ZEBAR SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN

Std: XII English

L.2. THE TIGER KING NOTES

Name:__________________ Div: _______Roll No: ____ Date: _______

THE TIGER KING

- KALKI

Irony and Satire in ‘The Tiger King’

• Irony that reveals the follies of autocratic and wilful rulers who flout all laws and bend them
to suit their selfish interests.

• The dramatic irony --Tiger King alone is unaware that his bullet had not killed the hundredth
tiger. The other characters and the readers anticipate his doom as he celebrates his triumph
over his destiny.

• The King wanted to prove the astrologer wrong and to save his life. Ironically, to avert death
he actually invites it.

• The lofty titles used to introduce the Tiger King, suggesting an invincible ferocity are indeed
ironic for he is finally killed by a cheap, crudely made wooden toy tiger which became the
tool of Nature’s revenge.

• Irony is indeed sharp when the surgeons announce the operation successful and declare
the king dead.

Instances of Satire

• When the Maharaja of Pratibandhpuram was told that he would be killed by a tiger, he
could never imagine the twist in fate where a toy tiger could be fatal.

• The grandeur associated with a king’s life proves a mockery.

• The story also satirizes the corrupting influence of power. Just because the Tiger King had
power, he felt he could browbeat his subjects and even defeat fate.

Std. XII / Subject _English / Prose-2 _ Notes Page 1 of 4

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• He neglected his responsibility as a ruler. He neglected the welfare of his subjects, his
family, increased and reduced taxes at will and sacked his officers. They feared him or else
he would have learnt the truth.

• When we see the king gloating over his bravery after killing the hundredth, old and weak
tiger, we notice that Kalki is satirizing the notions of cowardice and bravery.

• Kalki is also criticizing the King’s men and subjects who pander to his whims out of fear or
like the shopkeeper manipulate and fool him.

Humour in the Tiger King

• The instance of the Stuka bomber.

• The king’s offer of mouse hunt etc.

• The incoherent blabbering by the Dewan and the Chief Astrologer.

• The Dewan procuring an old tiger from people’s park and its stubborn refusal to get off the
car and the description of its waiting in humble supplication to be shot.

• The shopkeeper quoting three hundred rupees for a cheap two annas and a quarter toy
tiger.

Answer the following questions in short:

Q.1.What gave the astrologers the greatest surprise of their life while they were studying the
horoscope of the ten-day old prince?

Answer. When the astrologers were reading the horoscope of the little prince, they were
taken by surprise when the ten-day old infant asked about the manner of his death. When
the chief astrologer told him that a tiger would be the cause of his death, the baby retorted
with arrogance, “Let the tigers beware!”

Q.2. What warning did the astrologer give the Tiger King when he killed the first tiger? Did
the prediction of the astrologer come to be true?

Answer. When the Maharaja boasted about killing the first tiger, the astrologer said that he
may kill ’ninety-nine tigers, but must be “very careful with the hundredth tiger.” Yes, the
astrologer was absolutely true in this prediction, because finally the Maharaja was killed by
the hundredth tiger.

Std. XII / Subject _English / Prose-2 _ Notes Page 2 of 4

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Q.3. How did the Maharaja please a high- ranking officer?

Answer. A high- ranking British officer visited the state of Pratibandapuram and sought
permission for tiger hunting from the Maharaja. The Maharaja declined his request, but as he
did not want to upset the officer, he sent fifty diamond rings to the officer’s wife which cost
the king three , lakh rupees.

Q.4.Why did the Maharaja ban tiger hunting in the state?

Answer. As the prince was crowned the king, the astrologer’s prediction regarding his (the
king’s) death by a tiger reached his ears. This prompted the Maharaja to kill a tiger but the
astrologer informed him that he had to successfully kill hundred tigers to escape the
prophecy. Thus, in order to reach that mark, the Maharaja banned tiger hunting in the state
except for himself.

Q.5. Why did the Maharaja decide to get married?

or

What is the reason lor the Tiger King’s sudden decision to marry?

Answer. In order to defeat 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 neared
extinction. 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 tigers.

Q.6. Why did the Maharaja double the land tax?

Answer. The Maharaja had successfully killed ninety-nine tigers but struggled hard to find the
hundredth tiger. Once, there came a news of a tiger being spotted at a hillside village but it
turned out to be untrue. This infuriated the Maharaja, who ordered the dewan to double the
land tax in order to punish the villagers for the false news.

Q.7. How did the Tiger King become the victim of the hundredth tiger?

or

How did the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironical about his fate?

Answer. The Tiger King met his end through the wooden tiger, which he had bought as a gift
for his son on his third birthday. While he was playing with his son, a splinter of the poorly
made toy tiger pricked the king’s hand. The infection turned into a sore, which spread all over
his arm. In spite of the best surgeons, the king’s life could not be saved. The irony is in the
fact that in spite of killing nearly all the tigers in the area, he had to face his death by a toy
tiger.

Std. XII / Subject _English / Prose-2 _ Notes Page 3 of 4

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Q.8. Why was the Maharaja so anxious to kill the hundredth tiger?

Answer. When the Maharaja was barely ten days old, the chief astrologer had predicted that
a tiger would be the cause of his death. When the Maharaja was twenty, he killed one tiger.
When he asked his astrologer, the astrologer said that he would kill ninety-nine tigers, but he
should be fearful of the hundredth tiger. That was the reason why the Maharaja was so
anxious to kill the hundredth tiger.

Long Answer Type Questions (120-150 words)

Q.9.How did the Tiger King stand in danger of losing his kingdom? How was he able to avoid
the danger?

Ans. Once a high- ranking British officer visited Pratibandapuram. As he was fond of hunting
tigers, he expressed his wish of tiger hunting to the king but the king refused permission.
Then the British officer (^quested that he only wanted to be photographed holding gun and
standing over the dead body of the tiger; the Maharaja could kill the tiger. However, the
Maharaja denied him this permission also, fearing that it would lead to further similar
requests from other officers. As the Maharaja did not want to upset the British officer and risk
losing his kingdom, he sent a fifty diamond rings to the wife of the officer. The lady kept all
the rings and sent him a note of thanks. In this way, the king managed to save his kingdom.

Q.10. The astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger King came to be true. Do you
agree with this statement?

Ans. I agree with the statement that the astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger
King came to be true. The astrologer had predicted that Tiger King would be killed by a tiger
and he should be wary of the hundredth tiger. This statement of the astrologer forced the
king to go on a killing spree. The hundredth tiger was not killed by the king himself but by the
hunters, who found out that the old tiger had not died by the bullet of the king but only fainted
by the bullet whizzing past him. The hundredth tiger was a wooden toy tiger which the king
had presented to his three-year old son. It killed the king merely by a sliver of wood
protruding form it that pierced his right hand. The wound developed pus and it soon spread
all over the arm. The best surgeons failed to save the king and thus, the astrologer’s
prediction about the death of the Tiger King proved to be correct .

Std. XII / Subject _English / Prose-2 _ Notes Page 4 of 4

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