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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Told on the Pagoda, by Mimosa
+
+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: Told on the Pagoda
+       Tales of Burmah
+
+Author: Mimosa
+
+Release Date: May 20, 2011 [EBook #36171]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOLD ON THE PAGODA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Matthew Wheaton, Bill Tozier
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  TOLD ON THE PAGODA
+
+  _TALES OF BURMAH_
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+  TOLD ON THE PAGODA
+
+  _TALES OF BURMAH_
+
+
+  By Mimosa
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+  _LONDON_
+  T. FISHER UNWIN
+  1895
+
+
+
+  _All rights reserved._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                            PAGE
+  THE WOMAN, THE MAN AND THE NĀT               9
+  A FABLE                                     23
+  THE STOLEN TREASURE                         39
+  THE VIGIL OF MAH MAY                        63
+  THE PETITION TO THE KING                    85
+  THE PRIEST'S PETITION                       99
+  THE COMMAND OF THE KING                    117
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  1. A BURMESE VILLAGE GIRL                               _Frontispiece_
+  2. PART OF THE PALACE OF THE KING, MANDALAY             _Facing p. 39_
+  3. THE QUEEN'S MONASTERY                                _Facing p. 63_
+  4. THE KING'S PALACE                                    _Facing p. 85_
+  5. THE SHWAY DAGONE PAGODA                              _Facing p. 99_
+
+
+
+
+THE WOMAN, THE MAN AND THE NĀT.
+
+
+In every large tree there lives a Nāt, and it is a custom very
+strictly adhered to that before any tree can be touched the permission
+of the spirit must be asked and obtained.
+
+Now a woodman cut down a tree one day without giving the Nāt who
+resided in it the slightest warning, a proceeding which infuriated the
+spirit exceedingly, and he determined to be revenged; so, taking upon
+himself without delay the exact form and likeness of the woodman, he
+gathered up a bundle of sticks and went in advance of him to his home,
+in the brief warm gloom that precedes the fall of night. When he
+reached the hut, that was as bare as a hermit's cell, thatched with
+dunni leaves, and situated in one of the deepest recesses of the dense
+sylvan growth, he placed the wood outside and went within. An oil lamp
+stood on the wooden ledge of the entrance and threw a faint light on all
+around. The wife of the woodcutter was busy boiling the evening rice, a
+baby slept in its box-like cradle slung from a beam in the roof; a
+little boy of five or six sat cutting plaintain leaves.
+
+The Nāt greeted the woman; she answered him cheerily. Then he
+squatted down on a piece of matting.
+
+The rice being ready, the wife put it out on the plaintain leaves,
+giving one to her supposed husband, one to the boy, and keeping the
+other for herself. They ate together, and when they had finished drank
+some water from the chatty standing near. Then they sat and smoked, and
+talked together of the many little trifling events which went to make up
+their world. The woman cleared away the remains of their meal, and took
+out some betel chews and commenced to roll them, while the child slept
+behind the purdah. About half an hour passed away thus, when lo! on the
+stillness broke the voice of the woodman calling to his wife that he was
+coming, saying that he had been delayed.
+
+The woman heard in bewildered astonishment, then turned to the Nāt,
+who apparently had not heeded the call, and asked him if she dreamt.
+
+Then rising, she peered out into the gloom, just faintly relieved by the
+rays of a young moon, and beheld the form of a woodcutter coming between
+the trees, identically the same in figure and face as her husband who
+was there beside her. The new-comer called her by her name again,
+bidding her prepare something for him to eat, as he was tired and
+hungry.
+
+He threw the wood down that he carried, and entered, but staggered back
+on seeing his counterpart squatting, quite at home, on the ground. The
+woman looked from one to the other, and knew not what to do or think.
+
+There was silence for a few moments. Then he who had come last asked,
+when he had sufficiently recovered himself to speak--
+
+"Who is this man who bears so strange a likeness to me?"
+
+"I am the husband of this woman," answered the Nāt calmly, not even
+removing his green-leaf cigar from between his lips.
+
+"That cannot be," exclaimed the other indignantly, "because I am he."
+
+The Nāt shook his head, and went on smoking.
+
+The woodcutter, mad with anger and astonishment, turned excitedly to his
+wife, and cried--
+
+"Do you not know me, I, your husband, who left you only this morning? Do
+you not know me, or do you forget so soon, that you accept a stranger in
+my place?"
+
+The woman looked from one to the other, and examined each carefully, and
+was more puzzled than ever.
+
+"Oh, wife, do you not know me, do you not know me?" moaned the woodman
+in a grief-stricken voice.
+
+The woman wrung her hands as she answered--
+
+"I don't know if you are my husband; you are both so much alike that I
+cannot tell." Then she broke down and wept.
+
+And the Nāt hearing, smiled where he sat in the shadows.
+
+After awhile the woman dried her tears, smoothed back her heavy masses
+of black hair, and asked what was to be done.
+
+They neither of them answered. Then she said, "Let us go and seek Manoo,
+and abide by what he says."
+
+Manoo was a very learned judge, who had been appointed, while still
+quite young, Chief Justice of the King's Court, and was renowned for the
+wise and prudent judgments that he invariably pronounced.
+
+The Nāt objected to the proposition. Secretly he feared that Manoo
+might perhaps guess his identity; but the woodman assented eagerly to
+his wife's idea, and between them they overcame the other's dislike,
+and the three started without delay, going through the forest between
+the silvered line of palm-trees; the fire-flies danced before them, and
+the bats flitted by like ghosts in the warm darkness. All that night and
+part of the next they travelled, until they reached the Court of Manoo,
+which was a large white building, supported by chunamed pillars, and
+with many carved doors.
+
+The judge himself, magnificently arrayed, sat upon a raised couch, that
+was covered with scarlet satin, richly embroidered, and with a heavy
+fringe of gold and jewels edging it.
+
+The woman, the Nāt, and the woodman, leaving their shoes at the
+gates, entered, and, seating themselves at a respectful distance on
+separate pieces of matting, told their tale.
+
+The judge listened in silence to the end; then he asked the woman if
+her husband had any particular mark on him by which she could
+distinguish him.
+
+Her face lightened as she answered that he had a black mark on his back
+and a red scar on his knee. Then Manoo had both men examined carefully,
+but found that each had the same marks in the same places.
+
+The woman became more hopelessly bewildered than ever, and knew not what
+to make of the extraordinary circumstance; while the judge found himself
+in a position of considerable difficulty.
+
+He saw that he would have to consider the matter carefully for some
+time; so he bade them go, and return on the following day at the same
+hour.
+
+Then he went home to his house, which was a gift from his royal master,
+and was situated on a rocky promontory, with the sea rolling up almost
+to the entrance. Seating himself alone in his study--the windows of
+which looked out over the water to where a rich sunset glowed westward,
+edging the waves with freckled lustre, and throwing purple, amber, and
+azure lights over the white-crested waves--he became absorbed in deep
+thought, as a result of which he came to a solution of the matter. On
+the next day, therefore, when his three strange applicants presented
+themselves before him, he had a wooden wheel brought into the room and
+placed in the middle of the floor, saying at the same time--
+
+"The man who shall go through the hole in that wheel will be a wonderful
+man, and will be recognised as the real husband of this woman."
+
+On hearing which the woodman protested, saying that it was impossible
+for any human being to go through so small a space, that it was only
+large enough to admit of an arm; and he grumbled greatly, saying that
+the test was very unfair.
+
+But Manoo bade him be patient and silent yet awhile. Then he turned to
+the Nāt, and asked him what he thought. The Nāt, who was laughing
+inwardly, at once replied that he could perform the task that the
+woodcutter deemed impossible. The judge smiled a little complacently as
+he bade him do it.
+
+The Nāt immediately went to and fro through the hole with the
+greatest ease, the woman looking on in speechless amaze.
+
+Then said Manoo--
+
+"I suspected yesterday that you were no mortal, but a visitor from the
+Nāt country, and now I am, of course, convinced of it."
+
+The Nāt hung his head, and the judge proceeded, saying--
+
+"Why have you come from your own world, taking upon yourself this form
+and shape, thereby causing so much pain and unhappiness to two innocent
+people?"
+
+The Nāt, seeing that he could no longer carry on his course of
+deception, answered--
+
+"In the season of the sun, and in that of the rain, for a greater time
+than I can count, I have lived in a tree in the forest, where this
+woodman comes every day. I troubled no one, and I was content till two
+days ago, when he felled my home to the ground with neither warning
+given to or permission asked of me. When other woodcutters have come,
+they have and do always crave permission of the Nāt residing in the
+tree to take from it even one branch. Therefore you must see that I
+have had just cause to be angry."
+
+Manoo then said that the woodman had certainly been wrong in the way he
+had acted. Then, turning to the woman, he directed her and her husband
+to hang up a dried cocoa-nut on the best side of their hut for the
+Nāt to make his home in--an order which they promised to speedily
+obey.
+
+The Nāt said that he was satisfied with that arrangement.
+
+Then the three, thanking the judge, withdrew and went homewards.
+
+From that time forth all Burmese people hung, and still hang, dried
+cocoa-nut in their houses for the spirits to dwell in.
+
+
+
+
+A FABLE.
+
+
+Two dogs walked in the jungle together. The day was intensely hot, the
+rays of the sun, hardly tempered with any shade, fell through the
+towering bamboos and palm-trees down on their tired heads.
