At the end of the story, we see this again when Natalia says: “...my grandfather did not die as he had once told me that men die – in fear – but in hope, like a child” (335). Perhaps the most significant passage comes from Natalia's grandfather himself: “But children die as they lived – in hope. They don't know what's going on, so they don't expect anything” (154). To die as a child therefore means to meet Death just as the tiger's wife and the narrator of "The Tiger's Bride" meet their tigers at the end, without pretensions, expectations, contempt or even