The Tiger King Short Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What gave astrologers the greatest surprise of their life while they were studying
the horoscope of the ten-day-old prince? [All India 2014 (C)]
Answer:
While the astrologers were studying the horoscope of the ten-day-old prince, they
said that one day the Tiger King would have to die. At this moment, a great
miracle took place. The ten-day-old infant spoke to the astrologers very clearly.
This came as a surprise to everyone and the astrologers stood transfixed in
stupefaction to hear an infant speaking in such clear language.

Question 2.
What made the chief astrologer place his finger on his nose? [Delhi 2019,
Foreign 2015]
Answer:
The ten-day-old infant, Jilani Jung Jung Bahadur, addressed the astrologers in a
clear voice, using appropriate language. Moreover, the infant asked the manner
in which he would die. It was an astonishing thing for the chief astrologer as a
ten-day-old baby barely opens its lips in speech. But this baby not only spoke but
also raised intelligent questions. So out of surprise, the chief astrologer placed
his finger on his nose.

Question 3.
Why did the Maharaja ban tiger hunting in the state? [Delhi 2014]
Answer:
When the Maharaja came to know after killing his first tiger that he had threat to
his life from the hundredth tiger, he resolved to kill a hundred tigers. To
accomplish his mission, he banned tiger hunting in the state. A proclamation was
issued to the effect that if anyone dared to fling so much as a stone at a tiger, all
his wealth and property would be confiscated.

Question 4.
When and why did the Maharaja decide to get married? [Delhi 2013 (C)]
Answer:
The Maharaja had killed all the tigers available in and around his kingdom. Even
then thirty more tigers were required to complete his mission to kill a hundred
tigers. So he decided to marry a girl from a royal family whose state had a large
tiger population.

Question 5.
What sort of hunts did the Maharaja offer to organise for the high-ranking British
officer? What trait of the officer does it reveal? [Delhi 2013]
Answer:
The Maharaja offered any other hunt except tiger for the high-ranking British
officer. He offered a boar hunt, a mouse hunt or even a mosquito hunt. This
shows that the officer was very fond of tiger hunt. Moreover, when he agreed to
just get a photograph with the dead tiger, it became evident that he wanted to
show himself to be a great hunter in front of others.

Question 6.
How did the Dewan manage to get the 100th tiger for the Maharaja? [Foreign
2014]
Answer:
The Maharaja was so determined to kill the hundredth tiger that in his anger, he
ordered the Dewan to find the tiger otherwise be prepared to face his wrath. To
save his life, the Dewan bought an old tiger from a circus in Madras and hid it in
his house. At night, he took the tiger in the car to the forest and left it there ready
to be killed by the Maharaja.

Question 7.
Why did the Maharaja order the Dewan to double the land tax? [All India 2014]
Answer:
When the Maharaja could not find the 100th tiger, he grew very angry and
frustrated. In his anger, he ordered the Dewan to double the land tax and let the
people suffer. Though the Dewan knew that it was unreasonable, he couldn’t do
anything.

Question 8.
How did the Tiger King become the victim of the hundredth tiger? [All India 2014
(C)]
Answer:
The hundredth tiger, which caused Tiger King’s death, was a toy tiger. On his
son’s third birthday, the Maharaja bought a wooden toy tiger for his son as a gift.
One day as he was playing with this toy with his son, one of its slivers, pierced
his right hand. He pulled it out and continued playing. Next day, the infection
flared in the Maharaja’s right hand and in four days it spread all over his arm. The
Maharaja was operated upon but died during surgery.

Question 9.
How did the Tiger King manage to retain his kingdom? [Foreign 2015]
Answer:
A British officer, while visiting Pratibandapuram, wanted to go for tiger hunt. But
the Tiger King did not permit him. So in order to save his king from the wrath of
the British officer, the Maharaja bribed the British officer. He sent a gift of
expensive diamond rings to his wife expecting that she would choose one or two
rings. She kept all the rings and sent a note of thanks to the Maharaja. So the
Maharaja spent three lakh rupees to save his kingdom.

Question 10.
How did the Tiger King kill the hundredth tiger? [Foreign 2015]
Answer:
The hundredth tiger was an old tiger brought by the Dewan from the People’s
Park Circus, Madras. When it came in front of the Maharaja, he stood in a
humble supplication. The Maharaja had taken a careful aim and shot at him. The
tiger crumbled down. The Maharaja got elated with joy and left the place. Later
on it was found that the bullet missed the tiger and it had fainted.

Question 11.
What considerations influenced the Tiger King to get married? [CBSE 2018]
OR
Why did the Maharaja decide to get married? [All India 2017]
Answer:
In order to disprove the astrologer’s prophecy, the Maharaja had to kill a hundred
tigers. He had already killed seventy tigers and the tiger population in his state
had become extinct. For this reason, he wished to marry a girl in the royal family
of a state with a rich tiger population, where he would kill the rest of the thirty
tigers.

Question 12.
When was the Tiger King in danger of losing his throne? [All India 2015]
OR
Why was the Maharaja once in danger of losing his kingdom? [Delhi 2017]
Answer:
A British officer visited Pratibandapuram. He was very fond of tiger hunt and
wanted to hunt the tiger in Pratibandapuram. But the Tiger King didn’t permit him
to do so, even at the risk of losing his throne due to the anger of the British
officer. He had to bribe the officer by sending diamond rings worth ₹3 lakh for his
wife to save his throne.

Question 13.
Why did the Maharaja have to pay a bill of three lakh rupees to the British
jewellers? [Delhi 2017]
Answer:
The Maharaja had to pay a bill of three lakh rupees to the British jewellers as he
had bought samples of 50 diamond rings from them to gift the Duraisani. He had
done this to appease the British officer whom he had refused permission for tiger
hunting.

Question 14.
Why did the Maharaja have to pay a bill of three lakh rupees to the British
jewellers? [Delhi 2017]
Answer:
The Maharaja had to pay a bill of three lakh rupees to the British jewellers as he
had bought samples of 50 diamond rings from them to gift the Duraisani. He had
done this to appease the British officer whom he had refused permission for tiger
hunting.

Question 15.
Which problem did the Maharaja face when he had killed seventy tigers? How
did he solve it? [All India 2017]
Answer:
The Tiger King was able to kill seventy tigers when the tiger population in his
forests became extinct. He had to kill thirty more and it was then that he
expressed his desire to get married to a girl from the royal family of a state with a
large tiger population. This way he was able to solve his problem.
Question 16.
When did the Maharaja decide to double the land tax for a village? [All India
2017]
Answer:
The Maharaja decided to double the land tax for a village when he was unable to
locate the hundredth tiger in the village. He got infuriated and decided to punish
the villagers by doubling the land tax forthwith.

Question 17.
How did the hundredth tiger reach the forest? [Foreign 2017]
Answer:
The Dewan brought the hundredth tiger from the people’s park in Madras and
kept it hidden in his house. At midnight, the Dewan and his wife dragged the tiger
to the car and shoved it beneath the seat. The Dewan himself drove the car
straight to the forest. Thus, the hundredth tiger reached the forest.

Question 18.
What happened to the hundredth tiger? [Foreign 2017]
Answer:
The Maharaja could not kill the hundredth tiger because his bullet had missed it.
It had only fainted from the shock of the bullet, speeding past. However, one of
the hunters shot the tiger. Thus the hundredth tiger was killed without the
knowledge of the Maharaja.

Question 19.
How did the hundredth tiger take its revenge upon the Tiger King? [Foreign 2017]
Answer:
The hundredth tiger (i.e. the toy tiger) took its final revenge upon the Tiger King
and in the process shattered the conceit of the Maharaja. The Maharaja bought a
wooden tiger as special gift on his son’s birthday. As the father and the son
played with the wooden tiger carved by an unskilled carpenter, the Maharaja
injured his hand. The infection flared and the Maharaja had to be operated on.
Despite the best surgeons, the Maharaja died.

