GTA VIDHYA MANDIR, NEELANKARAI, CHENNAI 600 115.

Class: 12 Subject: English

Supp. Reader Tiger King

Short Answer Type

1. How did the Tiger King acquire his name?
Answer:
The king of Pratibandapuram got the name ‘Tiger King’ as it was prophesized that his death
would come from the hundredth tiger. Therefore, he decided to kill hundred tigers before
pursuing any other affairs. He killed so many tigers that he came to be known as the Tiger
King.
2. When he was only ten days old, a prediction was made about the future of the Tiger King.
What was ironic about it?
Answer:
When the Tiger King was born, the astrologers predicted that one day the royal infant had to
die. They further said that the death would come from the hundredth tiger. The Tiger King
did die because of the hundredth tiger. But ironically, the tiger was not the real tiger. It was a
toy tiger made of wood.

3. When was the Tiger King in danger of losing his kingdom?

Answer:
A British officer wanted to hunt a tiger in the Tiger King’s kingdom. But the king
denied him the permission. Then the officer sent the word that the actual killing could
be done by the king himself, he only wanted to stand on the carcass of the tiger and
be photographed. But the king even refused to do that. As a result, the king was in
danger of losing his kingdom.

4. How did the Tiger King manage to retain his kingdom?

Answer:
The king ordered fifty diamond rings from a famous jeweller. He sent all the rings to
the wife of the officer. He thought that the lady would keep one or two rings and send
back the remaining. But she kept all the fifty rings. The king had to bear the expense
of three lakh rupees for it, but he managed to save his kingdom.

5. Why did one of the hunters kill the hundredth tiger?

Answer:
When the hunters went near the tiger, they found that the tiger was not dead; the
bullet had missed it. They decided that the king must not come to know that he had
missed his target. They thought they would lose their jobs. Therefore, one of the
hunters took aim from one foot and shot the tiger.

6. What present did the king brought for his son on his third birthday? How much did
he pay for it?
Answer:
The king brought a wooden tiger on the third birthday of his son. The shopkeeper
quoted its price to be three hundred rupees. But the king did not pay him anything
and took the tiger with him saying that it would be the offering to the crown prince
from the shopkeeper.

7. How did the Tiger King meet his death?

Answer:
The king brought a wooden tiger as a birthday gift for his son. It was made by some
unskilled carpenter. One of the slivers of its body pierced the king’s hand. Soon the
infection developed. Three surgeons operated the king’s hand. But the king could not
be saved.

8. What did the Maharaja do to find the required number of tigers to kill?
Answer:
The Maharaja had killed all the tigers in his kingdom. But the number of killed tigers
was only seventy. He still needed thirty more tigers to kill to fulfil his vow. Therefore,
he married the princess from the kingdom which had a large number of tiger
population.

Long Answer Type

9. The astrologers predicted about the king, “The child will grow up to become the
warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, champion of champions.” Do you think this
prediction was right?
Ares.
The astrologers predicted about the king that he would grow into warrior of warriors,
hero of heroes and champion of champions. However, this prediction was nothing
but flattery. The second part of the prediction was that the death of the king would
come from a tiger. The king does nothing in his life but killed tigers.

There is no bravery in killing innocent animals with the help of a gun. In fact, the king
was not a warrior but a coward. To safeguard his life, he didn’t care about the
ecology, about his people and the interests of his kingdom. Ironically, his death was
also like his life. He didn’t die while fighting in the battlefield. But a wooden tiger
became the cause of his death.

10. What values of life does the story “Tiger King” give us?
Answer:
This story tells us that there is a dire need to conserve the wild life on this Earth. The
protagonist of this story is a comical king whom the story writer calls the Tiger King.
On the basis of a mere prediction, he started killing tigers recklessly in his kingdom.
As a result the tigers in his state became extinct. Then he started killing tigers in the
kingdom of his father-in-law and there also the tigers became extinct.

The story writer wants to tell us that there is need to maintain the ecological balance
of this earth. In the absence of this balance the life can’t be sustained. The author
also exposes the folly, cruelty and heartlessness of humans about their attitude
towards the wild animals.
11.The story is a satire on the conceit of those in power. How does the author
employ the literary device of dramatic irony in the story?
Answer:
This story on the surface level appears to be a very simple story of a cranky king,
who just based on a prophesy starts killing tigers ruthlessly. This story is a bit
comical and also has an element of suspense in it. But on the deeper level, this story
is in fact a satire on the conceit of those in power. As a king, Jilani Jung Jung
Bahadur has a lot of responsibilities. But he focuses his whole attention on the killing
of tigers.

For his personal purposes, he proclaims that anybody in his kingdom is not allowed
even to throw a stone at a tiger. All his activities are centred on the tiger hunting. The
astrologer has told him that his death would come from the hundredth tiger. The king
died but ironically the cause of his death is not a real tiger but only a wooden king.
Thus, in this story, the writer satirised those in power by using the device of irony.