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diff --git a/23229.txt b/23229.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f2b704 --- /dev/null +++ b/23229.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1051 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, For Love of the King, by Oscar Wilde + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: For Love of the King + a Burmese Masque + + +Author: Oscar Wilde + + + +Release Date: October 28, 2007 [eBook #23229] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR LOVE OF THE KING*** + + + + +Transcribed from the [1922] Methuen and Co./Jarrold and Sons edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +FOR +LOVE OF THE KING + + +A BURMESE MASQUE + +BY +OSCAR WILDE + +METHUEN & CO. LTD. +36 ESSEX STREET W.C. +LONDON + +_First Published by Methuen & Co. Ltd. in 1922_ + +_This Edition on handmade paper is limited to 1000 copies_ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + + +The very interesting and richly coloured masque or pantomimic play which +is here printed in book form for the first time, was invented sometime in +1894 or possibly a little earlier. It was written, not for publication, +but as a personal gift to the author's friend and friend of his family, +Mrs. Chan Toon, and was sent to her with the letter that follows and +explains its origin. + +Mrs. Chan Toon, before her marriage to Mr. Chan Toon, a Burmese +gentleman, nephew of the King of Burma and a barrister of the Middle +Temple, was Miss Mabel Cosgrove, the daughter of Mr. Ernest Cosgrove of +Lancaster Gate, a friend of Sir William and Lady Wilde, and herself +brought up with Oscar and his brother Willie. + +For a long while Mrs. Chan Toon, who after her husband's death became +Mrs. Woodhouse-Pearse, refused to permit the masque to be printed. The +late Robert Ross much wanted to include it in an edition of Wilde's +works, of which it now forms a part, but he could not obtain its owner's +consent. An arrangement, however, having been completed, the play is now +made public. + + TITE STREET, CHELSEA, + _November_ 27, 1894 + + _My dear Mrs. Chan Toon_, + + _I am greatly repentant being so long in acknowledging receipt of_ + "_Told on the Pagoda_." _I enjoyed reading the stories_, _and much + admired their quaint and delicate charm_. _Burmah calls to me_. + + _Under another cover I am sending you a fairy play entitled_ "_For + Love of the King_," _just for your own amusement_. _It is the outcome + of long and luminous talks with your distinguished husband in the + Temple and on the river_, _in the days when I was meditating writing a + novel as beautiful and as intricate as a Persian praying-rug_. _I + hope that I have caught the atmosphere_. + + _I should like to see it acted in your Garden House on some night when + the sky is a sheet of violet and the stars like women's eyes_. _Alas_, + _it is not likely_. + + _I am in the throes of a new comedy_. _I met a perfectly wonderful + person the other day who unconsciously has irradiated my present with + sinuous suggestion_: _a Swedish Baron_, _French in manner_, _Athenian + in mind_, _and Oriental in morals_. _His society is a series of + revelations_. . . . + + _I was at Oakley Street on Thursday_; _my mother tells me she sends + you a letter nearly every week_. + + _Constance desires to be warmly remembered_, _while I_, _who am + bathing my brow in the perfume of water-lilies_, _lay myself at the + feet of you and yours_. + + _OSCAR WILDE_ + + + + +PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY + + +KING MENG BENG (_Lord of a Thousand White Elephants_, _Countless +Umbrellas and other attributes of greatness_). + +U. RAI GYAN THOO (_A Prime Minister_). + +SHAH MAH PHRU (_A Girl_, _half Italian_, _half Burmese_, _of dazzling +beauty_). + +DHAMMATHAT (_Legal Adviser to the Court_). + +HIP LOONG (_A Chinese Wizard of great repute_). + +MOUNG PHO MHIN (_Minister of Finance_). + +TWO ENVOYS FROM THE KING OF CEYLON. + +NOBLES, COURTIERS, SOOTHSAYERS, POONYGEES, DANCING GIRLS, BETEL-NUT +CARRIERS, UMBRELLA BEARERS, FOLLOWERS, SERVANTS, SLAVES, amongst whom are +several CHINESE but no INDIANS. + +TIME: _The Sixteenth Century_. + + + + +ACT I + + +SCENE I + + +_The palace of the_ KING OF BURMAH. _The scene is laid in the Hall of a +Hundred Doors_. _In the distance can be seen the moat_, _the waiting +elephants_, _and the peacocks promenading proudly in the blinding +sunshine of late afternoon_. _The scene discovers_ KING MENG BENG +_seated on a raised cushion sewn with rubies_, _under a canopy supported +by four attendants_, _motionless as bronze figures_. _By his side is a +betel-nut box_, _glittering with gems_. _On either side of him_, _but +much lower down_, _are the_ TWO AMBASSADORS OF THE KING OF CEYLON, +_bearers of the King of Ceylon's consent to the marriage of his only +daughter to Meng Beng in two years' time_, _men of grave_, _majestic +mien_, _clad in flowing robes almost monastic in their white simplicity_. +_They smoke gravely at the invitation of_ MENG BENG. + +_Round about are grouped the courtiers_, _the poonygees_, _and the +kneeling servants_, _while in the background wait the dancing girls_. +_Banners_, _propelled with a measured rhythm_, _create an agreeable +breeze_. _On a great table of gold stand goblets of gold and heaped-up +fruits_. _Everywhere will be observed the emblems of the Royal Peacock +and the Sacred White Elephant_. _Burmese musical instruments sound an +abrupt but charming discord_. _The poinsettias flower punctuates points +of deepest colour from out of vases fashioned like the lotus_. _Orchids +are everywhere_. _The indescribable scent of Burmah steals across the +footlights_. _The glow_, _the colour_, _the sun-swept vista sweeps +across the senses_. THE KING _claps his hands_. _The_ DANCING GIRLS, +_at the signal_, _advance_. _They are clad in dresses made of fish +scales_, _which are fastened with diamonds and pale emeralds_, _to +imitate the upthrown spray on the crest of a wave_. _The dance +concluded_, _the_ CINGALESE AMBASSADORS _rise and prepare to take +ceremonious leave of_ THE KING, _who hands to them_, _through his_ +VIZIER, _his message to His Majesty of Ceylon_, _inscribed on palm leaves +and enclosed in a bejewelled casket_. + +_Many flowery speeches pass_. _Exit_ (_L._), _walking backwards_. + +THE KING _expresses a desire for rest before starting by the Moon of +Taboung _{4} _for the Pagoda of Golden Flowers_. + +_Exit_ MENG BENG (_C._), _an alcove of satin hangings which commands a +view of the great hall_. + +_The Crowd break up into groups_. U. RAI GYAN THOO _and_ MOUNG PHO MHIN +_converse on the tendency of the King to interference in affairs of +State_; _his extreme youth and delicacy of temperament_; _the pity that +the marriage is to be so long delayed_; _the necessity to find him some +distraction in the meantime_. + +_Suddenly the tom-toms sound loudly_. _There is much movement_. _The +moon rises over the sea_. _Torches flare as the attendants move to and +fro in the gardens beyond_. + +_The White Elephant of the King_, _with its trappings of gold_, _is led +to the entrance where_, _at a word_, _it sinks obediently to the ground_. + +THE KING _appears_. _He has changed his gay apple-green dress to one of +more sombre hue_. _He enters the howdah_--_the elephant rises_--_the +procession starts_. _It consists of not fewer than two hundred persons_, +_keeping in view of the audience until lost by a bend in the avenue_. + + + +SCENE II + + +THE PAGODA OF GOLDEN FLOWERS + +Midnight + +_Surrounded by Peepul-trees_, _the great Htee_, {6} _with its crown of a +myriad jewels_, _rises towards the violet_, _star-studded sky_, _its +golden bells tinkling in a soft night-wind_. + +_When the curtain rises_, _the circular platform is deserted_. _Statues +of Buddha seated and recumbent fill the numberless niches in the wall_, +_and before each burn long candles_; _heaped-up pink roses and japonica +on brass trays are lit from above by swinging coloured lamps_. _At +intervals are stalls laden with fruit and cheroots_. _All is +mysterious_, _solemn_, _beautiful_. + +_A deep Burmese gong tolls_. _People emerge from the four staircases +that lead up to the platform_. _Men_, _women_, _and children_, _all in +gala attire_. _The young people conversing_, _gesticulating_, _smiling_. +_The older people_, _more subdued_, _carry beads and votive offering to +Buddha_. _Charming Burmese girls_, _with huge cigars_, _meet and greet +handsome Burmese men smoking cheroots and wearing flowers in their ears_. +_Children play silently with coloured balls_. _In