Tiger Tales

                                                         Haunting of the man-eater

The telegram said, ‘Another man killed by a tiger. Come fast Johnny’.  It was one of the urgent telegrams sent to Johnny, the Colonel, and the hunter. It was sent by his friend, Matt, and he was posted at Jhansi as a Circle Officer.  It was an unusual telegram for Johnny. However, the most unusual telegram ever was sent by the station master of Kima, Africa. He sent the telegram when he saw the big lion over the iron sheet roof of railway station building where he worked. The lion was ‘man-eating lion of Kima’. The telegram stated, ‘Lion fighting station’. This lion of Kima had a special preference for railway employees and he had already included a wagon driver and a station master in his list. However, the story that I am going to discuss was set in the year 1935 in India.

Johnny, the hunter never found any thrill in shooting the tiger from the safety of the machaan in a tree. He hated sitting idle for hours in the machaan and above twenty feet from the ground. Therefore, he mostly followed the tigers on foot, took them head-on and shot them from the ground. However, the brave Colonel only shot the man-eating tigers and it is believed that to follow a man-eating tiger on foot is nothing less than a suicide.  

Without any delay, Johnny took the next train from Bareilly and reached Jhansi. His friend, Matt was relieved to see Johnny and arranged a room for him at a government bungalow. It was located few miles into the dense forest.  The forest was miles away from the main city and though Jhansi had a rocky plateau, the forest was dense with loads of green trees and patches of scrub jungle. The scrub jungle had plenty of long grass, low woody plants that make an ideal place for a tiger to hide its stripes. The tiger generally prefers open ground to hunt and rarely go deep into the forest. There was plenty of game for the hunters in the jungle and enough food for tigers from wild boars to deer. It was difficult to understand why this tiger of Jhansi preferred humans instead of its natural prey. Why this tiger turned into a man-eater, we would know later?

‘Ah! I am relieved to see you, Johnny,’ Matt said.

‘You sent the telegram instead of a usual letter. I realized that it must be serious and the tiger was getting worrisome for my friend. What is this story of the man-eating tiger?’ Johnny asked.

‘Well, Johnny, this tiger appeared a few months ago. It took a long journey of around hundred miles from the jungles of Central Province. At first, we did not notice much as it was natural for a tiger to change its habitat in the course of time due to a challenge from another mighty striped beast. At first, this tiger hunted its natural prey and then started lifting the cattle from the nearby villages.’ Matt explained and paused for a moment.

‘Hmm… go on,’ Johnny said.

‘However, on one occasion, the tiger lifted cow from the group grazing near the forest. The tiger was hungry enough as it started to devour his meal in front of the herdsman. With the violent fury, the herdsman charged towards the tiger with his stick. Instead, of shying away into the jungle on seeing human charging, this tiger laid down the cow on the ground and charged back. When the man saw that a tiger was running towards him, he turned back and ran quickly towards the village. What could the poor man do with a stick! The tiger struck the man on the shoulder with his forepaw and as the man tasted the wet smell of the earth, the tiger pierced the neck of the unfortunate man with his canine.’

‘Indeed, it was foolhardy of him to run towards the tiger. I believe that the poor herdsman must have disturbed the tiger that was busy eating his lunch. So what happened next?’ Johnny asked.

‘The tiger came back to his meal, but the opportunist hyena and vultures had already taken their share from his meal. The tiger stood there for few minutes and then looked towards the place where the poor herdsman’s body was lying. All the cattle had already dispersed and ran towards the village. The tiger took few steps towards the herdsman, lifted his body from the neck and vanished into the jungle. This was how this man-eater of Jhansi was created. While we talk at this moment, he has already killed twenty people.’

‘That’s quite a lot of people, Matt.’

‘Yes, of course, Johnny.  It’s quite a lot of people that he had devoured. I want to tell you that the government’s reward of hundred rupees would be yours if you kill this tiger.’

‘Are there any other hunters in the area to shoot this tiger?’

‘No, I am afraid that few tried to grab the prize, but the tiger was too smart for them.’

‘Umm… I will shoot it for you, mate. Next morning, I will search for its trail thirty miles to the North. Its summer and he would be lying in some ravine near the water. Will it be okay to start from North?’

‘That will be great! A very wise decision, I must say. There have been quite a few killings on that part of the district.’

‘What is his range in the district?’

‘He rules eighty miles down south, few miles to the north and the east,’ Matt said as he showed the map.