+
+They had come far; the way was very rough, the undergrowth very tangled
+and dense. There seemed to be no end to it. Their vision in front was
+obscured by the extraordinary wealth of orchids and green foliage that
+was gracefully but thickly festooned from branch to branch.
+
+Snakes glided away in the deep grass. Monkeys, squirrels, and birds of
+all kinds contended for the undisputed possession of the different
+trees.
+
+"I am very tired; I don't think I can go much farther," said the lady
+dog, who was small and delicate, to her companion.
+
+"So also am I," was the answer.
+
+"It was foolish ever to have come," grumbled the first.
+
+"It was your fault," snapped the second.
+
+"I did not say it wasn't, did I?" retorted the other, who, female-like,
+had the last word.
+
+Then they went on in silence for awhile. They both felt cross and
+hungry; and when you are hungry and a dog bananas are not very
+satisfying, and they were the only things near.
+
+Presently they came to where a small stream flowed; the water was quite
+warm, but they drank it and were grateful.
+
+Then they rested, going on again just when the last rays of the sun
+still showed above the dusky palm tops.
+
+They hoped to reach a village before nightfall; but they were doomed to
+be disappointed. There was not a sign of any habitation near when the
+darkness began to close around. The stars twinkled brightly in a clear
+violet sky of wondrous brilliancy. Close beside them was a tiger's
+den--empty. They crept in and sank down, too weary to go further.
+
+There were signs of its having been recently occupied, but they did not
+heed them; and gnawed ravenously at some half-eaten bones that were
+strewed about.
+
+Then they curled themselves up in one corner and slept. After a few
+hours the lady dog woke up and looked about her. Through the opening she
+saw the moonlight falling on the country outside; everything was
+strangely still, save for the distant cry of the jackal, and the healthy
+snoring of her spouse, who reposed in the corner. She felt alarmed, she
+could not exactly have told why, and awakened her companion, who
+grumbled not a little at being thus rudely roused from his slumbers.
+
+"Supposing," began his companion, not heeding his displeasure, "that the
+tiger was to return."
+
+"What!" cried the listener, sharply jumping up in extreme alarm at the
+bare suggestion.
+
+"Don't make that unearthly noise," said the lady, calmly. "I only said
+_supposing_, and I was going to ask you what we should do in such a
+case."
+
+"Do! why, what could we do?--nothing, of course," was the somewhat
+contemptuous reply.
+
+Just then an ominous crackling of the branches outside made them prick
+their ears. Creeping close to the opening, they looked out and saw in
+the distance a large tiger coming towards them, a white light, clear
+almost as the dawn, fell about him, showing his big head and striped
+back. The watchers trembled exceedingly, and their teeth rattled.
+
+"There is no time to be lost," exclaimed the lady in a hoarse whisper.
+"We must trust to his never having seen any like us before, and we must
+try and frighten him."
+
+"Humbug and nonsense! Fancy our frightening a tiger," said the gentleman
+dog with infinite scorn.
+
+"Never mind, we'll try; you sit at the door while I remain in here. When
+I roar--well, you'll see the effect."
+
+The dog very unwillingly took up his position at the entrance to the
+lair, and waited. In a second almost the great beast came slouching
+along; his gleaming eyes glanced hither and thither, and there was blood
+upon his mouth. Seeing the dog, he came to an abrupt pause, and stared,
+then came a little nearer, but very cautiously.
+
+Just then there came a cry from within, accompanied by the words, "I am
+hungry, very hungry, and so are the little ones, they crave more tiger's
+flesh; be quick and bring it."
+
+The tiger, hearing, waited for no more, but turned and fled into the
+night. He knew not what he had seen, but the words that he had heard had
+turned him cold with fear.
+
+He flew on away into the wood, not heeding where he went. Then, just as
+the first rose flush of dawn overspread the sky, he sank down exhausted,
+with a cold perspiration all over him. He fell into a troubled, weary
+doze, from whence he was awakened by a banana dexterously aimed, hitting
+him in the eye. Looking up he saw a brown monkey swinging itself on the
+branch of a tree opposite, and regarding him with all that gleeful
+self-satisfaction which a monkey is alone capable of.
+
+"Well, my friend," it cried, mockingly, "what has put you out? You look
+strangely pale and upset this morning."
+
+"I have had sufficient cause," answered the tiger, rising and shaking
+himself; "for when I went home last night I found it filled by the most
+peculiar-looking animals that I have ever seen, who shouted for my
+flesh."
+
+The listener cocked its ugly little head on one side as it munched
+bananas, and asked, "What were they like?"
+
+"Don't ask me," exclaimed the tiger. "I was too frightened to see
+anything save that they were white."
+
+The monkey flung itself up higher among the boughs and laughed loudly
+and long.
+
+"If you don't stop that hideous noise I'll kill you," called out the
+tiger very angrily, regardless of the fact that he could not get within
+miles of his tormentor.
+
+"Ha, ha! my friend," shouted the monkey, "the things that you were
+frightened of were two poor lean dogs, that went by here yesterday. What
+a great coward you are!"
+
+"Coward or no coward, they would have killed me and eaten me."
+
+"Eaten you! Oh, you great silly goose! With all your travels you don't
+know any more than that dogs can't kill you. You can kill dogs."
+
+"I don't believe you," protested the tiger stolidly.
+
+"Don't then," said the monkey, laconically, as he turned a somersault.
+
+There was silence for a while. The tiger sat down dejectedly while the
+monkey watched him through the leaves and chuckled maliciously,
+continuing to eat noiselessly as he watched.
+
+Having once had sufficient himself, he was not indisposed to be a little
+generous, so, taking some berries in one brown paw, he climbed down
+nearer the ground, and tendered them to his melancholy friend as an
+overture, saying as he did so--
+
+"Eat and forget for awhile."
+
+"I can never forget the loss of my dear home," was the melancholy reply.
+
+"Nonsense," retorted the other one, who was practical, not sentimental,
+and who had a hundred homes all equally comfortable in the forest.
+
+"It's no nonsense," said the tiger, shaking his head.
+
+"Well," exclaimed the monkey, after a few seconds, "if you really are
+afraid to go back, which is ridiculous, I will come with you, for I fear
+no dogs."
+
+"I wouldn't trust you," replied the tiger, ungraciously. "You have
+played me a scurvy trick or two before now."
+
+The monkey became indignant, saying, "It is just like your mean,
+suspicious nature to speak so to a friend who, out of pure good nature,
+is willing to do you a turn. What motive can I have save generosity?--no
+good can accrue to me personally."
+
+The tiger grunted an unwilling assent, and began to think seriously of
+accepting the offer.
+
+"Well," he said at last, "if you will consent to be tied to my tail, and
+to go in first to the den, my back being to you, and face the dog, I am
+willing."
+
+"Agreed," answered the monkey, who was an interfering little creature,
+and was longing to have his finger in the pie.
+
+So they went, the monkey tied to his friend's tail, chattering all the
+way.
+
+"Now," said the tiger, who was sullen and afraid as they came in sight
+of his lair, "if you don't behave fairly to me I will murder you, that's
+all."
+
+"Never fear; I won't give you the opportunity of carrying out your
+amiable intention, because I shall act only as your true friend,"
+replied the monkey.
+
+Then he pushed aside the thick-growing foliage and entered into the
+cave, the tiger keeping as far away as possible, his hind-legs inside
+and the rest of him out. The dogs were lying down, but roused
+themselves on seeing their visitor.
+
+"Well, monkey," shouted one, "so you have come at last, but that,"
+looking behind him, "is a very lean tiger that you have brought. Why do
+you do so when you know that we like them so sleek and fat, and----" but
+the monkey heard no more. He was gone--jerked violently away by the
+tiger, who, suspecting his fidelity all along, was convinced of his
+perfidy by the words of the dog's greeting.
+
+Away, away he sped, without turning back, over hill and dale, bump,
+bump, bang, bang, went the poor monkey's body, while he vainly protested
+his innocence in breathless, terrified shrieks. At last death came and
+ended his pain.
+
+The two dogs sat and watched them till their eyes grew tired.
+
+They laughed greatly as one said to the other, "See what happened to the
+monkey for interfering in other people's business."
+
+[Illustration: PART OF THE PALACE OF THE KING, MANDALAY.]
+
+
+
+
+THE STOLEN TREASURE.
+
+
+In a lonely part of a large forest there dwelt four wise men of India
+who owned a treasure consisting of gold, silver, and great jewels: like
+all property it was a source of great anxiety to its owners, for they
+always feared that it would be stolen from them. With that idea they
+constantly watched it, counted it, and changed its hiding-place; burying
+it sometimes under trees, or in a ruined well that stood not far
+distant; at other times with them in the house.
+
+For many long years they had kept it safely thus, so safely indeed that
+gradually they grew a little less zealous in their guardianship: the
+confidence born of long and unmolested peace made them somewhat
+careless; and so in some inexplicable manner news of its existence
+floated to the ears of a young man who dwelt in the town not so many
+miles away, and he at once made up his mind that he would become
+possessed of it. Being wise he only took counsel of himself, and bided
+his time with much patience.
+
+He made the acquaintance of the four recluses, and watched their
+movements and studied their habits with much diligence. He was a
+handsome, high-spirited youth, with manners that were frank and
+engaging, and the old men liked to see him and talk to him, soon growing
+to look forward to his visits.
+
+Months passed, and he went to see them often. They conversed
+unreservedly before him and trusted him as one of themselves.
