Owp!

First published in 1968, Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea continues to be one of the best selling and best loved children’s books in the UK. It was an instant hit with my son too when we bought it for him at around the age of eighteen months, and seems to be set to continue to be one of his favourites for some time to come. The secret behind having remained a hit over forty years after its publication date, despite more than a couple of dated elements—some of which, such as the reference to ‘Daddy’s beer’, rather amusing to refer to out loud—has to be the charming and surreal matter-of-factness and nonchalance of how the girl and the mother in the story let a tiger in to have tea with them in their kitchen. The sudden appearance of this ‘big, furry, stripey tiger’ in an entirely routine mother-and-daughter scene is portrayed as exciting and fun, but at the same time, as something absolutely natural and fine …

The story
Sophie and her mother are having their afternoon tea in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. They wonder who it might be, but cannot think of who, so go to the door and see. When Sophie opens the door she finds a tiger who politely invites himself in: “Excuse me, but I’m very hungry. Do you think I could have tea with you?”. Sophie’s mother lets him in and offers him a sandwich. The tiger eats all the sandwiches on the plate in one big mouthful. ‘Owp!’, and, still looking hungry, proceeds to do the same with all the buns, all the biscuits, all the cake, washing it down with all the milk in the jug and all the tea in the teapot. He then looks round for more, until he eats every last bit of food and every last bit of liquid in the house, including all the water in the drains. He then, also very politely, says “Thank you for my nice tea. I think I’d better go now”, and leaves. When Sophie’s Daddy gets back, they tell him all about the tiger and what happened and he suggests they go out for a meal. So they go out in the dark, with ‘all the street lamps lit’ and eat in a cafe.