The Tiger Tamer; or, The League of the Jungle

This issue of Beadle and Adams' weekly (August 22, 1882) features "The Tiger Tamer; or, the League of the Jungle," a serial by Captain Frederick Whittaker. Set in the Indian city of Jagpore, the story opens at a spectacle arranged by Rajah Ram Sing, where wild beasts fight for entertainment. When a ferocious tigress named Seevah nearly attacks the Rajah in his box, a courageous European officer, Major Charlton, intervenes. However, the main attraction—Govinda, a magnificent tiger-tamer claiming to be "King of the Jungle"—enters the arena and controls the beast with his whip. Govinda performs increasingly remarkable feats: the tigress obeys his commands, carries him around the arena, and most astonishingly, accepts food gently from a small boy named Ali. The Rajah, initially hostile, gradually becomes impressed by the display.