Episode 141 – Assistant to the Regional Tiger

Episode 109 Show Notes

Source: Brazilian Folklore

This week on MYTH, we’re journeying deep into the Brazilian jungle for a story about a tiger (who definitely shouldn’t be in Brazil). You’ll discover that tigers make bad farmers, that they make worse employers, and that they really can’t trust rabbits. Then, in Gods and Monsters, those same rabbits will learn that some things are better than a tail. This is the Myths Your Teacher Hated podcast, where I tell the stories of cultures from around the world in all of their original, bloody, uncensored glory. Modern tellings of these stories have become dry and dusty, but I’ll be trying to breathe new life into them. This is Episode 141, “Assistant to the Regional Tiger”. As always, this episode is not safe for work.
This week’s story comes to us from Fairy Tales from Brazil, collected by Elsie Spicer Eells in 1917. Once upon a time, long and long ago, there lived a tiger. It’s weird enough that there’s a tiger at all since, you know, there are no tigers in Brazil, but apparently tigers at this point in time didn’t actually have any stripes. I have to wonder if this is a case of poor translation on the part of our folklorist, who inserted a more familiar tiger into the story in place of a more unusual jaguar or ocelot (who have spots instead of stripes). To top off the fairy tale weirdness, this particular tiger also happened to be a farmer. Not a very good one, though.
See, tiger’s farm had gotten horribly overgrown with underbrush and weeds, which makes it hard to actually grow the shit you want to grow. If he’d been a halfway decent farmer, he’d have cleared the land himself. As we’ve already established, he pretty much sucked so he was looking to hire someone to do all of that grunt work for him. He called together all of the beasts of the forest to make an employment offer. “Thank you all for coming today. I need someone to clear out my farmyard for me and I’m hoping that someone will be one of you. I’d pay of course – an ox for whoever does this for me, but only after you finish.”
Monkey thought that seemed like a pretty fair deal, so he agreed to tiger’s terms. It went about as well as you’d expect. Monkey was clever and dextrous, but he was kind of lazy. He worked off and on, but more off than on and so very little actually got accomplished. It didn’t take tiger very long at all to get fed up with monkey’s bullshit and fire him (without the promised ox since he hadn’t actually held up his end of the bargain). Tiger went back to the labor pool and hired his next candidate – goat.
This new employee was much more diligent and hard working than monkey had been, but alas he wasn’t nearly as clever as his predecessor had been either. One, has this storyteller ever met goats? They’re very clever. And two, how much cleverness do you really need to just clear a field. It’s hard work, sure, but it’s not complicated work. The story accuses goat of not having enough brains to do the job well, but I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be more accurate to say that he lacked the attention span. Goat would clear out a small patch in one place, get distracted, and then wander over somewhere else and clear out a little bit. It resulted in doing a lot of labor without making much progress. I mean, that’s honestly kind of how I work and it gets the job done, so I think tiger should have cut goat a little slack, but maybe that’s why I don’t own a farm.
Tiger soon grew frustrated with goat’s inability to get the work done in a neat, organized fashion and he laid his second employee off without payment as well. I feel like goat is entitled to some kind of recompense for services rendered, but I guess it’s hard to give someone part of an ox without, you know, killing it. Which begs the question – what did goat want with an ox in the first place? Also, if the other animals are sentient and capable of speech, is the ox? Is this some form of twisted animal slavery? The story doesn’t give answers to these kinds of burning questions, so I fear we’ll simply have to move on.
After goat left, tiger hired armadillo (who is actually native to the region, unlike tiger). This third employee was very strong and very diligent, which made him a great worker. Of course, given the nature of this story, he obviously also had to have a major flaw, and armadillo’s was his appetite. These armored critters are omnivores and will eat almost anything, but this particular armadillo’s treat of choice was ants.
He loved the little creepy crawlies – the red ones, the black ones, the hairy ones, the weird ones, he loved them all. He was so obsessed with this delectable treat, in fact, that he couldn’t ever seem to pass one by without stopping to munch on it. As you’ve probably noticed in your life, where there’s one ant, there’s usually a million. Eating all of these swarming bugs one at a time takes a lot of time, which means that armadillo spent so much time munching that he didn’t actually get much work done at all. With a long-suffering sigh, tiger fired him without paying him, just like the others. He was beginning to despair about ever finding someone who could do this simple, direct task for him.
