Fiction 3.
F.2 Mrs Packletide's Tiger
UNIT
1. Why do people hunt? Complete the web chart giving various reasons for
same:
Was thought
to be an act
of bravery
Reasons for Hunting
2. Read these lines and guess the answers to the questions given below
It was Mrs. Packletide's pleasure and intention that she should shoot a tiger ....The
Compelling motive ...was the fact that Loona Bimberton had recently .... personally
procured tiger-skin and a heavy harvest of Press photographs could successfully
counter that sort of thing.
a) Why did Mrs. Packletide want to killa tiger?
b) What does it tell you about her?
c) What is the tone of the storywriter?
d) Doyou think she was successful in her mission?
e) What do you think the story is all about?
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Fiction
, This story was writen at atime when there was very little awareness about the
needtoprotect the environment and the wildlife. Now read the story.
It was Mrs. Packletide's pleasure and intention that she should shoot a tiger. Not that
the lust to killhad suddenly descended on her, or that she felt that she would leave India
safer and more wholesome than she had found it, with one fraction less of wild beast
per million of inhabitants. The compeling motive for
her sudden deviation towards the footsteps of
Nimrod' was the fact that Loona Bimberton had
recently been carried eleven miles in an aeroplane
by anAlgerian aviator, and talked of nothing else:
only a personally procured tiger-skin and a heavy
harvest of press photographs could suCcessfully
COunter that sort of thing. Mrs. Packletide had
already arranged in her mind the lunch she would
give at her house on Curzon Street, ostensibly in
Loona Bimberton's honour, with a tiger-skin rug
occupying most of the foreground and all of the
conversation. She had also already designed in her
mind the tiger-claw brooch that she was going to
give Loona Bimberton on her next birthday. In a
world that is supposed to be chiefly swayed by
hunger and by love Mrs. Packletide was an exception; her movements and motives
were largely governed by dislike of Loona Bimberton.
2. Circumstances proved propitious. Mrs. Packletide had offered athousand rupees for
the opportunity of shooting a tiger without over-much risk or exertion, and it so
happened that aneighbouring village could boast of being the favoured rendezvous
of an animal of respectable antecedents, which had been driven by the increasing
infirmities of age to abandon game-killing and confine its appetite to the smaller
domestic animals. The prospect of earning the thousand rupees had stimulated the
sporting and commercial instinct of the villagers; children were posted night and day on
the outskirts of the local jungle to head the tiger back in the unlikely event of his
attempting to roam away to fresh hunting-grounds, and the cheaper kinds of goats
were left about with elaborate carelessness to keep him satisfied with his present
quarters. The one great anxiety was lest he should die of old age before the date
appointed for the memsahib's shoot. Mothers carrying their babies home through the
jungle after the day's work in the fields hushed their singing lest they might curtail the
restful sleep of the venerable herd-robbe.
1. Nimrod :Biblical character (great grandson of Noah); a mighty hunter
2. ostensibly: supposedly 3. propitious :favourable
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4. rendezyous :meeting
Fiction cloucdless. Aplatormhad beenn constructed
amved moonlitandthereon crouched Mrs Packletide ar,
The greattng du convenientlyYplacedtree. and aparticularty persistent blea
with
a motabie and lebbin A qoat
gted
expectedtohear on a
stil
inig
0panon Mss reasonaby
maght be nfe and a thum
partaly deaftger acurateBy sghted
a distance With an
tethered at he coTect
co awaited the comingofthequarry.
was sportswoman
patience cards'the
naipack of danger said Miss
Mebbin
dreac
7suDpose we areinsome
but she had a morbid
wild beast
actualy nervouS about the paid for
5 Se was not than she had been
petormngan atom more servce
couidn i spring up here ever,
it
Mrs Packletide t's a veryokd tger
Nonsense sad
twanted to
yo
7 f 's an od tger Ithink
A
ought to get t cheaper
thousand rupees s a lot of
money"
8 Louisa Mebbin adopted a
protective elder-sister
attitude towards money in
general, irrespective of
natonality or denomination.
Her energetic intervention
had saved many a rouble
from depleting itself in tips in
Some Moscow hotel, and
her instinctively under circumstances which wouid have
francs andcentimes clung to
headlong from less sympathetic hands. Her speculations as to the mare
driven them
the appearance on the scene of he
depreciation of tiger remnants were cut short by
tethered goat it lay fiat on the ea
animal itseif. As sOon as it caught sight of the
all available cover than for the
seemingly less from a desire to take advantage of
attack.
purpose of snatching a short rest before commencing the grand
the vilae
"Ibelieve it's il," said Louisa Mebbin, loudly in Hindustani, for the benefit of
headman, who was in ambush in a neighbouring tree.
