The Tiger is actually Sophie's father dressed up to entertain his daughter.
- Sophie is implied to be very young and young children are reasonably impressionable.
- Sophie's mother doesn't seem to panic and allows her daughter to be around a fully-grown tiger.
The Tiger is the small orange cat walking down the street
- The cat came around and Sophie's imagination made it appear like a tiger. Her mother just played along with it because it was a way of entertaining Sophie when they couldn't leave the house due to it raining.