As tiger was sulking about his terrible luck (while also continuing to refuse to do any of the hard work himself), rabbit hopped up to speak with him. Much like this ancient folklore tiger was missing his stripes (or his spots if he is actually a misidentified jaguar), rabbit didn’t have the little cotton ball tail we think of today. No, he had a long, luxurious tail that he was fairly proud of (it was almost as glorious as his magnificent ears). “Hey there, tiger. Are you still looking for someone to clear your land? If so, I’d like to throw my paws into the ring.” Tiger looked down at the small bunny and burst out laughing. “You? Seriously? Some offense intended, but you’re just way too small to be able to do such a big job. Monkey, goat, and armadillo already failed at this task and they’re all much bigger and stronger than you. There’s just no way you can possibly be up to the job.”
Rabbit sat up as tall as he could and looked around. “I don’t see anyone else here offering to clear the land for you, tiger. You picked the others based on size and strength, and how did that work out for you? Give me a chance. What have you got to lose?” Tiger stopped laughing. The little bunny had a point. “Alright, fine. The job is yours, but only on a trial basis. Don’t come crying to me when this whole thing proves too much for you.”
Rabbit hopped to it immediately (pun intended). He got to work clearing out the first patch of fields, working diligently and effectively. By the time the sun had begun to set, a large area of tiger’s land had been thoroughly cleared and made ready for planting. Tiger wasn’t laughing anymore. The next day, rabbit showed up bright eyed and bushy tailed at sunrise and promptly got to work. He got even more done that second day and tiger was forced to admit that he’d been completely wrong. It turned out that he’d been very lucky to have rabbit offering to work for him. Not only was he a hard, diligent employee, he seemed to intuitively understand exactly what needed to be done with no supervision or instruction from tiger (though I honestly wonder how much help tiger was in the first place – I imagine his idea of ‘supervising’ was standing around and telling people to do the obvious things).
Things were going so well that tiger decided he didn’t need to be present for the work at all. He’d had a stressful time with the first three failed employees, so he figured he deserved a little vacation. It had been too long since he’d gone hunting, so he was due. Leaving his son in charge (someone’s got to be Michael Scott to rabbit’s Jim Halpert, or maybe the son is more of a Dwight Schrute, assistant to the regional tiger), he left for vacation with a spring in his step.
The next day, rabbit showed up as usual and got to work. He chatted with the younger tiger as he did, just making small talk you understand. He’s definitely not about to pull a classic Jim prank on poor Dwight. “So, uh that ox your father promised as payment for clearing his field – it’s the one marked with a white spot on his left ear and another on his right side, isn’t it?” Tiger the younger scratched his chin. “Oh, I don’t think so. Dad said it was the one that’s red all over except for a tiny white spot on his right ear.” “Ah, gotcha. I must’ve been confused.” Rabbit worked for a little longer before looking up again with a puzzled expression on his face.
“This ox, though. It is one of the ones he keeps near the river, right? I didn’t get that part confused too, did I?” Tiger the younger nodded. “Yes, I mean no, I mean – yes he keeps the red ox near the river. No you didn’t get that part confused.” Rabbit nodded again and continued working, his brain turning this information over. This younger tiger didn’t seem as bright or as careful as his father, so the clever bunny began to wonder if he could get his payment now and take off with it without having to actually finish clearing the field. Tiger had been right about this being very hard work. Rabbit was up to the challenge, but he’d definitely prefer to do as little as possible.
Thinking up some simple but effective distraction, rabbit got rid of tiger the younger and set out for the river and his promised ox. As he got close though, he heard the unmistakable sound of tiger the elder returning from his hunting trip. He’d expected the tiger to spend longer on his hunting excursion, but he’d apparently bagged himself dinner quickly and decided to call it a day. Rabbit hopped back to work, but he’d lost some time in scheming and tricking tiger’s son, so it was readily apparent that less work had gotten done in the father’s absence. He had originally been planning to go out hunting again the next day, but seeing that much less got done without his supervision, tiger stayed and kept a close eye on rabbit until the rest of the land was cleared to his satisfaction.
