THE TIGER KING

Summary

• A prince was born to the king and queen of Pratibandapuram, probably a place in Tamilnadu, erstwhile British India, before 1900 AD. His astrological sign was Taurus, the bull, the enemy of tiger.
• When the prince was only 10 days old, astrologers predicted that a tiger will one day kill the prince at the height of his glory. Because the prince' life was associated with a tiger, he was given the name Tiger King!
• Years rolled by. The little tiger-prince grew up and became the king, succeeding his father. The new astrologer reminded him of the prediction made by his predecessor, the old astrologer. The king laughed at him and decided to kill a tiger.
• Having hunted a tiger down, the king brought the dead tiger to the palace and sent for the astrologer. "Now, see who died and who killed." The astrologer said with a smile that the king could likewise kill 99 tigers but he would never kill the hundredth tiger. The hundredth tiger is the King's murderer. Whether he refrains from killing another tiger to keep the bar down or not, fate is determined.
• To overcome his fate, the Tiger King began a series of tiger hunt in his forest. Several tigers were butchered by the king, with his gun or, when the gun misfired, by his mighty hands. Everytime it was the tiger that died.
• Pratibandapuram, you may recall, is the name of the country that the king ruled. Pratiband means obstacle. During his tiger hunt the king faced several obstacles, among which the arrival of a British officer is noteworthy. This high ranking officer was greatly fond of hunting tigers and then getting photographed with the dead tiger for popularity. On reaching Pratibandapuram forest the officer was informed by the King's men - no hunting here; tiger hunting is reserved for the king.
• The officer was either a coward or was non violent in nature, he didn't punish the king. He sent his secretary with this compromise - let the king hunt and the officer is happy with his photograph taken. Everyone hoped the king would comply, but he didn't.
• Having turned down the officer entirely, the king stood in big trouble but he knew how to get out of troubles. He sent message to a Calcutta diamond dealer to send 50 diamond rings to the officer's wife. The king expected the good lady take one or two of the rings and return the rest but the lady sent the king a note of thanks, accepting all the 50 rings. Guess the price!
• Thus he neutralized such a hazardous pratiband. Having killed a large number more of tigers, touching a tally of 70, the king found him in another crisis - extinction of tiger population in his forest. You may think that he would now attack his neighboring nation and hunt in that fresh forest. No, he had brains. He simply married a girl whose father's forest had the required number of tigers.
• The story comes to the biggest of the crises - the king has killed 99 tigers and what he needs is just one more. You can imagine the depth of his anxiety and madness. Having determined to have killed the hundredth tiger before returning to his palace, the king and his men remained in the forest waiting for the last of the tigers.
• After a while, everyone in the palace began to feel the King's wrath. Many officers lost their jobs and the others cursed the king for their impending disaster. They just hated the king, wished if the hundredth tiger had killed the king. Not surprisingly, it was what the Diwan, prime minister of the king, himself wished. When he saw that his own office was at stake, the old Diwan planned a funny ending to the story. He brought an aged, infirm tiger from the People's Park, Madras and secretly heaved it out of his car in the jungle where the king was hunting. 
• The king shot the tiger and triumphantly went home. He thought that he had annihilated his enemy and rejoiced as one who got his life back. A few days later, while playing with his three-year old son, the king's finger got pierced by the sharp, needle-like sliver of the wooden tiger toy they were playing with. Though the king ignored the sliver, soon he fell ill. The king's health quickly fell, puss filled his body and three surgeons were called from Madras. After an extended surgeory, the three surgeons emerged from the operation theatre and announced that the operation was successful but the king died. 
• People wondered and lost faith in astrology. How can the king die after killing the hundredth tiger? Only a few knew how the it happened. In fact the tiger was not killed by the king's gun. The king's bullet had missed the target and the tiger fell to sound of the the gunshot. See what had happened, the king's men shot the tiger and decided against informing the king of the nature of the tiger's death. The king never killed the hundredth tiger. He was killed by a wooden toy tiger.