her grandfather’s death. She visited many places, met her grandfather’s belongings, and also refreshed her childhood memories.

Natalia and the people of her generation suffered a lot due to warfare conditions and their childhood was nearly destroyed as they became victims of war at such a young age,

While exploring her grandfather’s death cause, she came to know about a mysterious character who is mentioned as a deathless man. Her grandfather used to tell her stories and his real-life experiences. Among those experiences, his meeting with a deathless man was also a truth that she always felt to be just a fictional story.

She came to know that while treating the patients and victims of war, his grandfather met with a deathless man thrice. The mystery behind Deathless Man, he himself explained was that his knowledge regarding death evolved throughout his journey. He believed that if a person wants to live eternally then he must get his fear of death out of his mind because of which he also claimed to be immortal.

Another mysterious story that she unraveled was of the wife of a butcher who used to live in a small village, Galina. It was the town where Natalia’s grandfather spent his childhood. The wife of a butcher used to feed the animals pieces of meat. One day, a tiger escaped from the zoo and came to the village of Galina.

A violent man along with other people tried to hunt down the tiger. After some days, that violent person was mysteriously found missing and Tiger’s wife was found pregnant. Villagers believed that she carried a child of a devil so everyone tried to kill her.

But Natalia’s grandfather was the only man who showed kindness to her and treated her well. To take revenge for this from Natalia’s father, a person from that village tricked gave poison to the Tiger’s Wife and put all the burden on Natalia’s grandfather. However, after some days, Natalia’s father died while saving three children from the attacks of the war.

All these secrets of which Natalis was unaware, depressed her deeply. She cried of sorrow after these secrets revealed n her, afterall she was a child war survived, only attached to her grandfather.

This masterpiece of Tea Obrehnt highlights beautifully the mystery of death, social norms, war victims, and war consequences, and despite all these hurdles, how strong and brave people survive and live their lives.