Never Trust a Tiger: A Story of a Lady Lion Tamer. a Novel

By Char Valdez

This is a fictionalized story about a circus and my great-aunt Marie, who was a lion tamer during the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. She worked for the Al G. Barnes Circus and, later, Barnum and Bailey. She traveled across the United States and Europe, performing with the big cats, as well as with dancing bears, giant dogs, and other animals. She was known as the best-dressed woman in the circus and was often billed as Princess Florines. She was injured countless times but returned to the work she loved with animals despite her injuries. She was in many creative acts, and in most she played a little girl. Being of small stature and very beautiful, she played fairy-tale characters in many of her acts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532085987

Char Valdez

Char Valdez is a native of California living in New Mexico with her husband, Sonny, and her dog, Jake. This is her first novel. Char loves a good performance and was, for a time, a belly dancer herself. Performing in restaurants and at festivals, she danced with a friend’s forty-pound ball python only once—depicted in this book. Remembering the circuses from her childhood, Char has recreated some scenes, along with the smells and adrenaline, that come with the circus. As an animal lover, she does not like to see animals in captivity and out of their natural habitats. Many circus stories have bad trainers, and almost all have a fire that destroys animals and the circus leaving them to rebuild. Char doesn’t like fires or cruelty, so those are left out here. Char does love fortune-tellers, steamy love affairs, and a little danger. She feels the very soul of her great-aunt—her triumphs and tragedies, her loves and her adversaries.

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Copyright © 2019 Char Valdez.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-8597-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8598-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019916564

iUniverse rev. date:  10/18/2019

CONTENTS

1 The Circus Came to Town

2 Reggie

3 The Dress

4 The Accident

5 The Gypsies

6 The Train

7 Judith

8 The Circus

9 A Lesson

10 The Dream

11 A Letter to Dad

12 The Visit

13 The Picnic

14 Gossip

15 Lovers

16 The Twins

17 Morty

18 Miss Shelly

19 Gypsy and Other Favorites

20 The Blowdown

A Note from the Author

To my dad,

William Keth Patterson, who was also a writer. He encouraged me to keep on going even when I was discouraged. And he showed me how to keep the wonder of life itself in my heart. He was always seeing with a child’s eye and exclaiming, Well, look at that, or, I’ll be darned; that’s really something. There was no end to his surprise and delight, whether it was over a blooming rose or a magic show.

Dad is no longer with us, but he did get to read my story and, of course, showed his delight in it.

Many thanks to Jacob Reyes for his sketches shown throughout this book. They really help bring life to the story.

I’d like to thank the Baraboo, Wisconsin, Circus Museum and the Sarasota, Florida, Circus Museum for providing articles and pictures for my research.

And a big thanks to my husband Sonny for his help in editing and dog walking during the long hours of writing. I love you.

1

The Circus Came to Town

The day turned from magic to mayhem in a matter of seconds. I was eight years old when my parents took me to my first circus. It was the most beautiful and magical thing I’d ever seen in my life. I will always remember that day. We arrived on the edge of town at a big grassy field. It was cloudy and humid. A storm threatened in the distance. I could smell the rain and hear the thunder, but no drops fell for now. Dad put the horses and buggy with the others and went to get the tickets for the entry into the big top show.

Go ahead. I’ll catch up, he said.

Mom nodded and waved.

Isn’t Dad coming with us? I asked Mom.

He’ll be along shortly, she said.

Mom and I walked over to the lemonade stand, where popcorn, peanuts, and roasted corn wafted through the air.

Dad caught up to us with the tickets. He gave them to a man at the gate just beyond the food stand, and together we entered a gigantic red-and-white-striped tent. The tent was half full, with people sitting on benches. I remember the smells as we went inside. Besides the variety of food smells, there were animal and hay smells, mixed with sweat and perfume.

The lady at the lemonade stand said, Little lady, you can pet and feed the baby animals after the show if you’d like.

That prospect excited me. I’d like that, mom, did you hear? I get to pet the babies afterward, I said with glee.

We looked for seats that would give us the best view of the show. Men carried trays full of bags of peanuts, yelling over and over, Get your hot roasted peanuts.

We found our seats and settled in for the show. A woman wearing a blue sequined outfit dropped down on a bar from the ceiling, stopping several feet above our heads. A large net spanned the area below her—I guess in case she fell. Her costume caught the light, casting blue sparkles on the walls of the tent as she swung and twirled above us. I could swing on the old tire under the elm tree at home but never that high. She swung hard to get momentum and then let go of the bar, doing a somersault in midair. She caught the bar again with one hand just before I was sure she would fall. I held my breath for a moment.

The tent was full of people by now. They smiled and nodded at one another as they watched the performances and clapped their hands. Some whistled or yelled loudly in appreciation. I had to cover my ears sometimes when a man’s whistles seem to scream right inside my ear.

Clowns walked on stilts on the ground in front of us. Animals I’d never seen before paraded in a line before us too. We saw camels, elephants, horses, monkeys, and all kinds of other animals. I’d only seen a few of them in picture books. I wondered what plan God had to create such a variety of creatures. Some seemed so odd, like the giraffe. What in the world would anything need such a long neck for? I wondered. Lots of people in beautiful costumes waved and smiled as they rode by on horses, camels, and elephants. They all wore brightly colored costumes of yellow, blue, and red. Even the animals were adorned with colorful saddles, feathers, and bells in pink, silver, and gold paint. They paraded around the tent in front of the audience while the peanut men sold peanuts. A man with a small organ and a monkey on a leash played music and moved through the crowd. The monkey wore a red cotton vest with gold trim. He took pennies and peanuts from the people and handed them obediently to his master. Then the man placed them in a cup.

Fiery_Grayscale_001(1)-5.jpg

In the middle of the tent near the ceiling, a clown wearing a bright-yellow shirt and black-and-orange-striped pants rode a bicycle balanced on a wire. He wore makeup that made a big frown and sad eyes on his face. He waved his arms wildly to keep his balance. He looked as if he would fall any moment. Though he had a net under him, I was sure he could still be hurt terribly if he fell. But he never did.

A woman suspended by a thick cable hung by her hair. She spun around and around, her sparkling costume a blur of silver. I wondered how she didn’t get dizzy and have all her hair pulled out. When she was finished, she landed on the ground with nary a sway and bowed to the audience. After the performances and the parade were finished, they all disappeared behind a curtain.

A man blew a whistle and entered the center ring. His voice boomed over the carnival music. Welcome, welcome, children, parents, grandparents. Everyone, welcome to the most spectacular show in the world. Right here at the William Keth Circus, you will witness the most fantastic feats. Our performers will dazzle you. Our animals never seen before will amaze you. Enjoy the show, one and all. He blew the whistle again then left the arena.

The clowns played and pretended to be drunk to keep us laughing, while performers and other circus workers set up props and stages for many more acts to come.

There were three arenas in the middle of the tent, each surrounded by steel bars.

Beautiful white horses with light-yellow painted saddles and pink feathers on their heads galloped into the first ring. The loud organ played as the horses seemed to dance their way into position. I counted ten horses. A trainer led the way, holding a whip and yelling commands at the horses. He cracked the whip into the air but never touched the horses with it. The horses did tricks, prancing and dancing to the music. At the end of their performance, they stood in a line side by side and with one foot out in front bowed to the audience. We clapped our hands.

When one performance was finished in that arena, another would start in the next. It was a constant change of animals and people.

One arena was set up with three red-and-gold-striped hoops,