the corners_, _under +canopies_, _are seated fortune-tellers_, _busy casting horoscopes_. _It +is a veritable riot of colour_, _with never a discordant note_. + +_Through the crowd_ THE KING _passes alone and unrecognised_, _and +disappears through double doors of heavily carved teak wood_. _He has +hardly passed when_ MAH PHRU, _a very lovely girl_, _enters in distress_. +_She whispers that she desires an audience of the King who has come +amongst them_. _The few who hear her shrug their shoulders_, _smile_, +_and pass on_. _They are incredulous_. _She goes from group to group_, +_but the people turn from her with disdain_. _Then the great doors +open_, _and_ THE KING _is seen_. _The girl throws herself_, _Oriental +fashion_, _in his path_. _Her beauty and her pathos arrest his attention +and he waves aside those who would interfere_. _She implores_ THE KING'S +_protection_. _She is willing to be his slave_. _He listens with deep +attention_. _She explains that since her father's death she has been +continuously persecuted by the village people on the double count of her +Italian blood and her poverty_. + +_The girl invites him to come to her hut in the forest and verify what +she says_. _With a gesture he signifies that he will follow where she +leads_. _She rises_. _The crowd gathers round_--_all are hushed to +silence_. THE KING, _as one entranced_, _puts aside all who would in any +way interfere_. _The girl precedes him_, _going from the Pagoda towards +the night_. _When she reaches the great staircase_, _she beckons_, +_Oriental fashion_, _with downward hand_. _The scene should_, _in +grouping and colour_, _make for rare beauty_. + + + +SCENE III + + +_A humble dhunni-thatched hut_, _set amidst the whispering grandeur of +the jungle_, _with its mighty trees_, _its trackless paths_, _its +indescribable silence_. _The curtain discovers_ MAH PHRU _and_ THE KING, +_who expresses his amazement at the loneliness and the poverty of her +lot_. _She explains that poverty is not what frightens her_, _but the +enmity of those who live yonder_, _and who make it almost impossible for +her to sell her cucumbers or her pineapples_. THE KING'S _gaze never +leaves the face or figure of the girl_. _He declares that he will +protect her_--_that he will build her a home here in the shadow of the +loneliness around them_. _He has two years of an unfettered +freedom_--_for those years he can command his life_. _He loves her_, _he +desires her_--_they will find a Paradise together_. _The girl trembles +with joy_--_with fear_--_with surprise_. "And after two years?" _she +asks_. "Death," _he answers_. + + + + +ACT II + + +SCENE I + + +_The jungle once more_. _Time_: _noonday_. _In place of the hut is a +building_, _half Burmese_, _half Italian villa_, _of white Chunam_, _with +curled roofs rising on roofs_, _gilded and adorned with spiral carvings +and a myriad golden and jewel-encrusted bells_. _On the broad verandahs +are thrown Eastern carpets_, _rugs_, _embroideries_. + +_The world is sun-soaked_. _The surrounding trees stand sentinel-like in +the burning light_. _Burmese servants squat motionless_, _smoking on the +broad white steps that lead from the house to the garden_. _The crows +croak drowsily at intervals_. _Parrots scream intermittently_. _The +sound of a guitar playing a Venetian love-song can be heard coming from +the interior_. _Otherwise life apparently sleeps_. _Two elderly +retainers break the silence_. + +"When will the Thakin tire of this?" _one asks the other in kindly +contempt_. + +"The end is already at hand. I read it at dawn to-day." + +"Whence will it come?" + +"I know not. It is written that one heart will break." + +"He will leave her?" + +"He will leave her. He will have no choice--who can war with Fate?" + +_The sun shifts a little_; _a light breeze kisses the motionless palm +leaves_--_they quiver gracefully_. _Attendants appear R. and L. bearing +a great Shamiana_ (_tent_), _silver poles_, _carved chairs_, _foot +supports_, _fruit_, _flowers_, _embroidered fans_. _Three musicians in +semi-Venetian-Burmese costume follow with their instruments_. _The tent +erected_, _enter_ (C.) MENG BENG _and_ MAH PHRU, _followed by two Burmese +women carrying two tiny children in Burmese fashion on their hips_. + +_The servants retire to a