The Tiger that Went Rogue

The tiger had been visiting villages near the forest quite often. He was surprised to know that it was easier to get food in the place inhabited by humans than the forest which had variety of animals to feed on but many hiding places. Once he got used to it, he started visiting habitations nearer to the forest during the night to satiate his hunger.

The villagers noticed the killing of cattle but could not find predator immediately. However, once a villager noticed a tiger feeding when he was returning to the village late night. He quietly altered his path to avoid tiger. In the morning he told the villagers that there was rogue tiger killing their cattle.

That day itself, villagers went to the king and sought protection from the tiger. The king assured action but forgot to take any action as he got busy with royal matters requiring his immediate attention.

One day the tiger killed king’s horse during the night when king was camping in the village for some work. In the morning when the king saw skeleton of his horse, he was shocked. He remembered that the villagers had complained about a rogue tiger some time ago. He knew that he had to take some immediate action.

He returned to his capital and organised a team for tiger hunt. The team lay in wait for the tiger to come to village. They kept on waiting for the tiger, but tiger did not come to that village for two days. Instead, they got a news that tiger had killed a cow in another village.

Finally, the team decided to organise a hunt in the forest. After a lot of effort, they located the tiger. It was already twilight and tiger was stealthily walking towards habitation. The team followed it from a distance and as it was standing in the village square, they attacked it with swords. The king was given the honour of plunging the sword in tiger’s belly when it was already half dead from sword attacks.

The last thought in tiger’s mind was, “why did I come to village when there was enough food in the forest?”

The tiger’s skin now adorns king’s collection of hunting trophies.