The Tiger King
Q1. Who was called the ' Tiger King '?
Ans. Maharaja Jung Jung, Bahadur of Pratibandhapuram was called the Tiger
King.
Q2. Why was he called the 'Tiger King '?
Ans. On the birth of the royal infant,the Chief astrologer had made a prediction
that the cause of his death would be the hundredth tiger. To avoid this, the King
after attaining adulthood ,spent many years of his life killing tigers. That’s why
he was given this title.
Q3. What did the royal infant grow up to be?
Ans. He grew taller and stronger day by day. When he came of age at twenty,
the kingdom came into his hands. He was a brave and a powerful man and often
in a barehanded fight with a tiger, he won by overpowering it.
Q4. What was the first prediction made by astrologers?
Ans. They made a prophecy that death would come to him from a tiger. They
explained that the prince was born under the sign of the bull and the tiger was
its enemy. Hence he should beware of tigers.
Q5. What was the great miracle that took place after the tenth day of the birth of
crown prince?
Ans. On the 10th day when the king was talking to the astrologer, the royal
infant suddenly addressed the astrologers in his squeaky voice. He asked them
to tell him the manner of his death. For a ten-day old baby to speak to question
and to reason was a miracle. The author has used this incident to mock the
astrologers for making obvious and general predictions and manipulating
people.
Q6. What was the reaction of the infant to the prediction of the astrologers?
Ans. When the infant was told that his death would come from a tiger, he gave a
deep growl and declared loudly “let tigers beware.”
Q7. When the king killed the first tiger, what did the Chief astrologer say to
him?
Ans. He said that the king may kill ninety-nine tigers but he must be careful
with the hundredth one.
Q8 What proclamation was issued by the king and why?
Ans. The king banned the tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja and
issued a proclamation that if anyone even threw a stone on a tiger, his wealth
and property would be confiscated . It was issued to protect tigers so that the
Maharaja had enough tigers to kill .
Q9 . What did the British officer want?
The British officer wanted to kill/ hunt tigers in Pratibandhapuram and then be
photographed with the dead tigers .
Q10. How did the tiger king make up for the shortfall of tigers in the kingdom?
ANS 10. He married a girl from a state which had many tigers. Each time he
went to meet his father-in-law, he killed five or six tiger.
Q.11 How did the king solve the problem of the British officer?
Ans. The king knew that he had offended the British officer by not allowing him
to kill tigers in his kingdom. He knew that he could lose his kingdom for having
done that.
Therefore, he purchased fifty diamond rings from a jeweler in Calcutta and sent
them to the British officer's wife, thinking that she would select some and send
the rest back. She happily kept all of them and thanked the Maharaja who was
still happy that he had saved this kingdom by spending three lakh rupees .
Q12. How did the king behave when he could not get the hundredth tiger??
Ans. He became an anxious and a worried man and sank into gloom.
Maharaja’s fury and obstinacy mounted alarmingly because of which many
officers lost their jobs.
.
Q13 How was the Maharaja provided with the hundredth tiger?
Ans13 The Dewan brought a tiger from the people's park in Madras. He kept it
hidden in his house. At midnight he and his wife drove the tiger into the forest.
There, after some struggle he managed to release the tiger into the forest. The
next day the tiger wandered into Maharaja's presence who immediately took an
aim at it.
Q14. Did the Maharaja actually kill the tiger?
Ans. The Maharaja shot at the tiger but the bullet only whizzed past him. The
tiger fainted from the shock. The king thought that the tiger had been killed.
Later, one of the hunters killed it by shooting at it from a close range.
Q15 How did the king die?
Ans15 The king had bought a wooden tiger for his son on his birthday. It was a
poorly crafted piece. While playing with his son, a sliver from the tiger pierced
the Maharaja's right hand. The next day infection flared in his right hand and
developed into a suppurating sore. It was operated but the king died.
16. How did the astrologer’s prediction come true?
Ans. The astrologer’s prediction was that the death would come to him through
the hundredth tiger. He had killed ninety-nine tigers but the hundredth tiger was
killed by the hunter and not by him. So, the wooden tiger actually happened to
be the hundredth tiger that caused his death.
ANSWER IN DETAIL:
17. 'The story is a satire on the concept of conceit and arrogance of those in
power.' Explain.
Ans. The story is a mild political satire and the author mocks those in power by
using the story of the whimsical king. The Maharaja of Pratibandhapuram is
aware of the prediction made by the astrologer that death would come to him by
a tiger.
He takes it as his right to kill tigers thereafter. He is an arrogant and uncaring
king. He spends the next ten years hunting tigers and doing little else. He has
unlimited powers which he uses to fulfill his personal aspirations. When the
tigers are not available, he is anxious and angry. He imposes his decisions on
people without caring for their welfare. The death of the hundredth tiger fills the
vain king with a false sense of success and he mistakenly feels that he has
conquered the death. The author has used irony to end the story when the proud
, selfish and vain king is killed at the hands of a wooden tiger. So after killing
ninety nine live tigers ,he falls prey to a wooden tiger,wherein lies the irony.
Q18. The story of tiger king is a classic example of irony? Comment?
The irony in literature is said to have been used when in a story, an outcome is
quite contrary or in fact the opposite of the expected one . In ‘The Tiger King’,
the Chief astrologer when cornered, makes a prediction about the crown
prince that he would be killed by a tiger. When the same crown prince
becomes the king and kills his first tiger, he confronts the Chief astrologer and
challenges his prediction. The Chief astrologer in a face-saving attempt informs
the king that he may kill ninety-nine tigers but his encounter with the
hundredth one would be fatal. The irony in the story is that the prediction
about the hundredth tiger which initially amuses the reader, actually turns out
to be true even though the tiger that kills the king is a wooden one. Another
irony in the story is that the king who is able to kill ninety-nine live tigers finally
meets his end when the sliver of a wooden tiger toy pierces his finger and
causes a fatal infection. Thus, the story is a classic example of irony.
Q. Character sketch of the tiger king –
Ans.The Maharaja of Pratibardapuram had many titles but he was popularly
known as the ‘Tiger king’. He was called so because he killed ninety-nine tigers
in his life,though selfishly and ruthlessly , following an astrologer’s prediction
to save his life.
The king was fearless as he managed to kill these tigers , sometimes
barehandedly,but his acts also show that he was foolish to believe in
astrologer’s illogical and irrational prediction.
He wasn’t a good ruler and was least bothered about the welfare of the people
living in his kingdom. He takes arbitrary decisions based on his moods, e.g he
imposes taxes to express his anger and frustration. He uses his people without
caring for them, e.g he forces the toy seller to gift the toy to his son
The king was an intelligent and manipulative man as he bribed the British
officer to save his kingdom. He was an unprincipled man; even his marriage
was a deal for him as he married a princess whose kingdom comprised of a
sizeable number of tigers. He did so to achieve his aim of killing a hundred
tigers and killed a few tigers whenever he went to meet his father in law .
