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.
_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_.