10 "Hush! said Mrs. Packletide, and at that moment the tiger commenced ambing
towards his victim.
11. "Now, now!" urged Miss Mebbin with some excitement: ifhe doesnt touch the at we
needn't pay for it." (The bait was an extra.)
5. tethered - tastened
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6. thumb -nail pack of patience cards -snal sized playing cards to play sotare
Fiction
Therifle flashed out with aloud repot, and the great tawny beast sprang to one side
12. natives
andthen rolled over in the stillness of death. In a moment a crowd of excited
hadswarmeddon to the scene, andtheir shouting| speedily carried the glad news
to the
village, where a thumping of
tom-toms took up the chorus of
triumph. And their triumph and
rejoicing found a ready echo in
the heart of Mrs. Packletide:
already that luncheon-party in
Curzon Street seemed
immeasurably nearer.
It was Louisa Mebbin who drew
attention to the fact that the
goat was in death-throes from
a mortal bullet-wound, while no
animal
trace of the rifle's deadly work could be found on the tiger. Evidently the wrong
heart-failure, caused by the
had been hit, and the beast of prey had succumbed to
Mrs. Packletide was
sudden report of the rifle, accelerated by senile' decay.
possessor of a dead
pardonably annoyed at the discOvery; but, at any rate, she was the
connived at the fiction
tiger, and the villagers, anxious for their thousand rupees, gladly
companion. Therefore, Mrs.
that she had shot the beast. And Miss Mebbin was apaid
pictured fame reached from
Packletide faced the cameras with a light heart, and her
illustrated Monday supplement of the
the pages of the Texas Weekly Snapshot to the
look at an illustrated paper for
Novoe Vremya. As for Loona Bimberton, she refused to a model of
tiger-claw brooch was
weeks, and her letter of thanks for the gift of a which
declined. There are limits beyond
repressed emotions. The luncheon-party she
repressed emotions become dangerous.
Louisa
they knew what really happened," said
14. "How amused every one would be if
Mebbin a few days after the ball.
Packletide quickly.
15. What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Mebbin, with her
"How you shot the goat and frightened the tiger to death," said Miss
16.
disagreeably pleasant laugh.
believe it," said Mrs. Packletide, her face changing colour as rapidly as
17. "No one would post-time'.
patterns'before
though it were going through a book of Packletide's face settled on an
said Miss Mebbin. Mrs.
18. "Loona Bimberton would,"
unbecomingshade of greenish white.
1. senile- characteristic of old age jockeys.
showing the colour patterns of racing. stables, with colours worn by 17
0. book of paterns-Book race and deadline for
placing a bet
post-time- the start of horse
Fiction
19. "You surely wouldn't give me away?" she asked.
20. "l've seen a
week-endI cottage near Darking that Ishould rather like to buy," said Miss
Mebbin with seeming irrelevance. "Six hundred and eighty, freehold. Quite a
only ldon't happen to have the money." bargain
21. Louisa Mebbin's pretty week-end cottage, christened by her "Les Fauves0 "and ga
in summer-time with its garden borders of tiger-lilies, is the wonder and admiration
her friends.
22. "Itisa marvel how Louisa manages to do it," is the generalverdict.
23. Mrs. Packletide indulges in no more big-game shooting.
24. "The incidental"expenses are so heavy."she confides to inquiring friends.
About theAuthor
Saki, (1870-1916), whose real name was Hector Hugh Munro, was a British
writer, whose witty stories satirized the society and culture of his day. He was
considered a masterof the short story.
4. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.
"t was Louisa Mebbin who drewattention to the fact that the goat was in death
throes from a mortal bullet-wound, while no trace of the rifle's deadly work could
be found on the tiger. Evidently the wrong animal had been hit, and the beast of
prey had succumbed to heart-failure, caused by the sudden report of the rifle,
accelerated by senile decay. Mrs Packletide was pardonably annoyed at the
discovery; but, at any rate, she was the possessor of adead tiger, and the villagers
anxious for their thousand rupees, gladly connived at the fiction that she had shot
the beast. And Miss Mebbin was a paid companion."
Which line from the extract supports the idea that people had no doubts about
Mrs Packletide missing her mark?
i) Select the option that correctly reveals the character traits of Mrs. Packletide.
