AMITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, NOIDA

HANDOUT (Session: 2023-24)

SUBJECT: ENGLISH
CLASS : XII
TOPIC : TIGER KING

GIST OF THE CHAPTER:

The Maharaja of Pratibandh Puram
⚫ Maharaja's Name shortened to the 'Tiger King'
⚫ Author's Intention to inform the readers 'The Tiger King is mortal'
⚫ Astrologer announces- that the prince to be great warrior and hero of heroes, but
will one day have to meet his death.

Young prince gets knowledge of his Infancy oath

⚫ Brought up like all princes of India
⚫ Given milk of English cow- taught by an English tutor- watched English films
⚫ Crowned at the age of twenty.
⚫ Word reaches Maharaja's ears about the astrologer's prediction
⚫ Kills first tiger
⚫ Tells the astrologer about the killing
⚫ Astrologer advised to avoid killing 100th tiger
⚫ If success in killing 100th tiger astrologer would change his profession- giving
hint it would result in the King's death.

King's Tiger killing mission

⚫ Tiger killing banned in state
⚫ Defaulter's wealth and property will be confiscated.
⚫ Meets many dangerous situations.
⚫ Sometimes success fully fights tigers bare handed.
⚫ Refuses even British officer to kill tiger or to have photograph with dead tiger.
⚫ In fear of losing his kingdom Maharaja decides to bribe the officer by sending
expensive diamond rings expecting his wife would choose one or two.
⚫ The Greedy officer's wife keeps all rings and sends thanks to the Maharaja. King
saved his kingdom at the cost of Rs. 3 lakhs.
⚫ In 10 years he killed 70 tiger -- decided to marry a girl from royal state which had
more tigers to complete his target.
⚫ killed 99 tigers -anxious to kill the 100th but couldn’t find.
⚫ News about the presence of a tiger near a village
⚫ Now the Dewan was warned –arranged an old tiger and placed it in the forest and
informed the Maharaja.
⚫ The Maharaja shot the tiger and left the place with great triumph.
⚫ The bullet did not hit the tiger- out of fear the tiger had collapsed
The Prediction Comes True
⚫ 3rd birthday of the Maharaja’s son- bought a wooden tiger which was poorly
carved.
⚫ tiny sliver of the wooden tiger pierced his right hand -the hundredth tiger takes
his final revenge
⚫ The prophecy comes true
⚫ The wound develops spreads all over the arm
⚫ Three surgeons from Madras operated but fail to save king's life
⚫ Thus the hundredth tiger takes the final revenge -Upon the tiger king.

LAQ’s
Question 1 : 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?
Answer : 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 requested that he only wanted to he
photographed holding a gun and standing over the dead body of the tiger killed by the
Maharaja. However, the Maharaja denied him this permission also, fearing that it
would lead to similar requests from other officers later on.

As the Maharaja did not want to upset the British officer and risk losing his kingdom,
he sent fifty diamond rings to the wife of the officer so that she could choose the one
she liked. However, the lady kept all the rings and sent him a not of thanks. In this
way, the king managed to save his kingdom at the cost of three lakh rupees.

Question 2 : Why did Tiger King wish to hunt hundred tigers? How far was he
able to fulfil his wish?
Answer : At the Tiger King’s birth the astrologer had predicted that the death of the
new born future king would come through a tiger and he must specially be cautious of
the hundredth tiger. Amazingly the new-born prince growled “Let tigers beware!”. He
meant that he would not be afraid of tigers, instead tigers would be afraid of him and
he would wipe them out to disprove the astrologers prediction. So, when he came of
age he wreaked havoc on the tiger population in an attempt to hunt a hundred tigers as
soon as it was possible. The Tiger King was able to kill ninety-nine tigers successfully
and he was under the impression that he had also killed the hundredth tiger. But the
hundredth tiger had survived his bullet shot. Ironically the death of the Tiger King
was brought about by a toy, a wooden tiger, which he had bought as a special birthday
gift for his son.

Question 3 : How did the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironical about his
fate?
Answer : The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, who was also known as the Tiger King
tried to go against what was destined in his fate. The result was tragic and ironical.
The chief astrologer had predicted that a tiger would be the cause of the king’s death
and he should specially be cautious of the hundredth tiger. The vain king banned
hunting of the tigers in the state by everyone except himself and was able to kill
ninety-nine tigers. He thought he had killed the hundredth tiger also but somehow the
bullet missed its mark and the hundredth tiger survived. Then on his son’s birthday
the king bought him a wooden tiger which he felt was a perfect gift for his son. A
silver splinter in it pierced the king’s hand and the infection spread all over his arm
causing his death. It was indeed ironical that despite killing all the tigers in his
kingdom, the king did finally become the victim of the hundredth tiger and the
astrologer’s prediction did come true.

