Q.In what way did the infant Tiger King surprise the astrologer? (The Tiger King)
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →The infant Tiger King surprised the astrologer by immediately challenging his prophecy of death by a tiger, proving his extraordinary nature from the very moment of birth.
The story of the Tiger King, as told by Kalki in the NCERT Class 12 English supplementary reader, opens with a scene that is both fantastical and deeply ironic. When the royal child is born, the palace astrologers are summoned to cast his horoscope. This was a standard practice in princely India, where the stars were believed to hold the blueprint of a person's destiny. The chief astrologer, after careful calculation, delivers a startling prophecy: the prince will one day be killed by a tiger.
Now, here is where the infant’s surprise occurs. Instead of the usual wailing or cooing of a newborn, the ten-day-old prince, upon hearing this prediction, speaks. He does not babble or cry — he asks a direct, articulate question. He looks at the astrologer and says, “O wise one, will I really be killed by a tiger?” And then, without waiting for an answer, he follows up with a second question: “Are all tigers to be killed or just one?”
The fact that a ten-day-old infant can speak in full, coherent sentences is the first and most obvious surprise. In the world of the story, this is not treated as a medical miracle but as a sign of the prince’s extraordinary destiny — he is marked for greatness and for a peculiar fate.
The deeper surprise, however, lies in the nature of his questions. The astrologer had delivered a prophecy of doom — a death sentence, in effect. A normal person, even an adult, might have been frightened or resigned. But the infant prince does not accept the prophecy passively. He immediately challenges it, seeking clarification and, more importantly, looking for a loophole. His question — “Are all tigers to be killed or just one?” — reveals a mind that is already strategizing, already thinking of how to defeat fate. He is not asking out of fear; he is asking out of a desire to take control.
This moment sets the entire plot in motion. The astrologer, taken aback, confirms that the prophecy refers to a single tiger — the one that will ultimately kill him. The infant then laughs and declares that he will take care of that tiger. This response is the real surprise: a newborn, who should be helpless, is already asserting his will against the stars. The astrologer, who had expected to deliver a solemn prediction to a passive infant, is instead confronted by a conscious, defiant little king. …
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