Pages

1

The Tiger King

The Tiger King

Q1. Who was called “The tiger king”?
Ans. Maharaja Jung Jung, Bahadur of Pratibandapuram was called the tiger king.
Q2. Why was he called the tiger king?
Ans. The chief astrologer had made a prediction that the cause of maharaja’s death would be the hundredth tiger. To avoid this, maharaja 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 20, 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 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.
Q5. What was the great miracle that took place after the 10th 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 10 day old baby to speak to question and to reason was a miracle.
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 1st tiger, what did the chief astrologer say to him?
Ans. He said that the king may kill 99 tigers but he must be careful with the hundredth.
Q8 What proclamation was issued by the king and why?
Ans. The king banned the tiger hunting by anyone except the maharaja and the proclamation was that if anyone even threw a stone on a tiger, his wealth and property would be confiscated. Order was issued to protect tigers so that the maharaja had enough tigers to kill.
Q9 . What did British officer want?
Ans. The British officer wanted to kill/ hunt tigers in Pratibandapuram 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. 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 tigers.
Q.11 How did the king solve the problem of the British officer?
Ans. The king purchased fifty diamond rings from a jeweler in Calcutta and sent them to the British officer's wife. She happily kept all of them and thanked the maharaja who eventually saves his 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 left their jobs.
Q13 How was maharaja provided with the hundredth tiger?
Ans. The dewan had brought a tiger from people's park in Madras. He had kept it hidden in his house. At midnight and his wife drove the tiger into the forest. There, after struggle he managed to release the tiger into the forest the next day the tiger wandered into maharaja's presence.
Q14. Did the maharaja actually kill the tiger? Why or why not?
Ans. The maharaja shot at the tiger but bullet only whizzed passed 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?
Ans. The king bought the wooden tiger for his son on his birthday, 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 prediction come true?
Ans. The 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 happened to be the hundredth tiger that caused his death.
ANSWER IN DETAIL:
17. 'The story is a satire on the concept 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 whimsical king. The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram 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 proud and not at all caring king. He spends the next ten years hunting tigers and doing little else. He has unlimited power which he uses to fulfill his personal aspirations. When the tigers are not available, he is anxious and angry. He imposes his power on the people without caring for their welfare. The death of the hundredth tiger tells the vain of 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 wooden king.
Q18. The story of tiger king is a classic example of irony? Comment?
Ans. The irony in literature is said to have been used when in a story an outcome is quite contrary or infact the opposite of the expected one happens .In the ‘Tiger King’, the chief astrologer when cornered, makes a prediction about the crown prince that would be killed by a tiger. When the same crown prince becomes a king and kills the 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 99 tigers but his encounter with the 100th one would be fatal. The irony in the story is that the prediction about 100th tiger which initially amuses the reader actually turns out to be true even if the tiger that kills the king is a wooden one. Another irony in the story is that the king who is able to kill 99 live tigers and 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 tiger king –

Ans. The maharaja of Pratibandapuram had many titles and sub names but he was popularly known as ‘the tiger king’ .he was called so because he was selfish enough to kill 99 tigers ruthlessly just for the sake of fulfilling the astrologer’s prediction .The king was fearless as he managed to kill 99 tigers wherein on the other hand he was foolish to believe in astrologers prediction. He wasn’t a good ruler and was least bothered about the people living in his kingdom .He even asked 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 not at all a man of principles even his marriage was a deal for him, so that he could kill 100 tigers he married a princess whose kingdom comprised of sizeable number of tigers and killed few tigers whenever he went to meet his father in law.

Unknown

    1 comment: