For Love of the King: A Burmese Masque

In Short

This play is a lush, atmospheric masque that follows King Meng Beng of Burma, who abandons his courtly duties to live in the jungle with a beautiful woman named Mah Phru. Their idyllic life is shattered by the obligations of statecraft and the inevitable cruelty of fate. As the King faces a mysterious, terminal illness years later, the narrative weaves together themes of sacrifice, the isolating nature of power, and the transcendent, often tragic power of love. It remains a singular, vivid curiosity within the author's body of work.

The Story

King Meng Beng, a young and delicate ruler of Burma, feels stifled by the rigid expectations of his court and the long-delayed marriage arranged for him with a Cingalese princess. Seeking distraction, he travels to the Pagoda of Golden Flowers. There, he encounters Mah Phru, a woman of mixed Italian and Burmese heritage who lives in poverty and faces constant persecution from her neighbors. Struck by her beauty and pathos, the King offers her his protection. He installs her in a secluded jungle home, declaring that for the next two years, he will live as a man, not a monarch.

For two years, the couple enjoys a life of profound happiness, eventually raising two sons in their forest retreat. However, the clock of duty is relentless. As the time approaches for the King to return to his official bride, his Vizier, U. Rai Gyan Thoo, arrives to reclaim him, citing the arrival of the Cingalese princess and the needs of the state. Torn between his love and his crown, Meng Beng departs, promising to return. Mah Phru is left behind, waiting faithfully for seven years.

When the King’s official Queen dies, the Vizier returns to the jungle to retrieve the two princes to serve as heirs to the throne. Mah Phru, who had believed her life with the King would resume, is devastated to learn of his true status and the fact that he has been ruling the nation all along. Forbidden from following her children to the palace, she seeks the help of Hip Loong, a Chinese wizard. He offers to transform her into a bird so she can watch over her sons from the palace gardens. She chooses to become a peacock.

Years later, the King falls deathly ill, with his physicians and astrologers declaring that only a miracle can save him. In the palace gardens, the peacock—who is Mah Phru in spirit—observes the princes and the dying King. Recognizing the King’s agony, Mah Phru returns to the wizard to beg for her human form back, despite the cost. The wizard warns her that the exchange will be fatal, but she accepts, declaring that love is the only true wizard. She reaches the King’s bedside at the moment of his greatest struggle, offering him her own life force to ensure his survival. She dies at his feet, and the King, suddenly invigorated and healed, rises to meet the dawn, unaware of the final sacrifice made for his sake.

How It Unfolds

The king seeks an escape King Meng Beng finds his royal existence stifling and seeks a brief refuge from the heavy expectations of his court. He slips away to the Pagoda of Golden Flowers, where his solitary wanderings lead him to the vulnerable Mah Phru.

A pact in the jungle Captivated by the girl, the King vows to protect her and builds a home deep in the forest. They create a fragile, private world for two years, ignoring the looming reality of his royal obligations.

The call of the throne The Vizier arrives to end the King's respite, forcing him to confront his duty to the kingdom. He leaves Mah Phru with a hollow promise of return, leaving her to wait in the silence of the woods.

The loss of the children Seven years pass before the court returns to claim the King's sons as royal heirs. Mah Phru is cast aside, stripped of her children and the life she once knew, and left to face her heartbreak alone.

The bird in the garden Desperate to remain close to her sons, Mah Phru asks a wizard to transform her into a peacock. She haunts the palace gardens, watching the princes while her former lover succumbs to a mysterious illness.

The final sacrifice Realizing the King is dying, Mah Phru undergoes a final, fatal transformation to restore her human life. She reaches the King's bedchamber to give him the gift of health, expiring the moment she saves him.

The People

King Meng Beng is a figure of immense privilege struggling with the constraints of his position. While he possesses the "Lord of a Thousand White Elephants" title, he is ultimately a man who prioritizes his own desires over his responsibilities, leaving a trail of sorrow for those he abandons.

Mah Phru is the heart of the story. A woman of "dazzling beauty" and Italian-Burmese descent, she moves from victimhood to a life of domestic bliss and, finally, to the role of a tragic martyr. Her loyalty to the King is absolute, and her decision to sacrifice her life for his recovery is the story’s defining act of devotion.

U. Rai Gyan Thoo serves as the cold, pragmatic voice of the state. He views the King’s personal life as a temporary indulgence that must be discarded when politics demand it. He is the instrument of the King’s duty and the architect of Mah Phru’s isolation.

Hip Loong, the Chinese wizard, acts as the cynical observer of human emotion. He understands the inevitability of heartbreak, viewing it as a universal human cycle. His role is to facilitate the transformations that allow Mah Phru to endure her pain.

In Its Own Voice

"I should like to see it acted in your Garden House on some night when the sky is a sheet of violet and the stars like women's eyes."

In a personal letter, the author expresses a wistful desire for the play to be performed in an intimate, ethereal setting.

"I have lived for a thousand years; and on this planet it is ever the same."

The wizard Hip Loong offers this grim assessment of human passion after hearing of the King’s desertion.

"The price is nothing. Have I not looked on my heart's beloved one for five years--looked on his face--heard his voice--trembled with joy at his footsteps?"

Mah Phru dismisses the cost of her own life, finding her past years of love sufficient payment for her final sacrifice.

What It's Really About

The central tension lies in the conflict between the private self and the public role. The King’s "unfettered freedom" is revealed to be a lie, as his status as a monarch makes every personal action a political one. The story questions whether love can ever truly exist outside the reach of society’s demands, or if it is inevitably consumed by duty. Furthermore, it explores the nature of sacrifice, presenting love not as a source of happiness, but as a path that leads to total surrender. The recurring imagery of the peacock and the white elephant highlights the contrast between the vibrant, natural world of the jungle and the rigid, artificial world of the palace.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate the ornamental, sensory-rich prose of the late nineteenth century will find much to admire in these pages. The play is less a complex drama and more a series of vivid, tableaux-like scenes that prioritize atmosphere over dialogue. It feels like a fever dream of the Far East, constructed with a deliberate, stylized beauty that values "quaint and delicate charm" above all else.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the colonial-era perspective inherent in the writing. The depiction of Burma relies on an idealized, exoticized lens typical of its time, and the characters are often defined by their archetypal roles rather than psychological interiority. The pacing is languid, mirroring the "indescribable silence" of the jungle the author describes. It is a brief, melancholic work that is best read in one sitting, much like a poem or a fable. It will stay with you not for its plot twists, but for its central image: the woman who gives everything to save a man who has long since outgrown the paradise they built together. It is a work of aesthetic indulgence, offering a glimpse into a mind that sought to turn life into a "Persian praying-rug."