It took a few more days, but eventually rabbit was indeed able to complete his end of the bargain (having failed to think up some clever trick to sneak away with the ox under the watchful eye of the much more dangerous elder tiger). Satisfied (though maybe a bit suspicious), tiger brought out the promised ox and handed it over to rabbit. “He’s all yours. When you get home, make sure you slaughter him somewhere without any flies or mosquitoes. Seriously. It’s very important that there be absolutely no flies or mosquitoes. Okay?” Nodding impatiently and ready to be done with all of this bullshit, rabbit took the ox and led it away.
He’d gone some way with his prize when he reached a clearing. It seemed like a fine place to slaughter the ox but, just as he was preparing to do so (how exactly such a small rabbit intended to kill an enormous ox is left up to your imagination), he heard the crowing of a rooster. Again, chickens are not native to Brazil, so either this is the folklorist inserting their own expectations about farm life or it’s a translation issue for some other domesticated fowl being replaced by the more familiar birds. Regardless, rabbit realized that chickens didn’t live wild in the jungle, so that must mean he was near a farm. And that, in turn, meant there would be flies around. With a sigh, he led the ox away again in search of a better slaughtering ground.
Going farther along the path, he found another likely spot. As he moved the ox into position though, rabbit noticed that the ground was unusually damp and there was condensation on the leaves and bushes. With that much humidity, there was bound to be standing water nearby, which always meant mosquitoes. This wouldn’t do either, so on the rabbit and the ox went. He traveled on and on, considering and discarding several locations he passed until at last he came to a high plateau with a strong breeze blowing across the open landscape. Rabbit smiled. “Perfect. It’s too dry and windy and isolated for either flies or mosquitoes. This is the perfect spot.” And so he did indeed slaughter and butcher the ox. How? No clue. Maybe a tiny, bunny-sized knife. Why? Equally mysterious since rabbits are, you know, herbivores. Moving on.
Despite not having a digestive system capable of eating meat, rabbit was all set to chow down when who should appear but tiger. “Well hey there, buddy. You found a really good place to butcher that ox I gave you. We’re friends, right? Yeah, of course we’re friends. And friends share, friend. I haven’t eaten in a long time and I’m starving. Look at me – you can see my ribs poking out right here! Won’t you be a kind and generous friend and share a piece of ox with me?” Rabbit was not at all sure about this. Tiger’d had a whole bunch of ox there by the river, and he’d just gone hunting as well so why couldn’t he eat some of that? Also, he didn’t exactly look like he was starving. Rabbit didn’t see the ribs that tiger claimed were so visible, but he was a generous sort (and maybe he felt a little sorry about trying to welch on their deal) so he gave tiger a hunk of ox.
The story doesn’t come out and say what’s going on in tiger’s mind here, but I suspect that he talked to his son and realized that rabbit had tried to cheat him. Being himself a vicious and cunning creature, he’d decided to play his own trick on rabbit. Which might explain why tiger swallowed that hunk of meat in the twinkling of an eye and then stared hungrily at rabbit and the rest of the ox. “Is that all you’re going to give this very hungry tiger, rabbit?”
The giant cat was enormous by any measure, and he certainly towered over the tiny bunny. With a gulp, the rabbit handed over some more ox. He couldn’t help but notice how long and sharp tiger’s wicked claws were as he snagged the bloody flesh from rabbit’s paws or how easily his gleaming teeth tore through the thick meat. He watched helplessly as tiger ate and ate and ate, leaving almost nothing for rabbit. He’d spent days doing backbreaking labor for tiger, and now here he was left with just a few tiny bites of meat to show for it. He watched a very smug tiger slink away and, furious, he vowed to get revenge.
He schemed and schemed until he finally had a very clever idea. He went to a patch of woods not far from tiger’s house and began cutting down huge staves of wood. This wasn’t a quiet operation to begin with, and rabbit made sure to be as noisy as he possibly could. As expected, it didn’t take long for tiger to come and investigate the commotion. He looked around at the frantically working rabbit and at all of the felled trees with confusion. “Hey there, friend rabbit. What, uh…whatcha doin’?”
Rabbit barely glanced up from his labors. “I’m getting the supplies I need to build a stockade around myself, of course. What else would I be doing right now? Didn’t you hear the orders?” Tiger shook his head, confused but also growing a little bit nervous. “No, I didn’t. What orders?” “They didn’t tell you? That’s so weird. Maybe they were too scared of you to stop by your house or something. The order has gone out to every beast to build a stockade around themselves to protect and fortify them. Everyone’s been working busily all morning to try and get their stockades done in time.”
