The Emperor and Chitranjan Cheetah

Mughal emperor Akbar loved hunting. Four hundred and twenty eight years ago, when he was passing through Rajasthan, he decided to go for a hunt. He used to keep cheetahs in his hunting party. Being very fast they were quick to catch their prey. But on that day he chose to hunt without the help of his cheetahs. He only took his attendants with him.

Without meaning to do so the attendants freed a royal cheetah in the hunting area. The cheetah’s name was Chitranjan and it ran after its prey – a deer.

Suddenly, the hunting party stopped. If they had not stopped they would have fallen down a large ravine. The deer did not even stop to think. It just took a flying leap and went over to the other side. (24 yards).

Something more surprising happened. In its eagerness to catch the deer the cheetah too jumped over the gap and landed on the other side. He had captured the deer. Everyone present clapped in amazement.

Emperor Akbar was so impressed with Chitranjan the cheetah that he promoted him. He made Chitranjan the head of all the hunting cheetahs. Not only that, drums were beaten in honour of Chitranjan.

208 words | 2 minutes
Readability: Grade 5 (10-11 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: features
Tags: #hunting, #cheetahs, #emperor, #akbar

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