Short & Long Question Answers - The Tiger King | English Class 12 PDF Download

Short Question and Answers

Q1. What was the miracle that took place in the royal palace?

Q2. How was the Tiger King brought up?

Ans. As a  child, the Tiger King was brought up by an  English nanny and tutored in  English by an Englishman. He was given the milk of an English cow. Like many other Indian crown princes, he watched only English movies.

Q3. What did the State astrologer say he would do ‘if the hundredth tiger were also killed?

Ans. The State astrologer was so sure of his prediction that he announced that he would cut off his ceremonial tuft, crop his hair short and become an insurance agent in case the king was able to kill the 100th tiger, too. He was sure that the Maharaja’s death would be caused by the 100th tiger.

Q4. What did the high-ranking British officer wish to do? Was his wish fulfilled?

Ans. The high-ranking British officer wanted to kill a tiger. When he was denied permission to hunt, he sent a word to the king that he would be happy if he were allowed to get photographed with the dead body of a tiger killed by the king. However, his wish remained unfulfilled.

Q5. How did the Maharaja manage to save his throne?

Ans. The Maharaja had annoyed the visiting senior British officer over the issue of tiger-hunting and ‘stood in danger of losing his kingdom itself. So, the Maharaja and the Dewan decided to placate and pacify the officer through bribes by sending gifts of expensive diamond rings to the ‘duraisani”, the wife of the British officer. Thus he managed to save his throne.

Q6. How did the ‘duraisani’ behave on receiving the gifts?

Ans. Some fifty samples of expensive diamond rings were sent to the duraisani and it was expected that she would select one or two and return the rest. But the lady proved to be greedy as she retained all of them and merely sent a letter of thanks.

Q7. Why did the Maharaja’s tiger killing mission come of a sudden still?

Ans. Within ten years, Maharaja’s tiger hunting resulted in the killing of seventy tigers. However, his tiger killing mission came to a sudden standstill because the tiger population became extinct in the forest of Pratibandapuram.

Q8. Why did the Maharaja suddenly decide to marry? Whom did he wish to marry?

Ans. The Maharaja suddenly decided to marry because firstly, he was of marriageable age, and secondly, he wanted to kill thirty more tigers in his father-in-law’s state in order to complete the tally of hundred tigers. For this reason, he wished to marry a girl in the royal family of a state with a large tiger population.

Ans. Q9. Why did Maharaja order the dewan to double the tax?

The Maharaja called the dewan and ordered him to immediately double the tax of the villagers who had informed him of a tiger in the forest because, despite his best efforts, he was unable to locate the beast. This infuriated the Maharaja.

Ans. Q10. What did the Maharaja buy as a birthday gift for his son?

The Maharaja wished to give his son a very special gift on his birthday, and he bought a wooden toy tiger as a perfect birthday gift for his son.

Long Answer Type Question

Q1. How did the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironic about his death?

Ans. The wooden toy tiger the king had got as a birthday present for his son had been carved by an unskilled carpenter. It had a rough surface with tiny slivers of wood standing up like quills all over it. One of those slivers pierced the Maharaja’s right hand, and although the king pulled it, his arm got infected. In four days, it developed into a suppurating sore and spread all over the arm. The king died while being operated upon.

The king’s death is ironic but not surprising for the reader who is, in fact, looking forward to it. Having ‘killed’ the 100th  tiger, the king is jubilant, for he has fulfilled his vow and disproved the prediction of the royal astrologer. He is now at ease, for he thinks he cannot die of a tiger’s attack. No wonder he orders the ‘dead’ tiger to be taken in a procession through the town and gets a tomb erected over it. All this while he does not know that the 100th victim was not killed by him but by other hunters.

That is indeed quite ironic. Death is lurking around him, and the king is unaware of it. Again, it is ironic that a king who has killed 100 tigers and is bold and fearless dies of a mere ‘sliver’ on the body of a wooden tiger. Thus, ironically death does come to him from a tiger.

Q2. How was the crown prince Jilani Jung Bahadur brought up? Why did he call the state astrologer? What did the astrologer say?

Ans. The crown prince Jilani Jung Bahadur drank the milk of an English cow, was brought up by an English nanny, tutored English by an Englishman, and saw nothing but English films. Day by day, the tiger king grew taller and stronger. Like this, the tiger king was brought up. When Jilani Jung Bahadur killed his first tiger, he was very thrilled. He called the state astrologer to show him the dead tiger. The state astrologer said, ” Your Majesty may kill ninety-nine tigers in the same manner. But, you must be very careful with the hundredth tiger.” The Maharaja decided to kill a hundred tigers first before doing anything else. Tiger hunting was banned by anyone except the Maharaja. The astrologer had predicted that the newly born prince would grow up to become the hero of the heroes, warrior of the warriors, and champion of the champions. He had also predicted that the baby was born in the hour of the bull. The bull and the tiger are enemies. Therefore, he would die because of the tiger.

Q3. What was the vow of the Maharaja? How did he fulfill it, and what dangers did he face?

Ans. As the chief astrologer had foretold that the king would die because of a tiger, he said that the king should be very careful with the hundredth tiger. When the king came to know about it, he decided to kill one hundred tigers to save his life and to prove the astrologer wrong. The king vowed that he would attend to all the matters only after killing the hundredth tigers. He tried to fulfill his vow just by killing one hundred tigers. But he killed ninety-nine tigers as the hundredth tiger was not killed by him. When the king took aim at the hundredth tiger, the bullet missed the target. But the king thought that the hundredth tiger had died. When the hunters took a closer look at the hundredth tiger, they found the tiger was not dead as the king missed the aim. Finally, one of the hunters took aim and shot the tiger. There were some dangers king had to face in tiger hunting. Sometimes the bullet missed the target, and the tiger would leap on him, and he would have to fight the tiger with his bare hands. But each time, it was the king who won.

Q4. The astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger King came to be true. Do you agree with this statement?

Ans. To some extent, we can 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 the death of the Tiger King would come from the hundredth tiger. The king started killing tigers recklessly. 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 from the bullet whizzing past him. The hundredth tiger was a wooden toy tiger that the king had presented to his three- year old son. It killed the king merely by a sliver of wood protruding from it that pierced his right hand. The wound developed puss, and it soon spread all over the 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.

Q5. 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?

Ans. This story, on the surface level, appears to be a very simple story of a cranky king who just on the basis of a prophecy, starts killing tigers ruthlessly. This story is a bit comical and also has an element of suspense in it. But on a 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 centered on 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 satirized those in power by using the device of irony.