Chapter 2

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_.