The Lady, or the Tiger? The Lady, or the Tiger? "The Lady, or the Tiger?" is a much-anthologized short story written by Frank R. Stockton for publication in the magazine "The Century" in 1882. "The Lady, or the Tiger?" has entered the English language as an allegorical expression, a shorthand indication or signifier, for a problem that is unsolvable. The short story takes place in a land ruled by a semi-barbaric king. Some of the king's ideas are progressive, but others cause people to suffer. One of the king's innovations is the use of a public trial by ordeal as an agent of poetic justice,
Lucy the Elephant construction was ever attempted. Lucy the Elephant Lucy the Elephant is a six-story elephant-shaped example of novelty architecture, constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1881 by James V. Lafferty in Margate City, New Jersey, approximately five miles (8 km) south of Atlantic City. Originally named "Elephant Bazaar", Lucy was built to promote real estate sales and attract tourists. Today, "Lucy" is the oldest surviving roadside tourist attraction in America. In 1881, the U.S. Patent Office granted James V. Lafferty a patent giving him the exclusive right to make, use or sell animal-shaped buildings for a duration of seventeen years.