The Tiger Smiled

Hello everyone, This blog is a part of my thinking activity. In this blog I will discuss about James Edward's short story "The Tiger Smiled"

 About Author:

James Edward "Jim" 'Corbett (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was a British-Indian hunter and tracker-turned-conservationist, author and naturalist, who hunted a large number of man-eating tigers and leopards in India.

Other famous works: Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1944)

Jungle Stories, Privately published in (1935)

The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag. (1947)

Analysis

Jim Corbett National Park, which is a part of the larger Corbett Tiger Reserve, a Project Tiger Reserve lies in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand.

He was Hunting man-eating tigers and leopards. Corbett tracked and shot a number of leopards and tigers, though only about a dozen were actually well documented man-eaters. Corbett provided estimates of human casualties in his books, including Man-Eaters of Kumaon, The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, and The Temple Tiger, and More Man-Eaters of Kumaon.

Hunter turned conservationist: He guided by Frederick Walter Champion, started to record tigers on cine film. His intimate knowledge of the jungle, it was a demanding task to obtain good pictures, as the animals were exceedingly shy.

 Summary 

Here an attempt is made to bring into focus the wild life. Jim Corbett nicely describe the story of how tiger, actually tigress got shoot. The story also explains that how hard it was to shoot this man eater. With the very crucial circumstances man killed tigress and man others relief.

One person who narrates this story (Jim Corbett) that how the situation is going on in the surroundings while he and other two men who following him and going through undergrowth and ravine path to go further. The ravine was about ten yards wide and four or five feet deep. Narrator speaks that on ravine he looked at the spot from which bird had risen and as he don’t have anything to keep eggs so he done cupping the left hand to hold the eggs.

He also now describes that how hard it was to track on the hill ravines that rushes water flow, as it was also crucial to take steep to offer a foothold. By handing the rifle to the men he slides down and observed the situation. Somehow further the men heard growling and it may be tigers’ but it is obvious that tigers do not betray their dinner.

After they left from open ground, the tigress followed them. Slowly he going down the ravine so she (tigress) don’t get see him and after that she didn’t find him so she did slowly grow and left so that also shows that tigress give no interest from the other two men. After that he slowly stepped clear of giant slate and looked behind his right shoulder and looked straight into the tigress’ face. Then he glissaded down says her fore-paws stretched out and her hind legs well tucked under her with that he also noticed that her head was raised a few inches off her paws, was eight feet from him.

Two thoughts were in his mind…One that he can make his first move…And second, he move in such a way that he give no alarm the tigress or make her nervous.

But the problem was…How to trigger that tigress?, as the rifle was in his right hand held diagonally across his chest and in order to get it to bear on the tigress the muzzle would have to be swung round three-quarters of circle. It is hard to move rifle with one hand but somehow he manages it. And after that he triggered the tigress but it might get more sure that triggered bullet goes direct to tigress or what. But it comes like nightmare that is it discharge the fact, and she survives. But after sometime it is noticed that the bullet goes damaged, as she moves, her outstretched paws and at the same time blood issued from the bullet hole. The bullet had injured her spine and shattered the upper portion of her heart.

It was Chowgarh tigress I…Matho Singh helped him to move his toes and told to drop the eggs so he can fire it with a perfect way and noticed that it was Chowgarh tigress I who sent to the happy Hunting Grounds, where it observed that her (tigress) threads of sixty-four human lives—the people of the district put the number at twice the figure-had, while the game was in her hands, turned, and cut the thread of her own life.

Three things were really in his disadvantage but goes in his favor….

• a) The eggs in his left hand
• b) The rifle he was carrying
• c) The tiger being a man-eater

He targets right upon it while difficulties are there with him. The rifle was not that light and taken it by one arm gives still pain to him. After that men made a detour and went up the hill to free the buffalo and secure the rope, which was needed and for pleasant purpose.

What happed to eggs which were with him?? He placed eggs to rightful owner on the rock that did duty as a nest, and when he passed that way half an hour later, they had vanished under the brooding mother whose coloring so exactly matched the mottled rock that it was difficult for him to know this power of nature and motherhood.

And lastly…

“if the tiger had been just an ordinary tiger, and not a man-eater, it would, on finding itself compered, have made for the opening and wiped me out of the way, and to be wiped out of the way by tiger usually has fatal results.”