The hundredth tiger

In ten years, the Maharaja killed seventy tigers. Then the tigers in Pratibandapuram ran out: he could not find a single one.

So, on his dewan's advice, he married a princess from a neighbouring state that had a large tiger population. Every time he visited his father-in-law, he killed five or six tigers. In this way he reached ninety-nine.

Now he needed only one more, and he could not find it. He grew so angry that his officers trembled; he even threatened to sack his dewan. The worried dewan secretly brought an old tiger from the People's Park in Madras, and set it loose in the forest near the Maharaja's camp.

The Maharaja saw it, took careful aim and fired. The tiger fell. Sure that he had killed his hundredth tiger, he left the spot in great triumph, and ordered the carcass to be taken in procession through the town.

But his bullet had missed: the old tiger had only fainted from fear. The hunters, afraid of losing their jobs, quickly shot it dead themselves and said nothing to the king.

For his son's third birthday, the Maharaja wanted a special gift, and chose a wooden toy tiger from a shop. It was a poor, roughly carved toy, but the frightened shopkeeper said it cost three hundred rupees. While the king was playing with it, a sliver of wood pricked his right hand. The wound became infected, the infection spread over his whole arm, and he was operated on by three surgeons. The operation was declared successful, but the Maharaja died. So the hundredth tiger took its revenge after all.