Question 4 : Describe the efforts made by the Tiger King to achieve his target of
killing a hundred tigers.
Answer : The chief astrologer had told the king that his death would come from a tiger.
So to prove the astrologer wrong the king decided to kill a hundred tigers. He vowed
that he would attend to all other matters only after killing one hundred tigers. Initially,
the king seemed well set to realise him ambition. Then some dangers and difficulties
cropped up. There were times when the bullet missed its mark and at other times the
tiger would leap on him and he would have to fight the wild beast with his bare hands.
The Tiger King was able to kill ninety-nine tigers this way and if he could kill just one
more tiger all his fears would be over for good and he could give up tiger hunting. But
the hundredth tiger could not be found. The Dewan realised the disastrous results if
the hundredth tiger was not found. So a tiger was brought in from the People’s Park in
Madras and taken directly to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting. The King
took aim and the tiger fell in a heap. The Maharaja was extremely happy to have
finally killed the hundredth tiger. Afer he left the hunters took a closer look at the tiger
and realised the tiger was not dead as the king had missed the aim. They decided not
to tell the Maharaja and one of the hunters killed the tiger. The king was left under the
impression that he had achieved his target of killing a hundred tigers.

Question 5 : The astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger King came
to be true. Do you agree with this statement?
Answer : 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 that he should be cautious 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 when the bullet whizzed 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 when merely a sliver of wood protruding from it
pierced his right hand. The wound developed pus and it soon spread all over his 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.
Value Based Question

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’?

Answer : The prediction of the astrologer prevailed because actually the Tiger King
has not ‘killed’ the hundredth tiger – the old tiger had only fainted due to the bullet
passing close to him. The tiger was subsequently killed by a hunter accompanying the
king, so that the king would not find out about his bullet missing the tiger. This made
the king believe that the prediction was negated. Thus he did not try to find another
tiger to kill. Subsequently, a sliver of wood from the wooden toy tiger, bought as a toy
for his son, pierced his finger, which became septic and caused his death despite the
king being operated upon. Thus the superstitious belief prevailed, as the wooden tiger
was the hundredth tiger which caused his death.

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Question 1 : Why did the Maharaja decide to get married?
Answer : The Maharaja decided to get married as he had killed all seventy tigers in
his kingdom. He wanted the freedom to shoot the remaining thirty tigers in a kingdom
or state with a large tiger population to negate the prophecy.

Question 2 : Which problem did the Maharaja face when he had killed seventy
tigers? How did he solve it?
Answer : When the Maharaja had killed seventy tigers, there were no more tigers left
to be killed in his kingdom. He solved this problem by marrying a girl from a state
which had sufficient tigers to be killed.

Question 3 : When did the Maharaja decide to double the land tax for a village?
Answer : The Maharaja decided to double the land tax for a village in anger when the
villagers were not able to locate the hundredth tiger which he could not kill and prove
the astrologer’s prophecy wrong.

Question 4 : Why was the Maharaja once in danger of losing his kingdom?
Answer : The Maharaja was once in danger of losing his kingdom when he did not
allow a British officer to shoot a tiger or even take a picture with the dead tiger. Thus,
his kingdom was in danger.

Question 5 : Why did the Maharaja have to pay a bill of three lakh rupees to the
British jewellers?
Answer : When the Maharaja refused a British officer to conduct a tiger hunt, he
risked losing his kingdom. So he sent fifty diamond rings to his wife costing three
lakh Rupees to his wife to select one. But she kept them all.
Question 6 : When he was only ten days old, a prediction was made about the
future of the Tiger King. What was ironic about it?
Answer : A prediction stating a tiger would be the cause of the Tiger King’s death was
made when he was ten days old. Although the Tiger King killed all the hundred tigers
to prove the prediction wrong, it was ironic that he was killed by a wound caused
while playing with a wooden tiger.

Question 7 : How did the ten-day-old baby (the future Tiger King) react to the
prediction about his future made by the astrologers?

Answer : When the astrologers predicted that one day the future Tiger King would die,
he remarked that it was nothing special about it as everyone who is born has to die
one day. When he was told that a tiger would be the cause of his death, he growled
and bewared all the tigers.

Question 8 : What did the British officer’s secretary tell the Maharaja? Why did
the Maharaja refuse the permission?

Answer : The British officer’s secretary told the Maharaja that he himself could kill
the tiger and then allow his officer to get photographed holding the gun over the dead
tiger. The Maharaja did not agree to his request because he felt doing so would mean
other officers may come with similar demands.

Question 9 : How did the Maharaja overcome the difficulty created by a

high-ranking British officer?
Answer : The Maharaja overcame the difficulty created by a high-ranking British
officer and pleased him by sending his wife 50 diamond rings to choose from.

Question 10 : Why did the Maharaja ban tiger hunting in the state?
Answer : The Maharaja wanted to prove the prediction of the astrologer wrong by
killing hundred tigers. He banned tiger hunting in his state so that all the tigers in his
state could be killed by him.