distance_. MENG BENG _and_ MAH PHRU _seat +themselves on carven chairs_; _the children are placed at their feet and +given coloured glass balls to play with_. MENG BENG _and_ MAH PHRU _gaze +at them with deep affection and then at each other_. + +_The musicians play light_, _zephyr-like airs_. MENG BENG _and_ MAH PHRU +_talk together_. MENG BENG _smokes a cigar_, MAH PHRU _has one of the +big yellow cheroots affected by Burmese women to-day_. + +"It wants but two days to the two years," _he tells her sadly_. + +"And you are happy?" + +"As a god." + +_She smiles radiantly_. _She suspects nothing_. _She is more beautiful +than before_. _Her dress is of the richest Mandalay silks_. _She wears +big nadoungs of rubies in her ears_. + +_Presently_ MENG BENG _arranges a set of ivory chessmen on a low table +between them_. _The sun sinks slowly_. _The sound of approaching wheels +is heard_. + +_Enter_ (_C._) U. RAI GYAN THOO, _preceded by two servants_. MENG BENG +_looks up in surprise_--_in alarm_. _He rises_, _etc._, _and goes +forward_. U. RAI GYAN THOO _presents a letter written on palm leaves_. +MENG BENG _does not open it_. + +_The curtains at the opening of the tent are_, _Oriental fashion_, +_dropped_. _The music ceases_. + +MENG BENG _and the_ GRAND VIZIER _converse apart_. _The Minister +explains that the Princess of Ceylon's ship and its great convoy have +already been sighted_. _The Court and city wait in eager expectancy_. +_The King has worshipped long enough at the Pagoda of Golden +Flowers_--_his subjects and his bride call to him_. U. RAI GYAN THOO +_has come to take him to them_. + +MENG BENG _is terribly distressed_. + +"You can return one day," _the Vizier tells him_. "The Pagoda will +remain. I also, once, in years long dead, Lord of the Sea and Moon, +worshipped at a Pagoda." + +MENG BENG _seeks_ MAH PHRU _to explain that he goes on urgent affairs_, +_that he will come back to her and to his sons_, _perhaps before the +waning of the new moon_. _Their parting is sad with the pensive sadness +of look and gesture peculiar to Eastern people_. + +MENG BENG _goes_ (C.) _with_ U. RAI GYAN THOO. MAH PHRU _mounts to the +verandah to watch them go from behind the curtains_. _Then_, _slowly +sinking across the heaped-up cushions_, _she faints_. + +_The sun has set_. _The music ceases_. _The melancholy cry of the +peacocks fills the silence_. + +ACT DROP + + + + +ACT III + + +SCENE I + + +_Seven years have elapsed_. + +_The same scene_. + +_Curtain discovers_ MAH PHRU _seated on a high verandah_. _A clearance +has been made in the surrounding trees to give a full view of the road +beyond_. _She is watching_, _always watching_. _With her are two +beautiful little boys_. + +"To-day, perhaps," _she murmurs_. "Perhaps to-morrow; but without +fail--one day." + +"Look!" _she cries_. "At last my lord returns!" + +_Coming up the jungle road_, _in view of the audience_, _are a bevy of +horsemen_. + +MAH PHRU, _wondering_, _descends to greet them_. _Enter_ U. RAI GYAN +THOO. _He is dressed all in white_, _which is Burmese mourning_. MAH +PHRU _sinks back_--_she fears the worst_. _The old man reassures her_. +_He tells her that_ MENG BENG _has sent for his sons_--_that the Queen is +dead_, _and there is no heir_. + +"Queen? What Queen?" _demands_ MAH PHRU. + +"The Queen of Burmah." + +_So_ MAH PHRU _learns for the first time that her lover is the ruler of +the country_, _supreme master of and dictator to everyone_. + +_Weeping_, _but not daring to disobey_, _she summons the children to +her_; _then_, _sinking on her knees_, _entreats in moving and pathetic +words to be permitted to go with them_, _in the lowest most menial +capacity_. U. RAI GYAN THOO _refuses_. _There is no place for her in +the greatness of the world yonder_. "Even Kings forget," _he says_. "It +is the command of the supreme Lord of the Earth and of the Sky that she +remain where she is." + +_Then he orders his followers to make the necessary arrangements for the +safe journey of their future king and his brother_. + +_The children stand passive in their gay dress_, _but are bewildered and +afraid_. + +MAH PHRU _has risen to her feet_. _She appears as if turned to +bronze_--_a model of restraint and dignity_, _blent with colour and +beauty and infinite grace_. + +THE CURTAIN DESCENDS SLOWLY + + + +SCENE II + + +_The same night_. + +_The home of the Chinese Wizard_, HIP LOONG, _by the river_--_a place +fitted with Chinese things_: _Dragons of gold with eyes of jade gleaming +from out dim corners_, _Buddhas of gigantic size fashioned of priceless +metals with heads that move_, _swinging banners with fringes of +many-coloured stones_, _lanterns with glass slides on which are painted +grotesque figures_. _The air is full of the scent of joss sticks_. _The +Wizard reclines on a divan_, _inhaling opium slowly_, _clothed with the +subdued gorgeousness of China_--_blue and tomato-red predominate_. _He +has the appearance of a wrinkled walnut_. _His forehead is a lattice- +work of wrinkles_. _His pigtail_, _braided with red_, _is twisted round +his head_. _His hands are as claws_. _The effect is weird_, +_unearthly_. + +_Enter_ MAH PHRU. + +_The Wizard silently motions her to some piled-up cushions at a little +distance_. _He listens to what she tells him_. _He appears unmoved_, +_at a recital apparently full of tragedy_. _Only the eyes of the dragons +move_, _and the heads of the Buddhas go slowly like pendulums_. _When +she has finished speaking_, HIP LOONG _makes reply_. + +"This is how passion always ends. I have lived for a thousand years; and +on this planet it is ever the same." + +MAH PHRU _is not listening_. + +"How can I go to my children?" _she demands_, _once again_. + +"I can turn you into a bird," _the Wizard says_. "You can fly to the +palace and walk and watch ever on that terrace in the rose gardens above +the sea." + +"What bird?" _she asks_, _trembling_. + +"You shall have the form of the white paddy bird, because, though a woman +and foolish as women ever are, you are very pure ivory. O! daughter of +man and of love." + +_To this_ MAH PHRU _dissents_. _She paces the long room_. + +"Transform me into a peacock; they are more beautiful." + +_The Wizard_, _leaning on his elbow_, _smiles_, _and the smile is a +revelation of a mocking comprehension_. + +"So be it." _He bows his head_. + +_The lights fade one by one_. + +CURTAIN + + + +SCENE III + + +_The Gardens of the Palace of the King_. + +_Time_: _late afternoon_. + +_Colonnades of roses stretch away on every side_. _Fountains play_, +_throwing a shower on water-lilies of monstrous size_. _Peacocks walk +with stately tread across the green turf_. _Only one_, _larger and more +beautiful than the rest_, _is perched alone_, _with drooping head and +folded tail_, _on the broad-pillared terrace that overhangs the sea_. +_The scene is aglow with light and colour_, _yet holds a shadowed +silence_. + +_Enter some courtiers_, _who converse in perturbed fashion as they go +towards the Palace_. + +_Enter_ MOUNG PHO MHIN _and_ U. RAI GYAN THOO, _accompanied by the Court +Physicians and Astrologers_. + +"The King cannot live beyond the night," _the Physicians say_. _The +sudden_, _mysterious illness that has attacked him defies their skill_. + +_The Astrologers declare that the stars in their courses fight against +his recovery_; _unless a miracle should happen_, _the new day will see +him dead_. + +_The Ministers regard each other in consternation_; _then walk the +terrace with bent heads_. + +_The peacock on the wall spreads its tail and utters a melancholy cry of +poignant pain_. + +_The listeners start in superstitious horror_. + +_The peacock folds its tail and resumes its meditations_. + +"That bird is not as other birds," _one astrologer declares_. "I have +watched it for years past--it is ever alone--the others all avoid it. I +think it has a soul." + +"You mistake," _replies his colleague_; "it is but an evil Nat. {32} +Observe its eyes: they are not those of a bird; they are those of a +spirit in prison." + +_They pass on in the wake of the ministers_. + +_The peacock closes its eyes_. + +_Enter the two young_ PRINCES, _accompanied by two great Pegu hounds_. +_They converse in subdued tones_, _strolling slowly_. _They are followed +by pages of honour_, _carrying grain_, _which the young men proceed to +distribute amongst the birds as they rapidly approach them_. _The +peacock on the wall never stirs_; _she watches the young men always_. +_Then the elder one comes with a handful of food and proffers it_, _but +the peacock does not eat_. + +"I shall never understand you, Queen