Question 20.
The manner of the Tiger King’s death is a matter of extraordinary interest.
Comment. [All India 2015]
Answer:
The Tiger King was proclaimed to die of a tiger so he killed a hundred tigers to
prove the proclamation wrong. But, in fact, it was a wooden tiger which caused
his death. He had bought a wooden toy tiger for his son and as he was playing
with it, one of its slivers pierced his hand which later on got infected. The
infection spread in the entire arm and the Maharaja died while under going
surgery. Thus, his death is a matter of extraordinary interest.

Question 20.
How did the wooden tiger lead to the death of the Tiger King?
Answer:
The King had bought a wooden tiger for his son as his birthday gift. One day, as
he was playing with this toy tiger, one of the slivers of the toy, pierced his hand
which developed infection. Within four days, the infection got spread in the entire
arm. The Tiger King lost his life while being operated upon.

Question 22.
How did the Tiger King acquire his name?
Answer:
The Tiger King was the king of Pratibandapuram. At the time of his birth, a
prediction was made by the chief astrologer that he would meet his end from a
tiger. When the infant became the king, he decided to kill hundred tigers. In order
to accomplish his mission, he started killing the tigers and earned the name
‘Tiger King’.

Question 23.
What was the Dewan’s tiger like? How did he take it to the forest?
Answer:
The Dewan had bought an old tiger from the People’s Park in Madras. It was a
very old tiger. At night the Dewan and his wife dragged the tiger to the car and
shoved it into the seat. He drove the car to the forest where the Maharaja was
hunting and pulled the tiger out of the car with great effort.

Question 24.
What happened to the tiger provided by the Dewan?
Answer:
The tiger which was provided by the Dewan, came in front of the Maharaja and
stood in a humble supplication. The Maharaja took a careful aim at the tiger and
it fell in a crumbled heap. The bullet had missed the tiger and it fainted from the
shock of the bullet whizzing past. Finally, it was killed by the Maharaja’s officers.

Question 25.
How did the Tiger King celebrate his victory over the killing of 100th tiger?
Answer:
The Tiger King was overwhelmed with elation when he killed the hundredth tiger.
He was feeling satisfied to have fulfilled his vow. He ordered to bring the dead
tiger in a grand procession. It was buried and a tomb was erected at the burial
place.

The Tiger King Long Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Even today so many among us believe in superstitions. An astrologer predicted
about the Tiger King that he would be killed by a tiger. He ‘killed’ one hundred
tigers, yet was himself ‘killed’ by a tiger. How did the superstitious belief prevail?
[All India 2015]
Answer:
The entire story is about an astrological prediction that the Tiger King is destined
to die by a tiger. The king takes it as a mission to kill a hundred tigers. He kills
ninety-nine tigers but misses the target while taking an aim at the hundredth
tiger. Due to fear of losing their jobs, the hunters didn’t tell him the fact and killed
the tiger themselves. At this point the king thought that he had proved the
prediction wrong. But the death of the maharaja due to a wooden tiger again
substantiates the superstitious belief by making the prophecy come true.

Question 2.
Giving a bribe is an evil practice. How did the Tiger King bribe the British officer
to save his kingdom? How do you view this act of his? [Delhi 2015]
Answer:
A British officer had come to visit Pratibandapuram and wanted to go for tiger
hunting but the Maharaja did not permit him. He didn’t permit him even to be
photographed with a dead tiger so as to stop other officers from getting attracted.
There was a fear of a disastrous reaction from this British officer due to the
refusal. He could lose his kingdom. So in order to save his kingdom the Maharaja
sent expensive diamond rings to his wife as a bribe. It cost him three lakh
rupees.

This shows that the king was, in fact, scared of the British official though he
pretended to be very powerful. He was whimsical and selfish.