+
+As time passed and no opportunity of taking the treasure offered itself,
+he began to be impatient, and was indeed almost reduced to despair when
+he learnt, to his inexpressible pleasure, that they intended going on a
+day's pilgrimage in the near future.
+
+He laid his plans.
+
+When the day came he rode to the forest on a pony, and, dismounting,
+fastened it near by as was his custom, and went within. The garden, with
+its moss-overgrown, decayed walls, was quite still save for the song of
+the birds. The sun fell through the leaves of the trees and made
+brilliant patches of light on the grass.
+
+The rooms of the house were dark and cool and empty. There were the
+broken remains of a meal and various things belonging to the absent
+masters scattered about. The visitor looked round and about him
+carefully, peering here and there, then, having quite satisfied himself
+that only he and the feathered world shared the stillness, he smiled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some hours later the pilgrims returned home: they had been far and were
+wearied; they rested for awhile, then ate their evening meal and
+prepared to make ready for the night. As was customary with them they
+went to look at the treasure where they had put it in an upper room, to
+find to their unspeakable horror and dismay that it was gone. They
+looked on one another in mute amazement and despair; they beat their
+breast; there were no words to describe what they felt in that hour when
+they bewailed its loss in a helpless, hopeless way.
+
+After awhile one of them said--
+
+"He who has come here so many times of late with fair words and fairer
+smiles, it is he who hath done this thing."
+
+The others agreed that it was only he who could have, for no one else
+had ever penetrated to their abode or shared their confidence. Too late
+they bitterly rued having ever received the stranger.
+
+They sat long that night talking. One said--
+
+"We have no proof save our own conviction that he whom we met as a
+friend and a brother has robbed us; therefore what can we do?"
+
+The others answered him--
+
+"We will seek the King, to our requests he has always leant a kind and
+willing ear."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile homeward through the sultry night rode a horseman with a
+heavy load.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the dawn broke, they who had been robbed set out together to seek
+the Court of the King.
+
+His Majesty, who was revered for his goodness, had one daughter who to a
+keen intellect united great beauty, and was renowned throughout her
+father's dominions and even in countries beyond the sea.
+
+Whenever the King or his ministers were perplexed as to how to act in
+any particular matter they invariably consulted the Princess, who on
+each and all such occasions had guided them aright; while no chicanery
+or fraud ever passed her undetected.
+
+All that was brave, lofty, and good she admired, honoured, and followed.
+All that was mean, low, and dishonest she abhorred.
+
+United to a powerful mind were many womanly, gracious, and charitable
+qualities, which made her beloved in humble circles as well as respected
+in high ones.
+
+Therefore when the four petitioners sought the King, it was with the
+idea of humbly pleading for the Princess's assistance.
+
+The King, who knew them, received them at once on their arrival and
+listened to all that they had to say, agreeing with them in their
+suspicions. He asked them, when he had heard their story, if they could
+identify the property if they were to see it anywhere; to which they
+answered, "Yes."
+
+Then, bidding them rest and refresh themselves, he went himself to the
+apartments of his daughter and told her the tale that he had heard. She
+was very much interested, and gladly promised to do what she could,
+telling her father that if the young man could be found and brought to
+the palace she fancied that she could restore to them their lost goods.
+
+Whereupon the King consulted the four, and a messenger was sent to
+search and bring the young fellow with as little delay as possible. The
+envoy of His Majesty found him whom they desired with but little
+difficulty, who received the royal summons with much astonishment and
+some fear. Instinctively he felt that it was with regard to the stolen
+jewels that he was sent for, and he trembled not a little as he set out.
+
+Were the theft ever to be discovered he knew full well that his
+punishment would not be a light one. Almost he felt inclined to regret
+that he had ever embarked on so hazardous a course, but then the memory
+of the shining heaps of gold and silver and the glittering stones, and
+all that they represented, came to him, and he laughed and shook off all
+feelings of fear; for how, after all, he said to himself, could they
+prove that it was he who was the thief?
+
+When he arrived at the palace, therefore, he was quite light-hearted,
+and walked through the lines of servants with a haughty, self-confident
+air.
+
+They ushered him through many halls and at last into a large and most
+beautifully decorated apartment situated at the end of a long vista of
+salons. The four walls had bas-reliefs of graceful figures of women in
+coloured marble and uncut jewels. The hangings were of ivory satin,
+embroidered with elephants and dragons in dead gold. From the ceiling
+were suspended magnificent lamps of many finely blended colours. A large
+fountain splashed softly near by; the floor was strewn with tiger
+skins; the air was heavy with strong perfume; while the light from
+without stole in subdued and cool through green blinds. But what riveted
+the visitor's attention beyond all else was a couch of immense
+dimensions stretching across the upper end of the room, reclining on
+which amongst many cushions was a woman; overhead was a canopy of
+fringed cloth supported by delicately chased silver poles inlaid with
+turquoises. On a table of mother-of-pearl stood some cheroots and a
+glass globe of water. Several attendants, gorgeously attired, lounged
+near, and created a breeze with fans made of real roses.
+
+The lady herself was very handsome, with a clear skin of an almost olive
+colour, great eyes of a velvety darkness, and a soft, slow, sweet smile;
+pearls clasped her throat, diamonds shone on her fingers, while gold
+bracelets glittered on her slender bare ankles. She motioned her
+somewhat bewildered visitor to seat himself near, and signed to the
+attendants to withdraw.
+
+He felt terribly nervous in the presence of this royal lady: she watched
+him in silence for a few moments, fanning herself languidly the while;
+she was uncertain as to how to open the conversation. He was very
+handsome, certainly, she thought, as she looked, and with a figure as
+lithe and graceful as that of a panther.
+
+She raised herself a little and leant forward slightly; he started and
+looked at her apprehensively.
+
+"I suppose," she began, "that you are wondering why I sent for you?"
+
+The tones of her voice were strangely liquid and clear.
+
+The young man murmured something indistinctly in response.
+
+She continued, "But for some time past, when the King and myself have
+gone abroad, we have seen you often and have desired to know you."
+
+The listener was trembling so with joy, relief, and surprise at hearing
+such words, that he could find naught to say in reply.
+
+Then she, perceiving his agitation, spoke to him gently and kindly for a
+few minutes, in order to give him time to recover his self-possession.
+Then, when he was more composed, she asked him many questions about
+himself--questions which he gladly answered. Then after a while she bade
+him go and to return on the morrow.
+
+So he went from the seductive presence of the Princess with his head in
+a whirl, and feeling as if he dwelt no longer on earth but in Nirvana.
+
+On the morrow he returned, and for many days following, not a question
+was ever asked. He was ushered always into the same room, where he was
+greeted most graciously.
+
+On the occasion of his fourth visit, after the Princess had conversed
+with him on many subjects, she asked him somewhat suddenly if he was
+betrothed or married.
+
+And when he answered that he was not it seemed to him that she appeared
+pleased. Then a long silence fell between them, which he of course did
+not attempt to break.
+
+"My friend," she said at last, and her manner was somewhat nervous and
+embarrassed, "I am glad that your affections are not placed elsewhere,
+because I myself, strange as it is for a woman to tell a man, desire to
+wed with you. To my father's Court have come many who have sought my
+hand in marriage, but in none have I seen those qualities which I admire
+and esteem----" she paused.
+
+The low, thrilling words stole on the listener's ear in sweet, subdued
+cadence. Did he hear aright? He doubted it; he feared that he only
+dreamt.
+
+Then he looked at her where she sat, with her shimmering jewels glancing
+a thousand hues, and his heart throbbed and his brain reeled, and he was
+as if drunk with wine.
+
+He knew not how to answer this beautiful, gracious lady.
+
+How she must love him, he thought, when she could so stoop from her high
+estate. He dropped on his knees before her. "Ah," he murmured, "where
+could I find fitting expressions in which to tell you what I feel? Your
+words have lifted me to complete Nirvana, I shall never dwell on earth
+again. Speech is but a poor thing often, therefore I will not say much.
+Deeds are best; it is by them, O Princess, that you shall read my
+heart."
+
+She smiled, and her eyes were softly tender as they met his.
+
+"There is but one thing," she said, after a few moments; "my father must
+not be told till after we are married; he would not sanction our union,
+though he will forgive us afterwards. Therefore you must take me hence,
+away from out the kingdom for some time; then, when my father's just
+anger shall have faded, as it surely will, we will return together."
+
+The young man listened in rapt attention, scarcely crediting even yet
+his own great fortune.
+
+"And yet I scarcely see," gravely pursued the Princess, after a short
+silence, "how it can be managed."
+
+She rose as she spoke and advanced to where a box of ivory, inlaid with
+opals, stood, touched a spring and opened it.
+
+"See," she cried, "this is all the money I own," taking in her hands a
+few small worthless pieces of silver; "I have never required money till
+now, all that I have ever wanted has been always beside me."
+
+"Do not fear if it is only money that you need," answered the young man;
+"for of that I have more than enough."
+
+"Ah! is that so?" she exclaimed eagerly, turning to him a face of glad
+surprise.
+
+"At home," he continued, "I have much of jewels and gold which I got but
+a little while back; sufficient to keep us in that luxury which is due
+to your rank, for many a year to come."
+
+"Go and fetch it," urged the Princess, "and return here at nightfall,
+and I will go with thee to another life--a life of happiness such as
+this world seldom holds."
+
+Her great eyes glittered as she spoke.
+
+He read in her words, her looks, and her gestures only the fond
+impatience of a love long, secret, and denied.
