3. Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 –
14 November 1916), better known by the pen
name Saki, and also frequently as H. H.
Munro, was a British writer whose witty,
mischievous and sometimes macabre stories
satirize Edwardian society and culture. He is
considered the master of the short story,
and often compared to O.Henry and Dorothy
Parker.
4. Mrs. Packletide decided to shoot a tiger. The
reason behind it was nothing else but her
deeply rooted hatred for Loona Bimberton.
She considered Loona to be her main rival.
Loona Bimberton had recently had a joy ride
in an aeroplane with an Algerian pilot. Mrs.
Packletide wanted to outdo her rival. She
wanted to do something more exciting and
adventurous than Loona’s feat. Hence, the
idea of killing a tiger came in the mind of Mrs.
Packletide.
5. The motive of killing a tiger was to earn a lot of
publicity and fame. She wanted to overshadow
Loona’s act. Mrs. Packletide wanted the press and
magazines should publish her photographs with the
dead tiger’s skin. She had decided to present a
tiger-claw brooch to Loona Bimberton on her next
birthday.
6. Circumstances proved favorable for Mrs. Packletide. A
tiger could be seen roaming frequently in a forest near a
neighboring village. The old tiger had confined his
activities only to small domestic animals. The villagers
were tempted by Mrs. Packletide offer and the
prospect of getting a thousand rupees. Mrs. Packletide
wanted a safer and convenient shooting. The villagers
did their best to confine the tiger to his present
quarters. Maximum care was taken not to disturb his
rest or sleep. Mother carrying their babies hushed their
singing not to disturb the restful sleep of the old tiger.
7. The great night duly arrived. It
was a moon lite and cloudless
night. A platform was
constructed in a conveniently
placed tree. Mrs. Packletide sat
there with her paid-companion
Miss Mebbin. A goat with a
persistent bleat was tied at a
correct distance. With her rifle
ready in her hands, Mrs.
Packletide waited for the tiger
to come out in the open there.
8. As soon as the tiger caught sight of the goat,
he lay on the Earth. He did not so only to
snatch a short rest before being ready for
the ‘grand attack’. Then Mrs. Packletide’s rifle
flashed out with loud report. The tiger sprang
to one side and the rolled-over dead on the
ground. In a moment a crowd of excited native
appeared on the scene. The villagers
celebrated the feat by thumping of toms-
toms. All these things pleased Mrs. Packletide.
9. It was Louisa Mebbin who drew Mrs.
Packletide’s attention to the fact that the
goat was in death-throes from a fatal bullet
wound. There was no sign of bullet-mark on
the tiger. Clearly, the wrong animal had been
hit. Mrs. Packletide had missed her aim. The
old and weak tiger died due to the heart
failure caused by the loud noise of the rifle.
At any rate, she was the possessor of a dead
tiger.
10. Miss Mebbin, the paid companion of Mrs.
Packletide, was a great opportunist. She
threatened her with the disclosure of the
secret of the tiger’s death. Very clearly, she
put forward a proposal before Mrs. Packletide.
Miss Mebbin told her that she had seen a week-
end cottage neat Darking. She wanted to buy a
cottage. The cost was six hundred and eighty,
freehold. It was a good bargain but she didn’t
have the money.
11. Mrs. Packletide was blackmailed to but that
cottage for Miss Mebbin. In this way, Miss
Mebbin became the pruod owner of the
cottage. She named it ‘Les Fauvs’ or ‘The Wild
Animals’. After this incidence, Mrs. Packletide
gave up ‘big game shooting’ or ‘hunting big
animals’. When someone asked she replied
that the ‘incidental’ or other expenses were
so heavy in the big-game shooting.