Question 11 : Why did the Maharaja decide to get married?

Answer : In order to defeat the astrologer’s prediction, the Maharaja had to kill a
hundred tigers. He has already killed seventy tigers and the tiger population in his
state neared extinction. For this reason, he decided to marry a girl of a state with a
rich tiger population.

Question 12 : The manner of his (Tiger King’s) death is a matter of

extraordinary interest. Comment.
Answer : The Tiger King met his end when a splinter from the wooden tiger pricked
his hand. This wound became infected. Inspite of being operated by the best surgeons,
the Tiger King lost his life.
The irony or interesting fact is that the Tiger King had killed hundred tigers but was
killed by a toy tiger.

Question 13 : Who killed the hundredth tiger? Why?

Answer : The hundredth tiger was killed by the hunters. The tiger had fainted from the
shock of a bullet whizzing past him. As the hunters did not want to offend the king by
telling him that he had missed the aim, they killed the tiger.
Question 14 : When was the Tiger King in danger of losing his throne?
Answer : Once a high-ranking British officer who was very fond of hunting tigers
visited Pratibandpuram. the Maharaja refused to give him permission to hunt tigers
because he himself wanted to kill them. So, the Maharaja stood in danger of losing his
kingdom.

Question 15 : 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 started speaking and asked about
the manner of his death.

Question 16 : Why did the Maharaja double the land tax?

Answer : 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, and hence he doubled the land
tax in order to punish the villagers for the false news.

Question 17 : What sort of hunts did the Maharaja offer to organise for the
high-ranking British officer? What trait of the officer does it reveal?
Answer : The Maharaja offered to organise a boar hunt, mouse hunt or even a
mosquito hunt for the high-ranking British officer. This shallowness of the character
of the officer is revealed by this incident.

Question 18 : Why was the Maharaja so anxious to kill the hundredth tiger?
Answer : The astrologer had predicted that the Maharaja should be careful of the
hundredth tiger he kills, as it may be the cause of his death. So, he was anxious to kill
the hundredth tiger.

Question 19 : How did the Tiger King acquire his name?

Answer : The Tiger King acquired his name as he had killed all the tigers in his state
to prove the prediction of the astrologer wrong. He even married the princess of a
state that had a lot of tigers in its jungles so that he could kill them.

Question 20 : 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 his prediction, because finally the Maharaja
was killed by the hundredth tiger.

Question 21 : How did the Dewan manage to arrange the hundredth tiger for the
Maharaja?
Answer : When the Maharaja threatened the Dewan with dire consequences, he and
his wife dragged and shoved the tiger that was kept in his house, in his car at midnight.
He drove the car to the forest where Maharaja was hunting and with great difficulty
took the tiger out of the car.

Question 22 : Why was the Maharaja sunk in gloom even after having killed
seventy tigers?
Answer : The Maharaja had managed to kill seventy tigers. As a result, the tiger
population became extinct in his kingdom. This made the Maharaja sunk in gloom
because he thought he would not be able to achieve his target of killing a hundred
tigers.

Question 23 : What led the Maharaja to start out on a tiger hunt?

Answer : The Maharaja knew the old saying that killing even a cow in self-defence
was no sin. So, in order to save his own life and prove the astrologer’s prediction
wrong, he started shooting the tigers he found in the forest of his state.

Question 24 : What happened to the tiger provided by the Dewan Saheb?

Answer : The tiger provided by the Dewan Saheb was very old and stood in complete
submission. The Maharaja took aim and fired, but actually the bullet missed the tiger
and it fainted from the sharp sound of the bullet.

Question 25 : Did the Tiger King shoot the hundredth tiger? Give reasons for
your answer.
Answer : The Tiger King actually did not shoot the hundredth tiger. The tiger being a
weak one fainted from the shock of a bullet whizzing past him and the ignorant king
celebrated his achievement.

Question 26 : Describe the efforts made by the Tiger King to achieve his target of
killing a hundred tigers.
Answer : The Tiger King stayed in the forest for many days to kill tigers. He spent a
ransom of three lakh rupees to impress the British official and discourage him from
killing the tigers. He even went to the extent of marrying to kill the population of
tigers in the neighbourhood state.

Question 27 : How did the Tiger King celebrated his victory over the killing of
the hundredth tiger?
Answer : When the Maharaja thought that he had killed the hundredth tiger, his joy
knew no bounds. The elated king returned to his capital and ordered his staff to bring
the dead tiger in a grand procession.

Question 28 : What was the Dewan’s tiger like? How did he take it into the
forest?
Answer : The Dewan’s tiger was old. At midnight, the Dewan with his wife dragged
the tiger to his car and thrust it onto the seat.With great difficulty , the tiger was
pushed out of the car and planted in the forest to be shot by the Maharaja.