of the Kingdom of Birds," _he says_, +_and strokes her feathers_. _At his touch the plumage scintillates with +a brighter_, _a more exquisite sheen_. + +_He murmurs to the bird in soft tones and mythical words_. _He tells it +that the fear of everyone is that the King is mortally stricken_, _for he +lies yonder in most strange and evil agony_; _that the hearts of himself +and his brother are numb with the sorrow that knows no language_. _The +bird listens eagerly_. _And if the King should go_, _he_, _the speaker_, +_will reign in his stead_. _The prospect fills him with fear_. _He +desires_, _as also his brother_, _if the King must die_, _to return to +dwell in the forest with the mother who he knows awaits them there_. + +_The peacock spreads its wings as if for flight_, _then crouches down +once more_, _and over it watches the young prince_. + +_The sun envelops them both in a sudden shaft of rose and purple and +gold_. _A servant descends and comes across the grass_. _He shikoes +profoundly to the two young men_, _lifting up his hands in the deepest +reverence of Burmah_. + +"The Lord of the Earth and the Sky desires his sons; he nears the Great +Unknown." + +CURTAIN + + + +SCENE IV + + +_The retreat of_ HIP LOONG, _the Wizard_. + +_Time_: _the same night_. + +_The curtain discovers_ MAH PHRU, _who has returned to human form_, _and +the Wizard together_. + +_He tells her that he has restored her to her former state only because +she has implored him to do so_; _that her life is measured by hours as a +consequence of such insensate folly in breaking the vow of five years +back_. + +"But the King will live," _she murmurs_. + +"The King will live. He will find happiness with someone fairer than +you. That is well. Your life for his. It is the price." + +"The price is nothing. Have I not looked on my heart's beloved one for +five years--looked on his face--heard his voice--trembled with joy at his +footsteps? Have I not waited and watched? Have I not gazed on my sons +and seen their royal bearing, and known their touch?" + +"You are, then, content?" + +"You are a Wizard--you can read that I am." + +"It is not I that am a Wizard--it is Love. That is the only Wizard this +world knows." + +CURTAIN + + + +SCENE V + + +_The bed-chamber of the King_--_vast and shadowy_. _On heaped-up +cushions and covers of yellow and blue_, _under a pearl-sewn creamy +velvet baldaquin_, _embroidered with peacocks_, _lies_ MENG BENG, +_mortally stricken_; _his face bears the ashen pallor that only dark +skins know_. _The ministers_, _the servants_, _the courtiers_, _the +countless motley gathering of an Eastern Court are scattered in anxious +groups_, _watching_, _waiting_, _murmuring_. _Only the space near the +couch is clear_. _Without_, _the dawn breaks over the sea_, _and_, +_stealing through the opening_, _makes the great chamber flush till it +looks like porphyry_. + +_The tolling of a deep gong and the voices of a myriad birds invade the +throbbing silence of the Palace_. + +"He passes," _murmur the physicians_. _Everyone's gaze turns to the +dying man_. + +"Yet his star is in the ascendant," _say the astrologers_. _The risen +sun touches him with its light like a caress_. _He opens his eyes_. _His +sons advance_. _They raise him high on his cushions and give a +restorative_. _The end has come_. _Suddenly he rallies slightly_. + +_The doors at the far end are rudely opened_. _A woman_, _young and +lovely_, _advances_, _thrusting roughly aside the many hands stretched +out to bar her path_. + +_She reaches the King_. + +"I bring you life, Star of my Soul," _she cries_, "I bring you life," +_and so saying_, _falls dead at his feet_. + +_The Courtiers rush forward_. + +_The King rises_. + +_He stands erect_. + +_The sun lies like a golden benediction over all_. + +_Jewels glitter_. + +_The whole world of birds sing_. + +THE CURTAIN FALLS + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{4} One of the greatest feasts of the Buddhist year. + +{6} Spire. + +{32} Fairy. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR LOVE OF THE KING*** + + +******* This file should be named 23229.txt or 23229.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/2/23229 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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