Why did the Tiger King decide to kill a hundred tigers? Describe the efforts he made to attain his target.

When the Tiger King was born, an astrologer had proclaimed that since he was born in the hour of the ‘Bull’, a tiger would kill him. Thus, the king decided to kill all the tigers and prove the astrologer wrong. The astrologer also said that if the Maharaja killed 100 tigers, then he would burn all his books.

The Maharaja had banned tiger hunting in his kingdom. He did not even allow a British officer to hunt. This made the British officer very angry and the King stood in danger of losing his kingdom. To please the British officer, the king sent rings worth three lakh rupees to his wife thinking that she would choose one. The lady kept all the rings and sent a note of ‘thanks’ to the King. Although the King lost three lakh rupees, he managed to save his Kingdom.

During ten years, he killed seventy tigers in his kingdom. Then the tigers became extinct in the forests of Pratibandapuram. Then the Maharaja married a girl from a state which possessed a large tiger population. Each time he visited his father-in-law, he killed five or six tigers. In this way, he was successful in killing ninety-nine tigers. However, the last tiger caused the greatest problem.

There was news of a tiger being in a village, but the tiger did not appear. Finally, the clever diwan brought one from People’s Park in Madras. The king was informed and he went for the kill. He aimed at the tiger, but the tiger fell down unconscious after being hit. The tiger was finally killed by the village hunters and in this way, the hundredth tiger was actually not killed by the King.