MrS. PACKLETIDE‟S TIGER Summary | Mrs Packletide's Tiger Notes and Important Points

Mrs Packletide is a short story written by Saki Set mostly in Colonial

India, the author aims to highlight and ridicule the pretentious nature of the upper

classes of Edwardian society.

Gist of the Story:Mrs packletide is overcome with jealousy as her neighbor Loona Bimberton whom she absolutely abhors, been carried eleven miles in an aeroplane by an Algerian aviator, and she wouldn't stop boasting about it, and this greatly pained Mrs Packletide. She wanted to something daring to outdo her arch rival and comes to conclusion that hunting a tiger would definitely upstage her rival.Circumstances proved favourable as an old tiger used to frequent a village, and she offered to pay one thousand rupees to the villagers or the chance to shoot a tiger ―without much risk or exertion‖ She has no sense of the value of money or the actual excitement of hunting: the hunt, the chase,the kill.Villagers built her a safe and comfortable platform on the tree, from where she could safely shoot the tiger, and they tethered a goat at a safe distance as a bait.In the end Mrs packletide ends up shooting the poor goat and the tiger dies of heart attack due to loud report of the Rifle, villagers, anxious for their thousand rupees, gladly connived at the fiction that she had shot the beast.Mrs packletide gets her wish as her photographs were splashed in news papers and magazines, Loona bimberton refused to look at these pictures and refused to attend the luncheon party though she accepted tiger claw brooch, and Miss Mebin who was present at the scene of shooting blackmailed Mrs packletide into buying her a weekend cottage or else she would have revealed the fact to Loona bimberton.

Important Points:

1.Jealousy leads to Tiger Hunting:Mrs packletide's arch rival Loona bimberton had enjoyed a 11 miles joyride in a plane and she wouldn't stop boasting about it.This made Mrs packletide really jealous and she wanted to do something more daring and adventurous and in the end decided to shoot a tiger to overshadow Mrs loona bimberton.

2.Circumstances prove Favourable:An old tiger use to roam about in the jungle around the village. It was too old and weak to kill a big game. So it use to feed itself on goats ,sheep ,and other
domestic animals Mrs. Packletide availed herself of the god sent opportunity .She
made efforts to obtain the tiger

3.Offer of Big money and prepration by villagers:She offered to by one thousand rupees(a really big amount at that time) to the villagers in order to secure her safe and comfortable hunting.The villagers were delighted at the prospect of earning thousand rupees, so they
arranged for the tiger hunt.Children were posted night and day on the outskirts so that the
tiger would not leave his domain. Goats were left in the forest in order to satisfy the
animal. Women took care not to make noise while passing by, so that the tiger would not
be disturbed. Last but not the least, the villagers offered support and assistance at night
of hunt. A platform had been constructed on a comfortable and convenient place on a tree
for Mrs. Packletide and her paid companion. They remained there throughout the night.

4.Shooting Night:A platform had been constructed
on a comfortable and convenient place on a tree for Mrs. Packletide and her paid
companion. A goat, with a particularly persistant bleat, was tethered at the correct
distance.During the tiger shoot, Miss Mebbin kept on
complaining that the tiger chosen by the villagers was very old and was not worth a
thousand rupees and that Mrs. Packletide should bargain over his price.

5.Shooting the Wrong Animal:When Mrs packletide saw a tiger coming in the direction of the goat, she took a shot with a resultthat the tiger sprang to one side and collapsed. In fact, on closer examination it was found that the goat had received to mortal bullet wound. The tiger had died of heart failure.Miss Mebbin was first to notice this fact, but villagers ignored it so as to not to jeopardize their prize money of thousand rupees

6.Villagers Connived in fake story:The villagers were very happy to hear the news of tiger's death. They gathered at the place where the tiger lay dead and a celebration of triumph was madewith the
thumping of tom-toms. They were overjoyed to think that they would get their promised
reward of 1000 rupees. So, they didn't pay any attention to Miss Mebbin's disclosure.

7.Mrs packletide gets her revenge:Mrs. Packletide's desire was to get popularity and fame by shooting a tiger so as
to outshine Loona Bimberton. Although Mrs. Packletide had not shot the tiger, she
managed to get all the publicity which she had desired. Her picture appeared in 'Texas
Weekly Snapshot' and the monday supplement of 'Novoe Vremya'. She was also able to accomplish her heart's desire of making Loona jealous. But her happiness was partial
because Loona declined the invitation to lunch party and refused to look at an illustrated
paper for weeks. Mrs. Packletide's desire remained partially unfulfilled as the end was not
as planned by her.

8.Miss Mebbin Gets Weekend Cottage:Miss Mebbin managed to get her week-end cottage by blackmailing Mrs. Packletide. She had threatened Mrs. Packletide that if the latter would not buy her a cottage, she would reveal the truth to everybody including Loona. She planted so many
tiger lilies in her garden in order to pay a tribute to the dead tiger because of which she
was able to possess the cottage. These tiger lilies would constantly remind her of her
hunting expedition with Mrs. Packletide

9,Mrs Packletide gives up big game shooting:In the end Mrs Packletide gives up big game shooting as incidental expenses were too much for her to handle.

Character sketch of Mrs Packletide:
Mrs Packletide is extremely shallow, pretentious and of jealous nature. She could not fathom the fact when she found out that her arch rival was carried in a plane She is outraged at being battered by her rival and we get tosee her petty nature emerge from beneath her mask of society‘s fashion.And her offer of a thousand rupees for the chance to shoot a tiger ―without much risk or exertion‖ shows the extravagance of this ridiculous expedition on which she is intent and reminds us of her shallow nature.She has no sense of value of money or the actual exitement of hunting.In the end

Mrs. Packletide misses the stationary tigerand kills the bait instead! However, the

tiger dies of a heart attack because of the loud gun report. Mrs. Packletide ignores

this fact and claims she shot the tiger, assuming Miss Mebbin will not say a word as

she is merely a ―paid companion.‖But she was in for a rude shock when she got blackmailed by Miss Mebin into buying her a weekend cottage.In the end she gave up big game shooting as the incidental expenses were too much to handle

Character Sketch of Miss Mebin
Miss Mebin is Paid Companion of Mrs Packletide during her shooting expedition. She is a stingy,strict,sneering,cold-hearted and oppurtunist woman.She is also observant and cautious, not for others but for herself, it is highlighted as she quickly notices the fact that Mrs packletide had shot the poor goat and no bullet wound could be found on the tiger . She pretends to care for Mrs packletide as she suggest that she should not be paying too much for an old tiger, and also mentions not to pay for the bait if tiger didn't touch it  on the surface she is unthreatening but in truth she cared for money so much she treats it as a person, a sibling even and on the night of shooting she wasn't actually mortally afraid but rather was concerned in case she missed a bonus in her pay.In the end she blackmails her boss into buying her an expensive weekend cottage or else she would reveal the fact to loona bimberton.