Read "For Love of the King" by Oscar Wilde online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
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_.
_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.