1. Miserly
2. Opportunistic
3. Blunt
4. Greedy
18 10. Les Fauves- French for'The Wild Animals'
11. incidental -secondary.
Fiction
5. Pretentious
A. 1,3 and 4
B. 2, 3,4 and5
C. 1,3,4 and5
D. 2,4 and 5
Selectthe idiom that captures the central idea of the extract.
A. Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn.
B. Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him doa thing his cleverness
forbids.
C Humans are the most unreliable species.
D. The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance- it is the illusion of
knowledge.
w) ldentify the writer's tone in this extract.
WSelect the option that displays the reason for Mrs. Packletide's brief annoyance.
A. The covering up of her blunder.
B. The death of the goat.
C. The sudden report of the rifle.
D. The participation of the villagers.
4 Answer the following questions in your own words:
Bimberton's honour?
(a) What made Mrs. Packletide decide to give a party in Loona
What did she intend to give Loona on her birthday?
Mrs. Packletide? How did she
(b) Who was Miss Mebbin? Was she really devoted to
behave during the tiger shooting?
(c) Mrs. Packletide was agood shot. DiscUss.
Mrs Packletide fired the shot? Why
(d) What comment did Miss Mebbin make after
How did Mrs Packletide react to this
did Miss Mebbin make this comment?
comment?
comment on the behaviour of the villagers throughout the story.
(e) Briefly
Packletide achieve her heart's desire? Give reasons for your answer.
() Did Mrs.
Mebbin manage to get her week-end cottage? Why did she plant so
9) How did Miss
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garden?
many tigerlilies in her
Fiction
(h) "The incidental expenses are so heavy."she confidesto inquiring friends. Who is
the speaker? What is she referring to here?
() wo you think the silent figure of Loona Bimberton in the background, plays
crucial role in the story? Explain.
6. Discuss the following auestions in detail and write the answers in your
notebooks:
(a) Do you think the tiger shooting organized by the villagers was a serious affair
Give reasons for your answer.
(0) Do you think the writer is trying to make fun of the main characters in the story i.e
Mrs. Packletide, Miss Mebbin and Loona Bimberton? Pick out instances from the
story that point to this fact.
(c) Aperson who is vain is full of self importance and can only think of himselfherself
and can go to great lengths to prove his/her superiority. Do you think Mrs
Packletide is vain? Give reasons in support of your answer.
(d) Sometimes writers highlight certain negative aspects in society or human beings
by making fun ofthem.This is called a Satire. In your groups, discuss whether you
would classify this story as a satire. Give reasons to support your answer
(e) How does the writer create humour in this story?
7. Choose extracts from the story that illustrate the character of the people listed in
the table given below. There are some words given to help you. Youmay add
words ofyour own. One has been done as an example:
vain jealous competitive shrewd manipulative stingy materialistic spiteful
Character Extract from the story What this tells
us about the
character
Mrs. Packletide () The compelling motive for her sudden Competitive
deviation towards the footsteps of
Nimrod was the fact that Loona
Bimberton had recently been carried
eleven miles in an aeroplane by an
Algerian aviator, and talked of nothing
else; onlya personally procured
tiger-skin and a heavy harvest of Press
photographs could successfully counter
20 that sort of thing
Fiction
() Mrs. Packletide had offered athousand
rupees for the opportunty of shooting a
tiger without over-much risk or exertion,
(ii) Mrs. Packletide faced the cameras with
a light heart, and her pictured fame
reached from the pages of the Texas
Weekly Snapshot to the illustrated
Monday supplement of the
Novoe Vremya.
Louisa Mebbin (i) "If it's an old tiger | think you Ought to
get it cheaper. Athousand rupees is a
lot of money."
(i) Louisa Mebbin adopted a protective
elder-sister attitude towards money in
general, irrespective of nationality or
denomination
(i) "Howamused every one would be if
they knew what really happened," said
Louisa Mebbin a few days after the bal.
(iv) Louisa Mebbin's pretty week-end
cottage, christened by her "Les Fauves,
and gay in summer-time with its garden
borders of tiger-lilies, isthe wonder and
admiration of her friends
Loona Bimberton (i) As for Loona Bimberton, she refused to
look at an illustrated paper for weeks,
and her letter of thanks for the gift of a
tiger-claw brooch was a model of
repressed emotions
(ü) There are limits beyond which repressed
emotions become dangerous.
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