A biting satire on autocratic kingship. The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram is told by astrologers that he will die by the hundredth tiger. He vows to kill 100 tigers, bans tiger-hunting in his kingdom for himself alone, and even marries into a tiger-rich princely state to hunt more. He kills 99 — but the 100th eludes him until an attendant secretly fells one to keep the king's vow. The king dies on his son's third birthday — by a wooden-tiger toy splinter.