‘Where was the last killing?’

‘It happened few miles from here. A herdsman was returning from the fields and he took a short route through the scrub jungle. This being the hottest season of the year and the whereabouts of man-eater beast were still unknown. The tiger was probably resting in the shade near a small pond and noticed him. Though he had a full belly, it could not resist the meal coming his way,’ Matt explained.

‘Hmm….and the tigers are different from panthers. They hunt any time of the day.’

‘Yes, they always look for the wanderers and travelers to grab their meal.’

‘Is there anything else you want to share about this tiger?’

‘It is big, with a lot of mane around its head. It is around ten feet. Like other man-eating tigers, it is also cunning, hunts with his instinct and a continuous stalker,’ Matt explained.

‘Haa…. It’s a different kind of a beast and a scary one. The hunter may get hunted this time. Isn’t it? I’m tired and would call a day. Good night, Matt.’

‘I hope it doesn’t happen, Johnny. You are the best we have got in the district and you are a friend. Good night, Johnny.’

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Hunters usually buy a goat or a buffalo and use it as bait for man-eating tigers. All man-eating tigers get attracted to the bleat of a goat and other than bison and a samba, all tigers prefer goat for a lunch or a dinner. But this tiger was not an ordinary tiger. It was a furious man-eater and as plenty of villagers were available on its plate, it was a bleak chance that it would be attracted to a goat unless it is very hungry. It was impossible in the large district to keep villagers locked behind their huts and make tiger hungry.  So the question was how to locate this tiger or to make him look for a lunch. To follow the man-eater in the scrub jungle to hunt it down is not less than a suicide. So quick is the charge of the man-eaters that many hunters on the ground do not get even a chance to bring their guns to the shoulders. Once an inexperienced hunter descended from the tree to fetch water in his bottle and casually lifted his gun in one hand and the bottle in the other hand. The tiger had watched the hunter coming down the tree from long grass and stalked him. As the man rested his gun on the ground to fill the bottle from the pond, the tiger charged with a loud roar and slashed his neck. Not a bush moved when the tiger charged and the hunter got the time only to scream.

Johnny carried a .400 Winchester rifle and a shotgun when he began his search for the man-eater. Tigers can be found in a variety of places in summers. They prefer caves or dense bushes to escape the heat or a small ravine that has a little bit of water. They are rarely found in the open ground when the sun is hot. Johnny eyes cautiously scanned left and right though occasionally he turned his head to look to tackle the surprise charge. An ordinary tiger that becomes a man-eater also becomes a little coward. Very rarely the man-eater charges a person head-on. The tiger will never charge if a group of people. Even in some exceptional cases, the tiger has withdrawn his charge in the middle. The man-eater tiger mostly goes for the person who is leading a group or a person who is walking last. On one occasion in Mysore, the tiger snatched a person from the cart. The cart was last in the group. But, Johnny was alone and the jungle was unusually quiet. There was no sound of a bird or a languor or a samba.  The Languor is called as the watchman of the jungle. The head Languor carries a great responsibility of safeguarding his clan. It sits on the top of a tree and his eyes scan the vast jungle. He usually alarms the jungle with ‘Khar…khar’ if he sees that tiger is on a move. Johnny guessed that the master of the jungle was resting somewhere and was in no mood to hunt. However, he could not let the guard down.

Keeping his foot cautiously on the ground, Johnny cleared the thick scrub jungle to reach the pool of water and he could see that the next village was few miles from this pond. Johnny was alarmed to see a light-skinned girl sitting behind the small rock near the pond and bathing herself in the hot sun. It was an unusual sight. It was a foolhardy decision of her to sit in a full view when the man-eater was lurking around. The girl was at twenty yards from him, but Johnny could notice that she had big and round dark black eyes. Her figure was petite. She also had a deep red scar near her eye which hinted that she was hit badly. It looked like a recent wound. Overall, she looked like a fine young lass. Johnny coughed deliberately so that the girl could notice his presence and cover herself with the loin cloth that was lying near her. The girl immediately looked back and with nervous hands went for the cloth and wrapped it around her. The loin cloth though covered her partially and revealed her thighs that also had few scratch marks.

‘My name is Johnny, a British Colonel, and a hunter. I was looking for the man-eater tiger in the jungle,’ Johnny said with broken words. He spoke the local language with the British accent. The girl remained quiet and did not reply. However, it was clear that she understood what he said.  Johnny could notice that she could barely open the eye that had a red scar.

