What did the villagers do to make sure that they get thousand rupees from the greedy Mrs.Packletide?
Answers
It is true money makes man go. The moment the villagers came to know about the lucrative offer of a thousand rupees for helping Mrs Packletide in her tiger hunt, they were more than ready to seize the opportunity. Fortunately an old tiger had shifted its hunting grounds quite near the village because of old age and decrepitude. So in order to earn the money the villagers took the following precautions:
a) children were posted night and day on the outskirts of the local jungle to head the tiger back in the unlikely event of his attempting to roam away to fresh hunting-grounds.
b) cheaper kinds of goats were left about with elaborate carelessness to keep him satisfied with his present quarters.
c) Mothers carrying their babies home through the jungle after the day's work in the fields hushed their singing lest they might curtail the restful sleep of the venerable tiger.
d) They also provided other help such as putting up a platform on the tree from where Mrs. Packletide and her paid companion could shoot the tiger.
Mrs Packletide wanted to kill a tiger in order to satisfy her instinct of jealousy against her social counterpart Miss Bimartan who killed a tiger and grabbed media and public attention for getting the tiger skin.
Mrs. Packletide sat out with an offer to pay a thousand rupees for the opportunity to shoot a tiger .The neighbouring village came to know about the news and accepted the challenge as it had a large number of tigers in there .A very elderly tiger was arranged, who was no longer able to chase down prey and had been preying on the village’s domesticated animals.
The villagers in this way would get rid of the tiger and also meet the offer of Mrs. Packletide . After identifying the targer the villagers ensured that the children keep an eye on the outskirts of the village and also the home-returning working women with children were asked not sing lest the tiger’s sleep be disturbed. The villagers made a platform on the tree and provided a bleating goat as bait for the tiger.