Answer:
The story is a poignant satire on the self-importance that people in power assume. The Maharaja, because of the prophecy that he would meet his death from the hundredth tiger that he kills,' shouted a warning to all the tigers. He Justified the act of hunting tigers as 'self-defence’.
The state banned tiger hunting by anyone except the Maharaja. He declared that the property of the person who even hurt a tiger would be confiscated. The king was all set to realize his ambition. He vowed to attend to all other matters only after killing hundred tigers. fact, in the process, he almost lost his throne when he refused permission to a high-ranking British office. When there were no more tigers left in his state, he married a girl of a state with a large tiger population. With the passage of time, tigers had become extinct even in his father-in-law's kingdom. He became gloomy but later, on hearing the news of a tiger in a village, announced a three-year exemption from all taxes for that village and set out on the hunt at once. When the tiger was not found, many officers lost their Jobs. However, after shooting the tiger the Maharaja was relieved. Little did he realize that his death would be caused by a toy tiger which cost only 'two annas and a quarter'
Thus, the hundredth 'toy tiger' took its final revenge upon the Tiger King and in the process shattered the conceit of the Maharaja, There is dramatic irony in the fact that the king killed ninety-nine tigers in vain while his death was caused by a small wooden tiger. There is also a great deal of irony in how contrary to the ferociousness of tigers, the hundreth tiger was old and ambled into the Maharaja's presence and stood there humbly and finally Jointed from the shock of the bullet whizzing past. The humour satirizes the pompousness of the Maharaja for preying on a beast that had been acquired and provided by the dewan as a sitting duck.
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