‘You don’t need to be afraid. I will leave if you want. I just want to dip my hanky into the water. It’s very hot, isn’t it?’

‘We are afraid of white men, especially the hunters Sahib. They bang on our huts in the night and ask for dirty favors,’ the girl said in a native dialect.

‘See, I don’t want to discuss about that. I am not one of them. I am here to shoot a tiger. I want to know about the tiger that had killed many people in this district,’

‘Yes, the devil tiger resides in our district Sahib. It is very intelligent as it seems to know the every move of a hunter. Last month this tiger pulled down a white hunter from the tree and killed him. The white hunter was hiding in a machan that he made in a tree to shoot him,’ the girl explained. The girl was now more comfortable knowing that Johnny was a genuine white man and is here to shoot a tiger only.

‘What did you say? Pulled down from the tree! You must be joking,’ Johnny asked the girl with widened eyes.  

‘No, it’s true Sahib. Bhura, the village headman saw it from another tree. Maybe, the tiger forgave him because he was not armed. Also, being unarmed, he was sitting on the higher branch of the tree,’ the girl replied.

‘How did it happen?’

‘Do you believe in supernatural, Saheb?’

‘Haa…. No, I don’t believe in it. But why you are asking it. Was the tiger some ghost?’

‘No, it was not. But you must have heard what the providence says about the master and the servant. I hope you have heard the story. The victim becomes the servant of its killer,’ the girl asked.

‘Yes, I have heard the story. It says that the soul of the person, who has been killed by the tiger, haunts the tiger and sits on its head. After that, it guides the tiger through another victim and also warns the tiger of the dangers of the jungle. The soul becomes the servant of its master, the tiger who had killed him,’ Johnny explained.

‘Yes, the same thing happened with the poor white hunter,’

‘I am curious to know about the incident. Would you tell what happened?’

‘Yes, of course, Sahib.  A few days back, the post office runner in the office of this white hunter was killed by the man-eater. A white hunter occupied the tree with his gun over the unfortunate man’s corpse and Bhura occupied the other tree. The jungle was quiet and not a bush moved. The moon shined brightly at night and the hunter remained seated on his machan quietly,’ the girl continued, ‘it was pitch dark in the scrub jungle, but the place where the corpse lied was a small ground and it was surrounded by trees. The hunter had dragged the corpse near his tree on which he had made his machan.’

‘How high the machan was?’

‘It was high, much far from the ground,’

‘You know, once I lifted the corpse up to thirty feet from the ground and hide it in the branches to keep it away from hyena or panthers. I was worried that they would finish tiger’s meal before his arrival. But tiger came early than I anticipated and after numerous attempts, it descended its meal from the tree.’

‘Yes, the tigers can climb trees Sahib, if they are hungry,’

‘But, here the tiger had its meal in front of it. And the tigers do not have a sense of smell; I mean the airborne smell.  How did the tiger found the hunter in the tree?’

Yes, Sahib, the tigers have a poor sense of smell. When the tiger came for another meal, Bhura said that the right hand of the corpse moved and pointed it to the tree where the hunter was hiding. The tiger saw the hunter and vanished into the scrub jungle. Bhura took an oath and said that he saw the hand moving. Even the hunter had seen it.’

‘What did the tiger do after that?’

‘Sahib, it escaped into the scrub jungle, behind the lantana bush.’

‘Hmm… the man-eater is usually a coward and runs away if discovered. What happened after that?’

‘The hunter could not believe what he had seen. He descended down the tree and tied the corpse right hand to the shoulder so that it could not move. Hurriedly, the hunter settled on his machan again. After few minutes, the tiger returned to its meal. However, this time the left hand of the corpse moved and pointed it to the tree where Bhura was hiding. Bhura was terrified when the tiger turned his head to look at him. The feeling cannot be described when the tiger locates you and is aware of your presence in the quietness of the jungle. There was no sound whatsoever. It looked that each and every living species had gone into hiding on noticing that the master of the jungle was on move.’

‘This is scary!!! Though I had shot many tigers, still any sort of meeting it would raise hair on my neck. Go on…’

‘With a loud and earth shattering roar, the tiger rushed to the tree where the hunter was hiding,’

‘Man-eater is fearless and deadliest when it loses all its fear of humans. Probably the tiger had gained his courage back and now meant business,’

‘Yes, Saheb. The tiger crushed the tree with its claws, took few giant steps and with its front forepaw tore the machan. The power of tiger crashed the machan and with it, the hunter fell on the ground. With a lightning speed and before the hunter could lift himself on his knees, tiger sprang on him and caught him by the neck. It was over in few seconds. The hunter had a calm look on his face when the villagers saw him.’