+
+He prostrated himself, and saying, "I will return at nightfall," left
+her to hurry on his errand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the early evening, when the darkness had only just fallen, he drove
+in a carriage to the palace; he left it at a little distance from the
+great gold entrance, and taking on his person much of his stolen
+treasure, he was ushered into the Princess's room; the swinging lamps
+were lit and shed a faint radiance on all around.
+
+She was by herself, and greeted him in a manner that left nothing to be
+desired.
+
+Wishing to assure her of the existence of that money and those jewels
+that he had spoken of, and feeling nervously elated, he drew from the
+recesses of his turban and sash a handful of great stones, that were as
+rivers of light; she gave a woman's delighted cry as she took them in
+her hands.
+
+He smiled, well pleased, and tendered a great ruby of wondrous size and
+blood-red fire.
+
+"These are but a few of what I have," he said.
+
+"How rich you must be!" she exclaimed, "From whence did all these things
+come?"
+
+"Ah, Princess, what matter whence they came? Sufficient it is that now
+they are yours."
+
+As he spoke she, unseen by him, touched a gong of curious workmanship
+that stood near.
+
+Then she held the stones up to the light, praising their beauty and
+worth, and asking many questions.
+
+A short while passed and then a great door at the end of the room opened
+and the King entered, followed by the four fakirs, and advanced to where
+his daughter sat.
+
+The young man's heart beat in alarm at the sight of those whom he had
+robbed. And the Princess's first words did not tend to decrease the
+feeling.
+
+"Are these some of the treasures that you have lost?" she asked, handing
+to the elder of the four the biggest of the diamonds and the rubies. He
+took them in his hand, then passed them to the others, saying, at the
+same time--
+
+"These are ours."
+
+"There stands the thief, then," said the Princess, pointing to the now
+cowering shaking figure of the culprit, who looked piteously from one to
+the other, feeling at the same time very enraged with himself for having
+been so easily caught in the trap that had been laid for him. "It is for
+you," continued the Princess, addressing herself to the four, "when your
+entire treasure has been restored to you, to name his punishment."
+
+The elder of them answered--
+
+"We are so rejoiced to regain that which we had feared was lost for
+ever, Princess, that we are willing that he should go forth unchastised;
+his conscience, and what it will say to him, will be his punishment."
+
+"That would be too light a sentence; for I doubt much if he has any
+conscience," said the lady, as she seated herself.
+
+"Then, Princess, will you relieve us by sentencing him yourself, as you
+best will?" craved the four.
+
+"No," she answered, "that I cannot do, I might be too harsh--I have
+convicted him; let His Majesty, who is ever lenient, name his
+punishment."
+
+Then they all turned to the King, who said--
+
+"I command that he be banished from this land for ever, and any property
+that he has, or is likely to have, be confiscated."
+
+[Illustration: THE QUEEN'S MONASTERY.]
+
+
+
+
+THE VIGIL OF MAH MAY.
+
+
+Mah May was a little Burmese girl who kept a small stall filled with
+cheroots in one of the crowded many-coloured streets of Rangoon. There
+she sat all through the sultry, languorous days smoking and waiting,
+with philosophical calm, for customers; now and then a great, big,
+well-fed looking Indian would stop and handle her goods, and, grumbling
+perhaps a little, would eventually buy; or a lean Chinaman, in baggy
+blue trousers, would pause and smile and talk awhile; or some little
+naked child would come and beg one for nothing; or the black coolies,
+their silver belts glittering in the sunlight, would cluster round and
+bargain and quarrel among themselves, perhaps, in the end, throwing her
+goods back to her with no very complimentary language; or a "Chetty,"[1]
+airily attired in scanty white muslin, his shaved head protected by a
+big cotton umbrella, would come and haggle over the annas as a poor
+Burman would never dream of doing; then, again, a well-to-do woman of
+her own race, dressed in silk, and with gold bracelets on her wrists,
+would purchase, but they were always, as Mah May used to say with a
+shake of her small head, the meanest of all.
+
+  [1] Indian money-lender.
+
+She was a bright little girl, though very poor; often hungry, and always
+wretchedly clad.
+
+For two years past she had squatted behind her tray, in the hot, hard,
+cruel glare, when the sun beat on the flat-roofed white houses
+mercilessly; when even the river, with its forests of ships, seemed to
+cease to flow; when all things were gasping and weary and the gharry
+wallahs slept soundly, and the poor lean ponies tried to flick the flies
+off their backs with their tails; when the Indian shopkeepers stretched
+themselves on wooden beds just in the shadow of their door-ways and
+snored away, dreaming of rupees and curry; while only the pariah dogs
+scratched and smelt in the road for something to eat. No one stirred;
+the drowsy influence of the heat seemed universal. Or on the dull wet
+days, when the sky was clouded and rain poured down, soaking everything
+through and through, and the thin coloured dresses clung pitifully round
+their owners' dark forms, and nobody had time to think of buying as
+they passed on in the warm, damp, oppressive atmosphere. Still Mah May
+sat, no matter what the season, rolling her cheroots, cutting betel
+chews, and crooning some little song to herself. At mid-day she ate some
+rice, and got a draught of water from a pump not far distant. Often some
+one was kind, and gave her some fruit or a cake; oftener they were
+unkind, but oftener still they were indifferent.
+
+It was a hard life--very, and she was only seventeen. Yet was she
+content. Nature had been her nurse. The sun and the rain had made her
+what she was--a hardy, honest, upright little soul, envying and hating
+no one.
+
+When the shadows grew long and the green shutters of the shops closed,
+Mah May rolled up her wares and wended her way homewards through the
+noisy, many-hued crowds to a miserable wooden hut, which stood in dirty
+yellow water, spanned by a rotten plank, and was situated in one of the
+poorest and most squalid quarters of the town--a quarter in which
+poverty, in its most hideous form, stalked. Half-clothed men, women and
+children of all ages, dwelt together there, and kept life in them as
+best they could.
+
+In the huts there was scarce one piece of furniture, save perhaps a bed
+or a roll of matting or a ragged purdah.
+
+The scorpions, the white ants, and the great toads held high revel.
+Amidst rows, hard words, evil things, cries of little children, and
+growls of half-starved dogs Mah May dwelt, and was happy.
+
+She did not know of any better life than hers. The day passed in the
+fresh air under the changeless azure of the skies and the night curled
+up in a corner of the hut, with the purple stars looking down through
+some chink in the roof; and knowing of any other, it is doubtful if she
+would have cared to exchange.
+
+Mah Khine, a black-browed woman whom Mah May had lived with as long as
+she could remember, was very good and kind to her in her own way; but
+she had many children tugging at her skirt, and her life was a very hard
+one. She was married to an Indian who had nearly all the faults of his
+by no means faultless race; his past had been bad, his present was even
+more so.
+
+He counted the cost of anything, done or undone, as small if it only
+brought in pice; pice sufficient to procure "toddy,"[2] the hot,
+horrible, poisonous stuff kept in the little shop by a Chinaman in one
+of the narrow, tortuous bye-lanes of the native quarter. To him it
+mattered nothing that his children had oftentimes not enough to eat, and
+that the lines about his wife's patient mouth deepened.
+
+  [2] "Toddy" is composed of the juice of palms, and sold in those
+        shops when fermented.
+
+The passion for drink possessed him, to the exclusion of all other
+feelings.
+
+Stretched on a wooden settle in the crowded, dirty shop that abutted on
+the still dirtier street, reeking with filth and smells, he passed his
+time sunk in a semi-conscious stupor.
+
+The proprietor looked upon Moulla Khan as one of the best customers he
+had.
+
+For him was his smile the sweetest, to him was he most accommodating in
+the matter of money.
+
+Of a day the frequenters of the place were comparatively few, but when
+the night crept on, Pun Lun lit up his place with many sickly oil
+lamps, whose light showed up the gaudy signboard with its ill-written
+"Toddy Shop" on it, surrounded by a curious design in Chinese, and drew
+the human moths round in dozens to smoke, drink, play, and talk. Indian,
+Burmese, all countries were represented there in that crowded, noisy,
+dirty place. The babel of many tongues broke on the ear afar off.
+
+The neighbourhood was a notoriously bad one, so that the fighting and
+sickening sound of blows that usually ended these gatherings of
+convivial spirits excited no comment.
+
+Even the deep groans from those who, wounded, lay helplessly for many
+hours gained no sympathy or succour of any kind.
+
+Often, but in vain, in the hot, sulphurous nights Mah Khine had found
+her way there, and begged of the great coarse brute whom she called
+husband to return with her, but for a long time past she had ceased to
+plead, realising how useless it was.
+
+And yet, strangely, with all his drunkenness and cruelty, the faithful
+soul refused to desert or even see him as he really was. He had been the
+chosen one of her girlhood, when she, young and pretty, had left her
+people to wed this stranger out of India.
+
+They had deemed her disgraced by the union.
+
+They had been well-to-do people, and would have married her to one of
+her own race.
+
+Her life had held many bitter, unhappy years, but she was proud in her
+way, and from her lips no word or moan had ever passed.
+
+Children had come and multiplied, and though the wants of such people
+are very few, often they had not the wherewithal to supply them.
+
+But of late years things had been better, for Mah Khine, who had a keen
+eye for business, had made and saved a little unknown to every one
+except Mah May.
+
+The money was kept buried away in a teak-wood box in a corner of their
+damp, worm-eaten house.