Question 3.
How did the Tiger King achieve his target of killing a hundred tigers?
Answer:
In order to achieve his target of killing a hundred tigers, the king issued a
proclamation that anyone who dared to fling even a stone at a tiger would lose
his wealth and property. The tiger hunt was banned in his state. He started killing
the tigers and killed seventy tigers in ten years. By this time, the tiger became
extinct in his state. Then he married a girl of a royal family whose kingdom had a
large tiger population. He killed all the tigers in his father-in-law’s state. He had
killed ninety-nine tigers. Finding the hundredth tiger was a big problem. But his
Dewan brought an old tiger from People’s Park, Madras, and placed it in the
forest. The Maharaja shot at this tiger and fulfilled his mission of killing hundred
tigers.

Question 4.
Justify the title of the story ‘Tiger King’.
Answer:
The story ‘The Tiger King’ revolves around the king of Pratibandapuram who is
given this title due to his obsession with the tiger hunt. From the beginning, it is
evident when the royal infant utters the first few words, “Let tigers beware.” It was
predicted by the astrologers that a tiger would be the cause of his death. When
the royal prince is made the king at the age of twenty, he decides to kill hundred
tigers to prove this prediction wrong. All state work was put away. A marriage of
the Tiger King was arranged, so that more tigers could be found. The entire story
is a narrative of the stupid and inhuman mission of the Maharaja who in order to
prevent his death, killed a hundred innocent animals. But, ironically, he died
thanks to a tiger though it was a wooden one.

Question 5.
Do you think Tiger King’s life would have taken a different course if he had not
heard the prophecy about his future? What kind of a king would he have proved
to be?
Answer:
The Tiger King was brought up and provided with all the privileges of a royal
family. He was given ‘ the best of education. He was well mannered, cultured and
sophisticated. He was a strong young man. Like any other crown prince of the
Indian state, he was brought up by an English nanny, tutored in English by an
Englishman and saw nothing but English films. Had he not heard the prophecy,
he would have been a great and just king. He would have done a lot for the
improvement in his state. But due to this prediction, he lost all his interest in the
matters of the state and devoted himself to the fulfilment of his mission to kill
hundred tigers. He was stubborn and unfair. Due to this prophecy all his might
and wits are used just to kill the tigers and not for the development of his state.

Question 6.
The story ‘Tiger King’ gives a strong message to preserve wildlife. It is the
callous attitude of those in power to plunder natural resources which has led to
the miserable condition of Mother Earth. Write an article on the topic :
Preservation of Nature—Need of the hour.
Answer:

Preservation of Nature—Need of the hour

There is no doubt nature is the essence of our existence on the earth. It is nature
which nourishes us and relieves us from the miseries of life. The beautiful
flowers, tall green trees, water streams, valleys, birds, insects, animals—all these
are part of nature. Nature is the perfect example of balance. But we human
beings have no regard for it. With our relentless measures we are destroying
nature which has resulted in a lot of catastrophies — earthquakes, floods,
famine, etc. all due to the prevailing imbalance in nature. The cause of this
imbalance is the careless attitude and ruthless destruction of flora and fauna by
human beings. It is high time we understood the importance of preservation of
nature for the sustenance of humans on the earth.

Question 7.
Astrology is considered to be a science which is logical and rational. But the
predictions made by astrologers about the Tiger King and its after effects seem
to be highly irrational. It has brought disastrous effect on nature. Write a speech
to be delivered in the morning assembly on the topic Rational Thinking—Need of
the Hour.
Answer:

Rational Thinking—Need of the Hour

Respected Principal, teachers and dear friends,

We are living in an era of scientific and technical development. The twenty-first
century is the time when the entire world is coming closer with the use of latest
technologies. At this time, the need of the hour is to think rationally. The
advancement has raised a lot of issues such as environmental pollution,
population explosion, unemployment and global warming. We need to be logical
in our actions. This is the time when we should ponder over the consequences of
our actions and beliefs. We need to understand the fact that superstitions and
blind beliefs can bring disasters. We have to be cautious about it. We need to
protect our mother nature for our survival and for that, we should introspect and
act rationally. Ruthless destruction of flora and fauna will ultimately result in our
own destruction.

Let us be logical and rational in all matters that affect our life.