Panicked by rabbit’s visible fear, he didn’t ask any of the obvious questions. Like ‘orders from who’ or ‘protect us from what’ or ‘should I check with literally anyone else to make sure they also heard about this’. Instead, he jumped right to trying to protect his own neck with the least amount of work possible. Figuring that rabbit had been a productive employee before (at least as long as he was under tiger’s watchful eye), he decided to bully rabbit into doing the work for him again.
“No one told me that, rabbit! Oh this is terrible – I’m already way behind and I don’t have the first idea how to build a stockade! I’ll never be able to figure it out in time. Heya ol friend ol buddy ol pal – would you be able to build a stockade for me before you build one for you? Please? You’re my bestest friend and the only one I know who’s clever and strong enough to help. Please? In the name of our long and very dear friendship?” As we’ve seen, tiger’s so-called friendship with rabbit is neither long, dear, nor really even a friendship.
Rabbit paused his work to consider this pleading feline. “I dunno, tiger. I mean I do value our friendship and I’d hate for anything bad to happen to you, but I’m not sure I have time to build two stockades. If I make yours first, I’ll be putting my own life at terrible risk. What if I don’t finish in time?” Rabbit continued to protest, but it quickly faded under the force of tiger’s pleading. “Alright, fine. Since you’re such a dear friend, I’ll do it. Stand right there and keep still.”
Rabbit went back to cutting down an enormous amount of thick, heavy sticks. Using his special bunny digging skills, he set these stakes firmly into the ground in a tight wall around tiger. He lashed others horizontally along the sides and across the top to tie the whole structure tightly together. When rabbit was done, tiger was safely behind a stout cage that no deadly creature would be able to get through. Tiger was now safe from…whatever nebulous danger the equally nebulous ‘they’ had warned about. With a little bow to tiger, rabbit scurried away, ostensibly to work on his own protective stockade but really to gloat about his successful revenge.
Tiger waited, tail lashing with satisfaction. He couldn’t believe he’d talked rabbit into building this magnificent bulwark for tiger before building his own. He must be even more charismatic and persuasive than he’d thought. Tiger waited for the danger to show up so he could taunt it for being unable to get through the stockade. Nothing happened. He waited longer. Nothing continued to happen. The day was hot, and tiger began to grow hungry and thirsty. He rattled his cage, but it didn’t budge even a little.
In time, monkey wandered past the stockade. A grateful tiger pressed up against the bars. “It’s good to see you again, monkey! Has the danger passed already? I was lucky it didn’t come this way.” Monkey had no idea what danger tiger was referring to exactly, but he didn’t know of any immediate danger anywhere nearby, so clearly whatever tiger was worried about must have passed. “Yup, all clear.” “Awesome! In that case, can you help me out of this stockade?” Monkey was nobody’s fool. He saw the hungry gleam in tiger’s eye and he was much happier with stout wooden bars between them. “Sorry bud, no idea how to do that. Why not ask the one who got you in there to help you out?” And he hurried off on whatever monkey business he had that day.
Time passed and finally goat wandered by. Again, tiger called out “Has the danger passed already, friend goat?” Like monkey, goat had no idea what danger tiger was talking about so he assumed it must have indeed passed. “Yes siree bob, tiger. No danger here.” “That’s so great to hear. In that case, can you let me out?” Goat saw that wicked gleam of starvation in tiger’s expression as well, and he too preferred a caged tiger. “Um, no sorry. Places to go, things to do and I wouldn’t know how to do that anyway. You should ask the one who built that thing in the first place.”
More time passed before another critter, armadillo, happened by. “Hey there old friend old buddy old pal! Has the danger passed, armadillo? Is it safe now?” Armadillo also didn’t know of any danger (since, naturally, rabbit had made it up). “Um, yeah. I guess so. No danger here, anyway.” “Cool, cool. If it’s so safe then, could you let me out of here armadillo my good buddy? You’ve always been such a good neighbor.” Armadillo didn’t trust the flattery (and tiger had never been a terribly good neighbor). “Sorry, no can do. You should ask the one who put you in there to let you out. They’ll know how to do that better than me.”