+
+Mah Khine's cherished ambition, trader that she was, was to open a
+little shop, as many of her class did.
+
+A little place filled with miscellaneous articles: pillows, lacquer
+boxes, wooden trays, crockery, pewter pans, some sandals, and perhaps,
+there was no knowing--that is, if she was lucky--some tameins and silk
+potsos for the men.
+
+There behind it the proud possessor, she dreamt that she would sit and
+roll the cheroots and have her children by her, keeping an eye on the
+younger as they played.
+
+This picture Mah Khine often painted to herself; it was her ideal of
+earthly bliss. She dreamt of it by day and night, but kept it locked up
+in her own heart.
+
+Anything that she could spare from what she made by washing the clothes
+of her richer neighbours she put by so carefully, handling it so fondly,
+storing it so cautiously: grimy brown pice, little silver pieces, one or
+two soiled, crumpled notes, how often she looked at them and counted
+them and took them in her lean brown hands! She would start out of her
+sleep, fearing some one had stolen her treasure, that represented the
+scraping together of two hard, long years.
+
+There was some little history attached to every coin.
+
+She remembered how each one was gained, every circumstance of toil or
+sacrifice through which it was put by.
+
+And not a soul knew, not a soul save Mah May and herself; Mah May she
+could trust. Mah May loved her, and was as honest and true as a little
+dog.
+
+Mah Khine never left the box in the house with no one to mind it, for
+fear it should be taken, though for two years gone by it had rested
+securely and undisturbed in its hiding-place.
+
+The knowledge of its existence, and what in the end it was to
+accomplish, leant a courage to her to bear with the blows, the sickness,
+and the abject poverty of her surroundings; it upheld her, it leant a
+brightness to her eyes, a lightness to her feet when they would have
+been otherwise pitifully weary. When she spoke there was oftentimes a
+strange ring of gladness in her voice; for Hope, that wonderful
+strengthener, dwelt with her.
+
+So time went on, and it wanted but three months for the money to be
+complete. They had been rarely lucky.
+
+Mah May had sold well every day. Mah Khine had had much to do. A great
+content abode with her. Even the morose, savage manner of her husband
+troubled her but little.
+
+The children flew at his approach, and hid behind the mud hill close by,
+or their mother's ragged skirts, or anywhere they could, and she soothed
+and comforted the little trembling ones as she best could, and on her
+face was a happy smile.
+
+"At last! at last!" she thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One warm, clear night, when the sky glittered with stars, and a young
+moon showed against it, Mah Khine made ready to take some silks that she
+had been washing home. She had promised them, for it was the eve of a
+great Buddhist feast. It was a long way for her to go, right across the
+town, but she did not mind. So she cleared up the remains of their
+evening rice, swept the floor with her straw besom, filled the
+water-chatty standing in the corner afresh, bade Mah May to watch
+carefully; and Mah May assured her, as she had often done before, that
+if any one was ever to find out their secret, the money they should
+never have, save they killed her first. So Mah Khine took up her bundle
+and went forth into the radiance of the night.
+
+Mah May looked after her until she was out of sight, and then squatted
+down, smoking.
+
+The hours went by; the lights were put out in the huts. Mah May felt
+very sleepy and tired where she sat, but she was good--she remained
+awake, staring out into space....
+
+A tall, dark figure stood before her. It was Moulla Khan; he had not
+been home for two days. His eyes were blood-shot, his turban
+disarranged. He stood over her, and looked down at her. She trembled a
+little; she feared him greatly. She stirred uneasily, but nevertheless
+met his look without flinching.
+
+He only uttered one word, and that in a voice which drink had rendered
+hoarse and thick.
+
+"Money." He spoke in Hindustani.
+
+"I have none," she answered him in the same tongue.
+
+He gave a sort of gurgling laugh.
+
+"Look you," he muttered, "I know there is money hidden somewhere--pice
+and annas and rupees--and I will have it; I know it, I tell you, I know
+it."
+
+"There is none," the girl replied. She had risen; she had her back to
+the hole in the wall where the money was.
+
+"Give it to me," he cried, in a voice of frantic rage.
+
+"I do not know who has told you this thing," she said, "but it is not
+true."
+
+She felt chilly with fright. She knew that, once his suspicion aroused,
+he would search till he found. She would be powerless to protect it.
+Tears dimmed the fond eyes of the child. She knew, none better, all the
+toil, privations, and hopes that lay in that poor little box.
+
+Yet what could she do? She was so small and her strength so puny. If he
+searched he would find it; its hiding-place was not so secure as to be
+proof against those cruel fingers.
+
+Though all Mah Khine's future lay there, she gave no sign of fear. She
+kept her ground boldly. He shook her savagely, when she stood. She was
+wondering who could have told him. She watched him with a dull,
+throbbing brain move unsteadily round the wretched room, groping by the
+light of the moon; feeling, feeling everywhere along the wall for holes;
+turning over all the things; then, with a muttered word or two, out he
+went on to the rafters, made of mud, behind, into a little piece of
+ground; but there was nothing, nothing anywhere. Her breath came a
+little quicker, a little more freely. Perhaps, after all--but, with a
+bound, he was by her side. He nearly wrenched her slender, childish
+wrists off. "It is there!" he cried in triumph.
+
+She set her strong white teeth in his black arm; but with a brutal
+gesture he flung her light weight from him. She fell with a dull, heavy
+thud. He did not heed her for awhile, searching eagerly, thirstily, his
+eyes glittering with cruel greed.
+
+At last he drew it forth triumphantly, the poor little shabby
+treasure-house, and took the money, letting some drop in his haste,
+hiding it with trembling, feverish hands in his white linen jacket.
+
+Then he put the box back, and turned to Mah May. He looked; she was very
+still; he crept nearer and nearer, and his cowardly soul shrank within
+him. The moonbeams had found her out and fell upon her thin, upturned
+face. He peered round, he held his very breath; no one was stirring,
+there was silence everywhere. His dark, acquiline face was as cunning as
+that of any fox cub. He paused for a second or two. Then, as if a
+sudden thought struck him, he gathered her up hastily in his arms.
+
+She was a little heavy, but he was strong.
+
+The river, that was drifting outward to the ocean, and the moon were the
+only things that shared the secret of that night with him.
+
+And they guard their secrets well.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"If Mah May wanted the money, I would have given it to her, for I loved
+her; she need not have left me," Mah Khine said, with a great sorrow and
+sense of desolate despair in her heart, and tears in her honest eyes,
+when Moulla Khan told his tale.
+
+She never learnt different--she never will--unless, indeed, the day
+dawns when the sea shall give up its dead.
+
+[Illustration: THE KING'S PALACE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PETITION TO THE KING.
+
+
+In the reign of King Mindoon, who was the father of King Theebaw, a
+servant sent a petition to him in which he set forth that he had been
+his humble and faithful servitor before his accession to the throne, but
+now, although seven long years had gone by since then, he had remained
+forgotten and unnoticed. Continuing in this strain for a space, he ended
+with the following parable:--
+
+In the Zita country there lived a King who had a son named Padoma, whom
+he sent to Thakada to be educated, and with him he sent a young
+attendant called Thomana.
+
+For three years they stayed at Thakada, at the end of which period the
+Prince, having completed his studies, prepared to return home; on their
+way, travelling by easy stages, they paused at a small village situated
+in deep-wooded lands, where a great feast was being held. Hundreds of
+people had gathered there from all parts. A large tent was erected in
+one part, where a banquet was spread, to partake of which they humbly
+begged the Prince.
+
+And he willingly accepted.
+
+On the ground had been spread matting, on a part of which a gorgeously
+embroidered scarlet cloth with a golden fringe was put for the Prince,
+and a white one, less magnificently worked and with a silver fringe, for
+his friend and attendant Thomana.
+
+When they had seated themselves, the rest of the company did likewise,
+remaining, however, at a distance, and separated by a cord.
+
+Now Thomana was very learned in astrology, having read and thought
+deeply on that subject, and he knew as soon as he saw the Prince seat
+himself on the red cloth that he would become King upon that very day.
+
+It was a brilliant assembly, every one clad in delicate silks of all
+hues, and glittering with jewels. The feast lasted long, it seemed,
+indeed, as if the constant succession of dishes was to be an endless
+one. All were in the best of spirits, and laughed and talked greatly.
+
+When the Prince had finished his repast, he was shown into an inner
+tent, where a couch of the same royal colour had been placed, and in
+front was a slightly raised platform of bamboo, draped with violet and
+rose-pink satin, richly worked and lighted with lamps, that shed a
+subdued radiance round and about the little graceful figures of several
+dancing girls who had been bidden to dance for his royal highness.
+
+Their dresses were so formed as to represent armour, and on their heads
+were similar coverings. They performed peculiar, dreamy, kind of
+movements, amidst a mist of varying hues. The Prince was much
+interested, and postponed retiring until late.
+
+Thomana, having bidden his royal master good-night, felt disinclined for
+sleep, so, strolling into a park-like demesne that was adjacent, he
+seated himself under a large tree, whose branches spread for a
+considerable way, and became lost in thought.
+
+It was a glorious night, with not a sound in the air save the soft whirr
+of some purpled-eyed or golden-winged insect as it floated by in the
+darkness. As he sat there musing on the events of the evening and the
+future of the Prince, two large leaves fell from above into his hand:
+one was old and withered, the other was fresh and green. "Ah," he
+murmured, as he looked at them, "in the same way as an old and a young
+leaf drops from the tree, so may a man full of years and one who is in
+the morning of life die at the same time."
