King Jonathan And His Tiger

Once there lived a king in the kingdom of Johannatown, presently situated in South Africa. The king was very rich as he owned all of the gold and diamond mines in the southern part of Africa. King Jonathan was very wise and was a just ruler. It was like heaven in his kingdom as everyone was happy and they enjoyed every moment of their lives to the fullest.

But the king always had a fear about his life because when he was born, an astrologer by looking at his horoscope had predicted that disaster would strike his life in 1910. He, even with this fear, was spending his life happily with his companions.

King Jonathan, by nature, was an animal lover and had a habit of collecting new species of animals from different kingdoms. With these animals, he created a mini zoo of his own in the grand palace. He owned the world’s finest Arabian horses, African elephants, a one-horned rhino from Assam, an Orangutan from Sumatra and a Royal Bengal Tiger from the Sundarbans. He had acquired all these animals while trading with other groups like the Dutch, French, and Portuguese. The Royal Bengal Tiger was one of his prized collections.

King Jonathan was one of the richest kings of the world. He had a treasury full of many precious ornaments, from where he gifted many diamond or gold ornaments to people in return for spices and also which he received in exchange of slaves or gold. Once he received a diamond ring from the Aboriginal king of Northern Territory, Australia. It was a ring that was smuggled into Northern Territory by the aboriginal king from the Kimberley diamond mines. The Aboriginal king gave the ring to King Jonathan while going on a sea expedition for safekeeping. 

The years went on and the diamond production increased and the king grew rich. But the king forgot everything about the diamond ring and as usual, the king kept on taking care of his kingdom. But he had a constant fear of the year 1910, as it was already 1908 at that time.

Now two years passed away and it was January when suddenly the Royal Bengal Tiger disappeared from the king’s zoo. The king was in shock. To make matters worse, suddenly the Aboriginals came back and their king wanted his diamond ring back. The king then suddenly realized that he had forgotten about the ring. He remembered that when the Dutch invaded Johannatown, the king had his ring sewn into his tiger’s body. The king sent his whole army in search of his tiger but everything was in vain. The king knew the incoming danger so he gave away 100 grams of raw uncut diamond to the Aboriginal king.

The king was very sad as he lost his prized tiger. Then in May 1910, the king was in grave danger as the British took over South Africa and Johannatown was the only kingdom that was not annexed by the British. Everything was going out of his hands and one day, the king’s fear came true. The British attacked Johannatown and the king was killed while fighting the battle against the British. The British did not take over Johannatown as it was in ruins but took over all the diamond mines. The king’s horoscope proved to be correct.

P.S. Many of the king’s servant’s descendants still believe that the Royal Bengal Tiger still roams in the ruins of Johannatown.