By now, tiger was out of even fake friends and even more so, he was out of patience. He began slamming his shoulder against the stockade bars and leaping with all his might at the ones across the top, but it was no use. Try as he might, tiger could not even bend those bars, let alone break through. Exhausted, tiger panted in the center of the stockade and pondered. Rabbit had done his job too well – no danger could get in to attack tiger sure, but tiger was now trapped in here with no way out. He rested, convinced he would be stuck in here forever.
The sun shone down above and tiger’s mind wandered. He thought about how bright the sun was outside his cage. He thought about how good the hunting would be in the jungle today. He thought about how cool the spring water would be right now. It invigorated him. He wouldn’t die in this cage! He was tiger, hear him roar! He gathered his strength and battered his body against the weakest part of the stockade near the back. He leapt and leapt until the stakes finally broke. Tiger was free, but not unharmed. Jagged ends of the thick staves cut deep into tiger’s skin in a tight pattern. And from that day, tiger’s skin has been striped from his misadventure with rabbit’s trick. And I don’t think he’s ever forgiven rabbit for capturing him.
As you’ve likely guessed by now, I’m a big fan of stories where a bully gets his comeuppance and tiger definitely counts. It’s fine that he wants to hire someone else to do work he doesn’t want to do, but his standards are ridiculous and it feels like he’s trying to cheat his employees. On the other hand, rabbit was absolutely planning to cheat him, given the chance. Even so, I don’t think that tiger’s revenge for a trick rabbit just thought about pulling was equitable (although I’m still not sure what a rabbit wants with an ox). Either way, things are nice and sorted now so it’s time for Gods and Monsters. This is a segment where I get into a little more detail about the personalities and history of one of the gods or monsters from this week’s pantheon that was not discussed in the main story. This week’s turnabout is rabbit’s tail.
I mentioned briefly at the beginning of the main story that, back in the days before tiger got his stripes, rabbit had a long, luxurious tail. That change was mentioned only in passing, but the story of it is also contained in Fairy Tales from Brazil. Once upon a time, almost as long ago as the main tale but just a little less, rabbit had the beautiful tail we talked about, but the cat had none. Despite having a real clever streak, as we’ve seen, rabbit also had something of a reputation as a bit careless and thoughtless. He was very proud of his long tail and he showed it off to everyone, primping and preening in a way that was bound to make others jealous.
And alas, that’s exactly what happened. Mistress Pussycat, overwhelmingly jealous of rabbit’s tail, decided to do something about it. She kept a watchful eye on him until, one day, rabbit fell asleep in the sun with his tail sticking straight out away from his body. It was the opportunity she’d been waiting for, so she struck. Drawing a sharp knife (I would have expected her to use one of her wickedly sharp claws, but this may be one of those weird folklore things like a rabbit wanting an ox), she cut rabbit’s tail off with one swift blow. It was such a clean cut that rabbit didn’t even wake up. Mistress Pussycat vanished silently and had the stolen tail sewed onto her own body.
Unable to resist gloating to rabbit the way he’d gloated to her before, she strutted out to wake him up, lashing her new, luxurious tail as she strolled. “Mmm, don’t you think this tail looks better on me than it ever did on you?” she purred. Rabbit, realizing his tail was gone, took things in stride. He’d been very proud of it, sure, but he was also a very unselfish beast and he could admit that she was right. “It does indeed look very lovely on you, Mistress Pussycat. I have to admit that it was always a little too long for me, always getting in the way. I rather wish you’d talked to me about it instead of just taking it, but no hard feelings. How about you give me that wonderfully sharp knife of yours and we’ll call it even?” So I guess that’s why she needed to use a knife and not her claws.
Mistress Pussycat thought that a very fair trade, especially since rabbit was being very chill about the whole thing. She handed over the knife and they parted on good terms. Rabbit headed out to the forest, swishing the knife in his paw. “Well I’ve lost my tail but I’ve gained a knife. I bet I can get myself a new tail or at least something just as good.” He hopped along a favorite trail through the forest for a long time, just wandering with no particular destination in mind. At last, he came across a little old man who was too busy making baskets to notice the little bunny’s approach.
Rabbit watched him work for a minute. The man was weaving rushes together and then biting off the ends to tie them off. It worked well enough, but it was a slow and messy process. Rabbit hopped a little farther into the path with the knife in his mouth, catching the man’s eye. “Well now, that’s a mighty fine knife you have there, Mr. Rabbit. Is there any way you would let me borrow it? These reeds are awfully tough and it’s exhausting to keep biting them off with my teeth like this.”