+
+In the midst of his meditations, which lasted long, he became a
+rahan,[3] and was taken from the garden to the Gandremadana Mountains.
+At the same time a chariot of pearl, drawn by four pure white horses
+with trappings of gold, was on its way to the Prince to carry him back,
+as his father had died that day. Following the chariot came four
+ministers and a train of Court officials, accompanied by soldiers.
+
+  [3] "Rahan," _i.e._, one possessed of supernatural powers.
+
+They awakened the sleeping Prince and acquainted him with their news.
+Then, when he was prepared, he stepped into the chariot that was
+waiting, and was borne with all speed to the palace, where he was
+proclaimed King the following day with the utmost pomp, ceremony, and
+rejoicings.
+
+In his new life, and amidst his many duties and responsibilities, he
+entirely forgot the existence of his attendant, who had been his
+constant companion for three years; therefore his absence passed
+unrecorded and unnoticed; for what the King forgets the courtiers must
+never be unwise enough to remember.
+
+At the end of thirty years, when the King was getting old, he remembered
+Thomana, and wondered greatly where he might be. Whereupon he
+immediately caused it to be made known throughout his dominions that he
+would give a lac of rupees to any one who should give him any news of
+his lost servant.
+
+Now Thomana, owing to his great piety and powers of clairvoyance, became
+aware immediately of the fact that his old master had recollected him,
+and desired his presence. Therefore he went at once to the garden where
+he had been seated before he attained his rahanship so many years
+before. Close by the tree, under whose branches he had sat, were four
+shepherd boys, their flocks grazing near, while they themselves talked
+together of the big reward that the King had offered for news of his old
+servant.
+
+Thomana, coming through the leafy aisles, heard them, and accosted them,
+declaring that he was the person whom the King desired. They rose and
+glanced at him doubtingly.
+
+"Let two of you," he said, "go to the palace and tell His Majesty, that
+I await him here." To which they assented.
+
+A short while passed, and then an immense carriage, glittering like gold
+and silver in the sun, and followed by others less imposing, could be
+seen coming rapidly along the white winding road. Pulling up at the
+entrance, the King himself alighted, and came through the gates, that
+were all brazen and blazoned, straight towards Thomana, his arms
+outstretched to embrace him; but he whom he would have greeted so
+cordially stopped him, saying--
+
+"I am now a rahan; with men, their feelings, their passions, their brief
+triumphs, and sorrows, likes and dislikes, I have no affinity." Then he
+folded his arms and stood in silence.
+
+His face was very cold and still.
+
+The King, looking at him, saw that he was poorly clad, and bent, and
+thin, and pressed him to return to the Court, where he promised him
+money and many wives.
+
+But the rahan answered--
+
+"I do not need wealth, nor any of the poor fleeting pleasures that this
+world can offer. Let your Majesty come with me instead, and visit my
+abode of rest."
+
+"What is it like, this place," inquired the King in wonder, "that it can
+render its inhabitants indifferent to what we esteem the most desirable
+of all things in this life?"
+
+"It is situated far from here," replied Thomana, "and the approach to it
+is a broad, long avenue of gorgeous blossoms, such as you have never
+dreamed of, that bloom for ever, with a perfume that is at once dreamy,
+drowsy, and infinitely sweet; vast sprays of water spring from the
+mouths of silver dragons; over head the branches of trees interlace,
+showing but a strip of blue sky through their quivering leaves. For
+hours can you wander amongst these mazes of roses, this wonder of colour
+and beauty. At the end of the grove is situated an immense tree, larger
+than aught that you have seen and higher than any eye could reach. It is
+surrounded by columns of marble that glow like jewels. Here the nāts
+and fairies dwell, with nothing to disturb their seclusion and solitude
+save the sound of falling waters and the song of birds. While over all
+is cast such a spell as this life does not hold. Ah! beside the
+perfection of that world, how poor and valueless are the things of this!
+There one talks with the gods and dwells in worlds beyond the sun. There
+is no room for regrets or for desires. There every one is beautiful,
+therefore we do not covet beauty. There wealth is common to all,
+therefore we do not desire it. There all are equal, and love and
+goodness are the aim and end of all things. Come and see for yourself,"
+he added.
+
+And the King, marvelling greatly at what he had heard, went. And there,
+in the midst of those divine surroundings, with naught to disturb the
+mind from the good, he wandered, awed and silent, but not afraid. In
+those cool, wide halls of bliss, all memories of grosser things and ways
+faded into nothingness. He forgot his kingdom, and was by it forgot.
+
+[Illustration: THE SHWAY DAGONE PAGODA.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PRIEST'S PETITION.
+
+
+It was the custom for the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Ava to be
+placed, while young, in a monastery with the priests, to be instructed
+in a manner suitable to the position that he was destined to occupy.
+Prince Min Goung, while a boy, was put under the special care of the
+Phoongyee Shin Ah Tah Thaya--a prudent and learned man, who gave all his
+time and wisdom to his pupil.
+
+Min Goung was of a proud and wilful nature, and one who would not
+willingly bend his haughty head to any yoke, however light and silken.
+
+One day his reverend teacher punished him, for persistent bad writing,
+somewhat severely--an act which he regretted afterwards, thinking,
+perhaps, that he had been over harsh.
+
+Time passed away. The King died, and the young Prince was crowned. Then
+the priest began to fear that his former pupil might do him some harm,
+for he imagined that he had never forgiven him the liberty he had taken
+in chastising him. So he quitted his retreat, and fled to Prome for
+safety. Disliking his enforced banishment, he determined to write and
+crave for pardon; and in the course of his long appeal, written on palm
+leaves, was the following story:--
+
+"There was a king of Bayanathee, learned and merciful, who had a hundred
+sons, each of whom, when old enough, was given into the hands of a
+carefully selected instructor to be taught those subjects for which he
+had the greatest taste. When each was grown up and had completed his
+education, he was appointed a governor of a portion of the royal
+dominions; and so ninety-nine of the Princes had been educated and been
+presented to the King and received their appointments. Prince Thanwara
+was the youngest of them, and was taken care of by a distinguished
+minister, who began and continued his instruction in a way that was very
+suitable to the quick natural intelligence of the boy; and when the time
+came for Thanwara to go to his father, his teacher accompanied him.
+
+"When they came before the King--who was seated on a throne of silver
+and agate, with golden doors behind him--he asked his son if he had
+learnt and completed the same course of studies as his elder brothers,
+and the young Prince answered him--
+
+"'I am sufficiently qualified, sire, to take upon me the same duties and
+responsibilities as those of my brothers who have gone before.'
+
+"The King was satisfied with the reply; and then, after a while, the
+Prince and his tutor returned to their home.
+
+"Talking to the tutor before he slept, Thanwara said--
+
+"'If the King my father offers me the same position as he has bestowed
+on my brothers, will it be well with me to accept it?'
+
+"The teacher made answer thus--
+
+"'If a man, O Prince, desires to partake of the Bandaya fruit, which
+only grows in Nirvana, can he obtain it from its tree from the distance
+of a hundred yujanas (eight hundred miles), or would he rather not stand
+under the tree and take the fruit with a hooked bamboo? In the same
+way, if you wish to sit on the throne it is best for you not to go from
+here, but to remain in the shadow of the palace.'
+
+"The prince listened, and then, when he had heard to the end, he said--
+
+"'Then, my teacher, when to-morrow I go before my father, and he asks me
+my desires, what shall I make reply?'
+
+"'Ask of him to bestow on you the rents of the bazaars and the produce
+or the royal gardens within the city gates.'
+
+"'Of what benefit would such be to me?'
+
+"'The greatest benefit, my son. For those who have money have power, of
+which truth I will give you an illustration:--
+
+"'A timid doe in the forest, when it once sees a leopard, will fly, and
+hiding carefully, will not venture to stir out again for many days and
+nights; but on the other hand, retiring as it is by nature, it will, if
+a person constantly feed it, so far lose its timidity as to approach him
+and take from his hand. Therefore, my son, if you give presents often to
+the favourites and the advisers of the King, you will gain their
+confidence and their liking.'
+
+"On the following day, when the Prince reached the palace, and his
+father asked him to name the province that he wished to govern, he
+answered thus:--
+
+"'My brothers have all gone from you to distant parts of the world to
+guard over your vast possessions; let me then remain here to be your
+Majesty's attendant, and render you that care and assistance in
+sickness, in health, and in trouble, or any other trial, that affection
+can alone offer.'
+
+"The old King was pleased, and granted unhesitatingly what he was
+asked.
+
+"From that day forth Thanwara received the rents and profits of the
+bazaars and gardens, and took up his residence near the throne, in the
+white palace of his father.
+
+"Gradually his winning manners, his deference to his elders, his many
+thoughtful and beautiful gifts, and, lastly, his own piety and learning,
+gained for him the first place in the hearts of those who were about the
+Court.
+
+"So the years fled away, and were counted with the past.
+
+"But when the tenth year was young, the King's health failed him; he
+felt that the sands of his life were nearly run. So about him he
+gathered his ministers and advisers. After they had expressed their
+sympathy and regret at finding him ill, they inquired which of all his
+sons he would best like to wear his crown when he was gone.
