This short story is a fate themed, in which a young princess of a barbaric king falls in love with a young prince. Obviously, the king didn’t like this, come on, which barbaric king would? He was a fate believer and also believed in justice, so fate would decide, but would it?
After all, this is just probability in modern days, fifty fifty chance. Yet, back then, it was fate, (because people were dumb dumb). His plan accommodated of a beautiful, young maiden, and a hungry, vicious tiger. He would summon the prince in front of two doors, one was the maiden, and the other the tiger.
If the prince were to get lucky and chose the maiden, he was forced to marry her. If you got the tiger, it would rip you apart and eat you alive. My sentiment towards this would be, get lucky and suffer, or die.
You might not understand, but this means, you pick the tiger and die a painful, bloody death, or you pick the maiden and get your girlfriend or wife to come after your head. Basically, it sucks both ways. Also, you might not like the maiden, she may be beautiful and all, but her personality is what you look at.
There is an advantage to getting killed by the tiger, it will be a quick, but painful death, whereas your wife could torture with Chinese water torture ( developed by the Chinese, it sucks). Although there is a slight chance you can get away with out getting hunted by your wife.
Also, you haven’t considered the fact that, even if you die from the tiger, you die with loyalty your wife and her family. That is a happy thought.