Rabbit was feeling generous (and maybe he sensed an opportunity), so he offered up the knife to the man. It was much faster work to cut through the reeds with it, and the man hummed as he worked. All of a sudden, there was a sharp crack and the knife snapped in two. “Oh shit, you broke my knife! What am I supposed to do now? I just got that knife for a very high price and now you went and broke it.” The little old man was very apologetic. “I’m so sorry about that, Mr. Rabbit. I was trying to be careful and I promise I didn’t mean to do that. What can I do to make it up to you?”
Rabbit pondered that a moment. “Well, a broken knife isn’t any use to me but with your clever hands, you might be able to fix it or maybe you can still use it, even broken. How about this – I’ll let you keep the knife and do what you can with it. In exchange, you give me one of those baskets you were making.” The old man thought that a very fair bargain, so he let rabbit take his pick of the baskets. Carrying it in his mouth, the small bunny hopped away into the forest once more. “I lost my tail for a knife, and now I’ve lost my knife for a basket. I’ll use this to get a new tail, or something else just as good.”
He hopped along through the forest for a long while until he came to a clearing. There, an old woman was busy picking lettuce from a small garden. She’d pull each head out of the dirt, clean it off, and then tie it to her apron. She did this for another minute or two before she noticed the little rabbit standing there with a fine basket in his teeth. “Well hello there, Mr. Rabbit. That’s a very fine basket you have. It would certainly be easier to carry my produce in that instead of tying it awkwardly to my apron. Any chance I could borrow it?”
Being a generous sort as we’ve already established, the little bunny was more than happy to do that. She loaded it up with her picked lettuce but, just as it was getting full, the bottom fell out. “Well shit, that’s another of my belongings broken. I sure hope that old man’s new baskets are better now that he has a knife. What am I going to do now? You broke my basket!” The old woman was very sorry about breaking the bunny’s basket. “I must’ve put too much lettuce into it, but I swear I didn’t mean to break it. I’m so sorry – what can I do to make it up to you?”
Rabbit thought about it. “Well, let’s think. The basket is broken, but you can probably fix it with that string you were using to tie up the lettuce (and if not, there’s an old man some ways thataway that can help. How about you give me some of that lettuce in exchange for the basket?” The little old woman thought that a fair trade and so she let rabbit pick the head of lettuce he wanted. He grabbed the largest, juiciest looking one and hopped off into the forest. “I lost my tail but got a knife, then lost the knife but got a basket, and finally lost the basket but got this lettuce. Still not a tail, but not a bad day’s work.”
The flavor of the lettuce in his mouth as he hopped was enticing and the smell was absolutely intoxicating. He had to stop and taste this. Finding a quiet place, he took a big bite. It was even more delicious than he’d dreamed. In fact, it was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted in his life. “All in all, I think this might have been a fair trade for my tail. This is better.” And so, from that day on, rabbit has never had anything but a nub of a tail. Likewise, all rabbits have loved lettuce and would risk much for even a taste of the juicy vegetable.
That’s it for this episode of Myths Your Teacher Hated. Keep up with new episodes on our Facebook page, on iTunes, on TuneIn, on Vurbl, and on Spotify, or you can follow us on Twitter as @HardcoreMyth, on Instagram as Myths Your Teacher Hated Pod, and on Tumblr as MythsYourTeacherHated. You can also find news and episodes on our website at myths your teacher hated dot com. If you have any questions, any gods or monsters you’d want to learn about, or any ideas for future stories that you’d like to hear, feel free to drop me a line. I’m trying to pull as much material from as many different cultures as possible, but there are all sorts of stories I’ve never heard, so suggestions are appreciated. The theme music is by Tiny Cheese Puff.
Next time, we’re going back to Latvia for another exciting chapter in the epic Bearslayer saga. You’ll see that you should always take a look – it’s in a book (Reading Rainbow!), that castles drowned beneath a lake are always cursed, and that the Winchester Brothers were right about using fire to stop ghosts. Then, in Gods and Monsters, two brothers are going to seek their fortunes but find a white deer and a whole lot of trouble. That’s all for now. Thanks for listening.