+
+"The dying King raised himself from the low couch on which he was
+reclining, and, propped by many cushions, answered their question in
+this wise:
+
+"'A hermit was one day coming from his lonely Himalayan abode through a
+forest. Over his head, as a sunshade, he had an enormous flower, called
+the kakayu mala, which is found, as you are aware, only in the Nāt
+Country, and its fragrance reached to the distance of one yujana (eight
+miles). On his way he encountered four fairies, each of whom saw and
+coveted the blossom. They all in turn asked him for it, but he said, in
+reply to their request, "I can only give it to the most virtuous and the
+most excellent of you all."
+
+"'Whereupon each protested, all contending for the honour.
+
+"'But the hermit, who was discreet and prudent, said, "How can I, who
+have no means to judge, decide? To me you all seem worthy of it, equally
+charming, and deserving in all respects, therefore had I four flowers I
+would divide them gladly between you; but as there is but one, and that
+one incapable of division, we will refer the matter to the King of the
+Nāt Country, who has the all-discerning eye."
+
+"'So they went.
+
+"'They had not to travel far before they came to his green and gracious
+kingdom.
+
+"'They made straight for the beautiful ivory palace where the King
+dwelt, and were ushered into where he sat on his throne, composed
+entirely of the very flowers.
+
+"'He inquired what brought them before him.
+
+"'They told him. Then he thought for a little time, while they waited at
+a distance. When he called them to him and said--
+
+"'"There is a rahan residing in the Kisokok Mountains to whom I will
+present a golden pineapple; then the four of you shall go and seek him
+and ask him for it. The person whom he shall give the golden apple to,
+that person shall be the most worthy in every way to be the recipient of
+the flower."
+
+"'They thanked him, withdrew, and started for the Kisokok Mountains.
+
+"'When they arrived there the rahan requested each fairy to take up her
+position according to the four directions of the earth--north, south,
+east and west--which they did, while each clamoured for the prize.
+
+"'Then the rahan asked them their names, to which the eldest replied,
+"Thada" ("Charity"); the second, "Thati" ("Peace"); the third, "Hiri"
+("Modesty"); the fourth, "Ootoppa" ("Virtue").
+
+"'When the rahan heard he gave the golden apple into the hands of
+Ootoppa, saying, as her name represented, she was the most deserving.
+Then she went to the hermit, who presented her with the beautiful
+flower, and from that moment she was esteemed the most virtuous and most
+excellent of all women in the Nāt Country.
+
+"'Therefore,' continued the old King, addressing the ministers around
+him, 'you must be the hermit in this case.'
+
+"Before that day was over he was dead, and was interred with great
+honours and many lamentations.
+
+"Then the advisers, with no delay and no hesitation, elected Prince
+Thanwara to succeed his father; but when the news reached the other sons
+in their distant territories they were filled with wrath. The second
+sent to his elder brother a letter, in which he said that the ministers
+of their late father were weak and corrupt, and very wanting in
+foresight in allowing themselves to be persuaded into placing the
+youngest of all on the throne, thereby disregarding the principle of the
+ancient rule of succession; for (continued he) in the Ahrottaya Country
+there was a King who had three children, two sons and a daughter, born
+of the chief Queen. When the eldest son was sixteen years of age the
+Queen died. The second Queen thereupon became chief, by whom the King
+had a son, and when that son reached eight years of age the King was
+bitten by a snake, a fact which frightened him greatly. The Queen,
+however, who was quick to think and very brave, sucked the poison from
+the bite. The King, being filled with gratitude, asked her to make any
+request that she liked, which he would grant, whereupon she immediately
+begged that her son might be selected as the heir to the throne, and to
+her inexpressible satisfaction the King gave his consent.
+
+"A while later his Majesty sent for Narada, a soothsayer, who was asked
+to calculate his term of life. Narada told him that he would live twelve
+more years. The King then sent for his three children by the dead queen
+and acquainted them with the soothsayer's prophecy, telling them at the
+same time that they must quit the Court and find a home elsewhere for
+twelve years.
+
+"Sorrowing greatly, they obeyed. After nine years the King died of grief
+for the absence of the children that he had sent from him.
+
+"The Queen lost no time in scheming to put the crown upon her son's
+head. But the chief minister opposed her, saying that the eldest boy
+still lived and could not be put aside.
+
+"Then he took the crown and all the insignia of royalty, and with many
+attendants and great state travelled to where the eldest son resided,
+and offered the throne to him.
+
+"The Prince met him with the argument that the King's commands extended
+to twelve years, and that, as only nine had elapsed, his step-brother
+must reign for three years. Then he gave the minister a pair of
+slippers, worked with wheat, to give to his half-brother, with the
+direction that they were to be placed on the judgment-seat, declaring,
+as he did so, that if any decision is illegal or contrary to the right,
+the slippers would of themselves rise and touch each other as a protest.
+
+"'Wherefore,' continued the brother's epistle, 'as the ministers have
+not paid you the respect of deferring to you in the matter, we should
+prepare to go to war with Thanwara.' The elder brother, on receiving the
+above, addressed a letter to his youngest brother, in which he requested
+him to surrender the crown or to prepare for hostilities.
+
+"Prince Thanwara sought the advice of his chief minister in his
+perplexity, and he told him that, according to religion, he must not
+oppose his elder brother.
+
+"'Then,' asked Thanwara, 'what am I to do?'
+
+"The chief minister answered: 'Divide all the property in the kingdom
+into one hundred shares, and give each equally.'
+
+"And it was accordingly done, upon which the eldest brother, being quite
+content, left the youngest in the possession of the throne, saying that
+a hundred kings could not reign in one country, and that, if they tried,
+it would be for the woe of the people.
+
+"So all the brothers went back to their own in peace and amity."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the King of Ava read the priest's letter, he was so well pleased
+with the narrative that he sent a messenger to him, and appointed him
+head of the ecclesiastical body, with a residence near the palace.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMAND OF THE KING.
+
+
+There was a King of Amarapoora, who reigned in a time long past.
+
+He was young and beloved, and fair of form and face, and his people
+lived but to obey his lightest wish. He dwelt in a palace of crystal,
+surrounded by gardens, of whose beauty no tongue could tell. He had
+money and lands and gems, and beautiful wives and unnumbered treasures,
+gathered from all lands.
+
+He could have whatsoever he willed, and go wheresoever he listed. His
+days and nights were one long dream of gladness.
+
+No enemies plagued him; no troubles of any sort visited him; his coffers
+were well filled, and his ministers were faithful and wise; and yet, in
+spite of all, he was weary of everything, more weary than he could say.
+
+He drank from a goblet of gold, rimmed with a band of pearls, and his
+clothes were studded with rubies and emeralds; he was flattered and
+courted and envied as no monarch had ever been envied before, and he was
+more discontented than the poorest subject in his realms.
+
+Above and around and about him was all that is most conducive to
+happiness, but within him were fatigue and desolation.
+
+All that he had ever wished for had been given unto him; never had the
+gods left unanswered his prayers; other and better men's they turned a
+deaf ear to, but not so this King's, and now he had nothing more left
+to crave for.
+
+He had supreme power vested in his hands, but he was indifferent to it;
+he owned everything that the heart could desire, and those very
+possessions were killing him.
+
+For the trail of the serpent of satiety lay over his garden of Eden.
+
+Never had his eyes rested on disease or want or poverty, or anything
+that could distress his mind.
+
+All gifts and graces had been showered upon him; his sins were buried
+in oblivion, or cited more admiringly than the virtues of others.
+
+When he went abroad on his white elephant, with its trappings of scarlet
+and silver, the very air was perfumed with otto of rose, while the
+people bowed and kissed the dust through which he passed.
+
+Attached to the palace were many hundreds of officials, players,
+dancers, jugglers, and clowns; for the King sought only one thing, and
+that was--Amusement; of which, in no matter what form it was presented
+to him, he soon tired.
+
+Constantly was the country being searched for some one with a ready wit,
+an inventive tongue, or a nimble foot, to pass the hours for the Lord of
+the City of Gems.
+
+Tellers of marvellous stories, more wonderful than the Arabian Nights,
+had come, and tried their little best to please.
+
+There were those who travelled specially to other countries, but to
+return and tell him of all that they had seen, and of how inferior all
+lands and rulers were when compared with their own.
+
+Dancing women, with the classic limbs and straight black brows of
+Egypt, sought his favour.
+
+Eyes that were as loadstars in their brilliancy wooed him with a
+thousand glances.
+
+Circassian women, with sun-flecked tresses, were his willing slaves.
+
+Men of great learning asked nothing better than to gain his ear awhile,
+but all fatigued him soon.
+
+And, like a child, he cried for something new.
+
+Then one day a stranger from India presented himself at the great gates
+of the palace, saying that he brought a game called Chess to teach the
+King. They who loitered round the entrance bade him scornfully to
+"begone." What would he of the Golden Feet do with red and white figures
+like that? they contemptuously asked.
+
+But the Indian protested, craving humbly to be granted an audience.
+Then one, who was more kindly than the rest, led him through the green,
+silent gardens, with their aisles of gorgeous roses; by spray-splashing
+fountains, fringed with the lotus-flower; up a flight of marble steps on
+to a terrace where peacocks strolled; through carved doors, from which
+stretched an endless vista of halls and rooms filled with numerous
+attendants, who formed a mass of marvellous colour; carpets and rugs of
+velvet-like softness were strewn about; ivory of wonderful workmanship;
+things of all precious metals, together with stuffs of delicate hues and
+lovely texture; to a chamber handsomer than any that had gone before,
+where at one end, seated on a couch, clad in an odd, rich fashion, and
+shaded by a large umbrella, was the King, his bare feet resting on a
+stool; to his right was a golden spittoon, while to his left stood a
+slave holding a jewelled betel box and some green cigars.
