"The Tiger King" is a famous satirical short story written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. It humorously criticizes the arrogance of kings and the foolishness of blind pride. The story revolves around the Maharaja of Pratibandapuram and his strange obsession with killing tigers.
---
1. The Birth of the Tiger King
The story begins with the birth of the crown prince of Pratibandapuram. At the time of his birth, astrologers predicted that the prince would grow up to become a great and powerful king. However, they also predicted something shocking: the prince would die because of a tiger.
Everyone was surprised when the baby prince suddenly spoke. He asked the astrologers to explain the prediction properly. The astrologers told him that death was certain for everyone, but in his case it would come from a tiger.
The prince boldly replied that he would kill every tiger in the world before a tiger could kill him. From that day, he developed a strong hatred and determination toward tigers.
---
2. The Prince Becomes the Tiger King
Years later, the prince grew up and became the ruler of Pratibandapuram. He became known as "The Tiger King." His main goal in life was to kill 100 tigers.
He started hunting tigers across his kingdom. Whenever he heard about a tiger, he would go hunting immediately. Gradually he killed many tigers.
To protect his goal, he even banned all tiger hunting for others in his kingdom. Only he had the right to hunt tigers.
---
3. Trouble with the British Officer
One day, a British officer visited the kingdom and wanted to hunt a tiger. But the Tiger King refused because he feared the officer might kill a tiger that he wanted.
The British officer was angry and demanded at least to take a photograph with a tiger killed by the king. The Tiger King refused again.
To avoid trouble with the British government, the king sent expensive diamond rings to the officer's wife. She kept all the rings, which cost the king a lot of money, but the political problem was solved.
---
4. Marriage for Tigers
As time passed, the Tiger King killed 70 tigers in his kingdom. Soon there were no tigers left in Pratibandapuram.
But he still needed 30 more tigers to reach his goal of 100. To solve this problem, he married a princess from another kingdom that had many tigers.
After marriage, he regularly visited his father-in-law's kingdom and hunted tigers there. Slowly, he continued killing more tigers.
---
5. The Last Tiger Problem
Eventually, the Tiger King killed 99 tigers. Only one tiger remained to complete his goal.
However, it became extremely difficult to find another tiger. The king became angry and threatened his officials. He said that if a tiger was not found soon, many people could lose their jobs.
The Diwan (minister) became worried. To save everyone's jobs, he secretly arranged a weak, old tiger from a circus and released it in the forest.
---
6. The King Hunts the 100th Tiger
The Tiger King went hunting and shot the tiger. The tiger fell down, and everyone thought it was dead.
The king proudly believed that he had killed his 100th tiger. He returned to the palace happily.
However, the truth was different. The tiger had not died from the king's bullet. Later, the king's soldiers killed the tiger quietly so the king would not know the truth.
---
7. The Strange Death of the Tiger King
Some time later, the king's son celebrated his third birthday. The king bought him a wooden tiger toy.
While playing with the toy, a small wooden splinter from the toy pierced the king's hand. At first it seemed like a small injury, but the wound became infected.
Doctors tried to treat him with surgery, but the infection worsened. Finally, the Tiger King died because of that tiny wooden tiger.
---
8. The Moral / Theme of the Story
The story ends with irony. The king tried his whole life to kill tigers so that a tiger would not kill him. Yet in the end, a small wooden tiger caused his death.
The story teaches several ideas:
Pride and arrogance can lead to downfall.
No one can escape fate.
Power and authority can make people foolish and selfish.
The story also satirizes the behavior of kings and colonial politics.
---
Conclusion:
"The Tiger King" is a humorous yet meaningful story showing how human pride and obsession can lead to unexpected consequences. Despite killing 99 real tigers, the Tiger King could not escape his fate, proving that destiny works in strange ways.