‘How did Bhura escape?’

‘He did not escape. The tiger spared him. I believe the tiger knew that hunter was a threat and Bhura was not. Maybe, the haunting on tiger warned him about the hunter. The tiger did not eat the hunter.’

‘Does anybody know who the hunter was?’

‘He was Captain Smith from Cawnpore.’

‘Oh! What? Captain Smith. I don’t believe it,’ Johnny said with a surprised look on his face.

‘Was he a friend of yours?’

‘Not exactly a friend. But, we hunted together few times. We had the same regiment,’

‘Hunters are brave. But, without rifles, the hunting stories would be different.’

‘Haa…Haa… you are correct. What is your name girl?’

‘Laxmi, Sahib. I am from the same village as Bhura, the headman,’ she continued, ‘why don’t you tell me a story, Saheb? Why do tigers become man-eaters?’

‘I don’t know many stories. But, I would tell a story to you. You will know how the first man-eater tiger evolved.’

‘I want to hear the story. It would raise the hair on my neck. Will it?’

‘Yes, because it certainly raised mine. It is said that long time back there was a bunya who ran a daily needs store in the village. It was a small shop. The bunya used to visit the city and would bring items from the city to sell in his shop. Once, a big tiger emerged from the forest, near the road that connected the village to the city,’ Johnny continued, ‘this tiger gained courage and now used to take cattle and a goat from the village. Many times it sat on the road and the travelers could not move. The bunya could not visit city many times and the business went into losses.  He went to the old priest who lived in the different village and the priest gave him some powder. He asked bunya to keep this powder in his pocket and if he sees tiger near him, he should consume this powder. The bunya would convert into a tiger and then he can either kill the other tiger or frighten him away.  Later, the bunya needs to consume a bit of powder again to get back his human form.’

‘Oh! It is an interesting story. I never heard about it,’

‘Once bunya and his wife were going in their cart, they saw the tiger on the road. Bunya took a powder from his pocket and explained everything to his wife. The woman was obviously terrified and pleaded bunya to go back. However, bunya did not listen to her. He took a pouch of powder and asked his wife to keep the remaining powder with her. The bunya said to her that when he would return, he would consume the remaining powder to get back into human shape.’

‘I would have run back, no matter what. It was brave of that woman to stay there. What happened after that?’

‘The bunya went few meters from the woman and consumed the powder. He did not want to terrify the poor wife. The bunya took the shape of a large tiger and went after another tiger. The whole jungle listened to the terrifying roars of large tigers fighting each other. The tiger bunya won and he returned to his wife.’

‘The wife would have passed out seeing a large tiger in front of her.’

‘No, she didn’t. The woman on seeing a large tiger in front of her screamed loudly and ran towards the village. The powder from her hand slipped into the small stream of water that descended down from the low hill. Now, the tiger bunya did not have any powder with him that would turn him into a human. He was now to remain in the body of the tiger. In fury, he killed his wife and vanished into the forest as a tiger. Later, since he had a body of the tiger, but the mind of a human, he knew all small details about humans. He started hunting down humans and turned into a man-eater. That was how the first man-eating tiger emerged and the taste transferred to the generations.’

‘This is an unbelievable story. Do you believe it?’ the girl asked.

‘No, I don’t. I am a hunter and I had never seen it.’ Johnny replied. The girl remained quiet. Johnny lifted himself from the rock and washed his face. It was very hot and the discussion on a man-eater had unnerved even a hunter like Johnny.

He settled himself on the rock again and turned his head towards the girl. The girl was not there. Maybe, the girl got scared, Johnny thought. However, it was very brave of her to walk down the village alone through the jungle after listening to the story like this. Just when Johnny went down to take his rifle; the faint roar of a tiger terrified him. The voice was not hundred yards away from him and neither had it come from the jungle. It came right behind the rock on which he was sitting. The poor girl had been killed and she didn’t even get a chance to scream. These thoughts occupied Johnny as he lifted his head a little over the rock to look at the tiger. The tiger at once jumped on Johnny. He could only notice the deep red scar mark on the tiger.