+
+The Burmese prostrated himself almost full length, motioning the Indian
+to do likewise, explaining at the same time the object of their
+presence.
+
+His royal master received them graciously, inquired into the merits of
+the game, finally declaring that he would be taught it there and then.
+
+From that time forth he devoted himself to play with an eagerness
+entirely foreign to his nature. He paused for nothing, never going
+without the palace. The days seemed not half long enough. The courtiers
+were inclined to congratulate themselves on having at last found
+something that seemed likely to continue a favourite with the King,
+until they saw how high the Indian was rising in his favour, being
+loaded with money and presents, and thereby becoming a cause of bitter
+envy and jealousy on the part of the Burmese ministers.
+
+Nor did his haughty, overbearing manner tend to soften their resentment.
+Many were the plans that they made to cause his downfall, but in vain.
+Every one of the plots failed, while he whom they conspired against
+seemed to grow but dearer to the Lord of the Rising Sun.
+
+Time passed.
+
+Then one came called Nicomar from a great distance, who brought painted
+cards and dice wherewith to amuse the monarch, the like of which had
+never been seen before. And the King, like a spoilt baby, was delighted
+with this new toy, and thrust away the chess from his sight with
+disdain.
+
+And those round about were so glad of the change that they hardly
+grudged the new-comer the honours that their royal master began to
+speedily heap upon him.
+
+The days went by, and His Majesty did nothing but recline on his crimson
+and golden cushions, playing and rattling the dice-box.
+
+Then, after awhile, he took to enlivening the game by hazarding large
+bets with his teacher--bets which generally meant the performance of
+impossible feats by Nicomar, with many penalties attached to their
+non-accomplishment.
+
+Often and sorely was Nicomar's subtle mind perplexed to devise means of
+circumventing his master's wagers, and of distracting his attention to
+other and more entertaining matters. Nicomar lived always in fear of
+losing his place at the palace. Inwardly, he hated this unreasoning and
+unreasonable monarch, whom nothing pleased for long; outwardly, he was
+the most docile, obedient, and fawning of servants.
+
+Carefully did he veil his night-like eyes, lest the hatred that shone in
+them sometimes might be read by those around.
+
+Prostrate before the King, he seemingly lived but for his smile.
+
+The burning days and the sultry nights he devoted to his service; while
+others slept he sat wakeful, thinking out new forms of amusement, new
+ways to distract the King, and enable him to retain that place which to
+him, hitherto most poor and friendless, was as the sorcerer's golden
+apple.
+
+For Nicomar there was but one god--and that god was wealth.
+
+He laboured and strove for and endlessly desired it.
+
+A year went by, and still he remained the favourite, and he began to
+feel a little more secure and at ease....
+
+"Nicomar," cried the King one day, as they sat together in the sunset
+glow, "I have resolved that you shall put milk where the sea now is. I
+have tired of water, and I desire instead an ocean of milk."
+
+Nicomar stared in dismay.
+
+"That which your Majesty wishes is impossible," he made answer.
+
+The King frowned.
+
+"Impossible is no word between you and me. That which I command must
+never be impossible," he exclaimed angrily. "Hitherto you have obeyed my
+orders; do so now."
+
+The Indian trembled, but dared not protest.
+
+"Fill up the sea with milk in fourteen days from now and your reward
+shall be all that even you can desire;--fail to do so and you shall die
+by all the tortures possible within an hour. Do as I say and your place
+shall be the very highest here: your power shall be well-nigh limitless,
+your name shall be on all lips; men shall crouch at your feet; you shall
+have a finer palace and greater wealth than any in the land. Save
+myself, you shall be great and free, while those whom you love shall be
+raised also."
+
+Nicomar salaamed silently.
+
+The King continued:
+
+"You have known what it is to be lowly and despised; you have been
+mocked and reviled at,--what greater or sweeter vengeance then to see
+those very people bow down before you your slaves? I desire this thing
+so much that any price you like to name I am prepared to give."
+
+The Indian answered never a word.
+
+He knew of old that once the King commanded it was useless to do aught
+but comply.
+
+This reward, great as it was, could never be his, for to earn it was
+beyond anybody's power.
+
+"Begone, now," continued His Majesty, "and return in fourteen days' time
+to claim your prize, or----" and his gesture was more eloquent than
+words.
+
+Nicomar, with sorrowful, halting gait, went from his august presence.
+
+He sought without delay the quietude of his own rooms. He was well-nigh
+distracted. From many difficult predicaments he had with consummate tact
+and skill extricated himself, but from this there seemed no escape.
+
+He beat his breast and tore his hair. He consulted the wise men and the
+stars; looked for this sign and for that; prayed long and fervently, and
+propitiated the gods in many ways, but all to no purpose.
+
+He took no food or rest; he dared not think of what awaited him in the
+near future.
+
+So a week went by, and he was no nearer finding a loophole through which
+to escape.
+
+On the seventh day he sought the King, and craved humbly to know if he
+had understood him aright, or had he been but jesting with him.
+
+He lingered but a short while in doubt.
+
+His Majesty was deeply incensed at being questioned, and let the full
+torrent of his displeasure fall upon the head of his luckless servitor.
+
+Swearing many oaths by the sacred hairs of Buddha that his will should
+be obeyed, he had him thrust ignominiously from his presence.
+
+Then Nicomar went from out the palace and the city far into the lonely
+country, seeking he knew not what. For days he wandered wearily through
+thick jungle and silent forest ways, stepping but slowly in the long,
+dank grass.
+
+He suffered greatly, and suffered without hope.
+
+On the fifth day he came to where a broad river flowed and sparkled
+between high green banks.
+
+Some Burmese, driving bullocks, were resting beside it, while in the
+distance were a few mud huts.
+
+Nicomar, who was footsore and faint, sank down at the foot of a banana
+tree.
+
+His garments were torn by branches and brambles, his sight was blinded
+by the sun, his mouth parched with thirst.
+
+Idly he watched the Burmese from where he sat.
+
+Soon it became apparent that they desired to cross that glittering
+expanse of water, but evidently knew not how to accomplish it.
+
+Nicomar, tired of thinking of his own miseries, grew unconsciously
+interested.
+
+Three of them twisted their silk pasohs up about their waists, and tried
+to wade the river; but it was too deep, and they returned, seemingly
+much perplexed.
+
+Then they consulted together; whereupon one among them--evidently
+against the desire of his companions, as their gestures betokened--took
+the rope of his bullock between his teeth, and diving into the river,
+with a good imitation of swimming reached the other side.
+
+His fellows watched the performance with open-eyed wonder, but could
+not be induced to follow his example.
+
+Nicomar, looking on, thought that the young man must have a mind full of
+resource, and so determined to seek him and consult with him. He could
+not have told what was exactly the impulse that urged him to this
+course, but he rose, and staggering a little because he was faint, made
+his way to the river bank.
+
+The young fellow leant a very interested and attentive ear to the
+strange story that Nicomar told to him. When he had finished he took him
+to his hut and gave him a meal of rice, then bade him go over the tale
+once more in all its details.
+
+Whereupon he asked at the conclusion--
+
+"If I, poor and ignorant, satisfy the King that his command can be
+performed, what will you give unto me?"
+
+Nicomar, trembling with joy and incredulity, promised him one half of
+what he had and the hand of his daughter in marriage.
+
+Then the Burman said--
+
+"To-morrow we will seek the King." More he would not say, but sat in the
+dusky gloom of the coming evening, smoking.
+
+Nicomar, with the great weight of his troubles somewhat lightened, slept
+heavily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the morning of the fourteenth day Nicomar prostrated himself before
+his master.
+
+"Well," asked the King, "come you to claim your reward?"
+
+The Indian bowed his head in grave deferential assent.
+
+"And so you have obeyed my order?"
+
+"I but wait for your Majesty to perform your part first, then I will
+without delay do my share."
+
+The King hastened to ask the meaning of such an answer.
+
+"Your Majesty commanded me," replied the Indian, "to fill up the sea
+with milk, which I am quite ready to do; but your Majesty did not
+command me to take the water from the ocean, and until that is done it
+is impossible to fill it anew. If your Majesty," continued Nicomar,
+"will but dispose of the water----." Then he paused timidly, waiting the
+King's response. He had done as the Burman had instructed him, and he
+feared the result.
+
+For a long while there was silence, and those round about trembled with
+apprehension, for they guessed not in what wise their master would take
+such a reply.
+
+At last he smiled, for although he had many grave faults, he was not
+unkindly or averse to owning himself baffled.
+
+Then he said--
+
+"Nicomar, thou art cleverer than I thought."
+
+At which words hearts that had stood still from fear beat once more.
+
+"The sea exists," said his Majesty, after a pause, looking round on his
+Court, "as it existed before we were, as it will exist when we have all
+passed away and our names have been forgotten."
+
+
+  UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
+
+
+Italics shown with underscores, _like this_.
+
+Small caps capitalized LIKE THIS.
+
+The following misprints have been corrected:
+
+  p. 69 repeated "in a" corrected.
+
+  p. 85 comma added after "who was the father of King Theebaw"
+
+  p. 100 "seleced" changed to "selected"
+
+  p. 119 "him" appended to last word of "All gifts and graces had been
+         showered upon;"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Told on the Pagoda, by Mimosa
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