United States or Curaçao ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Not long after our darling Fa-ying was taken from us, the same royal barge, freighted with the same female slaves who had summoned us to her death-bed, came in haste to our house. His Majesty had sent them to find and bring us. We must hurry to the palace. On arriving there, we found the school pavilion strangely decorated with flowers.
"The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God"; and I felt that this child of smiles and tears, all unbaptized and unblessed as she was, was nearer and dearer to her Father in heaven than to her father on earth. This was the Somdetch Chowfa Chandrmondol, best known in the palace by her pet name of Fa-ying.
Meanwhile, in the obsequies of the Princess Fa-ying, arrangements were made for the erection of the customary P'hra-mene, a temporary structure of great splendor, where the body lies in state for several days, on a throne dazzling with gold and silver ornaments and precious stones. For the funeral honors of royalty it is imperative that the P'hra-mene be constructed of virgin timber.
"I am afraid his Majesty will not let you go with me," I replied. "O yes, he will!" said the child with smiling confidence. "He lets me do as I like. You know I am the Somdetch Chow Fa-ying; he loves me best of all; he will let me go." "I am glad to hear it," said I, "and very glad to hear that you love English and drawing.
"My lady," they cried, "there is cholera in the palace! Three slaves are lying dead in the princesses' court; and her Highness, the young Somdetch Chow Fa-ying, was seized this morning. She sends for you. O, come to her, quickly!" and with that they put into my hand a scrap of paper; it was from his Majesty.
He never snubbed or slighted them; and for the little princess, Chow Fa-ying, whose mother had been to him a most gentle and devoted wife, his affection was very strong and enduring. But to turn from the contemplation of his private traits, so contradictory and offensive, to the consideration of his public acts, so liberal and beneficent.
Nevertheless, while I was at Singapore he wrote to me most kindly, assuring me that his wives and children were anxious for my return. After the sad death of the dear little princess, Chow Fa-ying, the king had become more cordial; but the labor he imposed upon me was in proportion to the confidence he reposed in me.
As soon as his Majesty had recovered from his genuine convulsion of grief for the death of his sweet little princess, Somdetch Chow Fa-ying, he proceeded, habited in white, with all his family, to visit the chamber of mourning.
He was about to confer a distinction upon me, for my "courage and conduct," as he expressed it, at the death-bed of her Highness, his well-beloved royal child, the Somdetch Chow Fa-ying. My estate was in the district of Lophaburee and P'hra Batt, and I found afterward that to reach it I must perform a tedious journey overland, through a wild, dense jungle, on the back of an elephant.
My chair of office had been freshly painted a glaring red, and on the back and round the arms and legs fresh flowers were twined. The books the Princess Fa-ying had lately conned were carefully displayed in front of my accustomed seat, and upon them were laid fresh roses and fragrant lilies. Some of the ladies in waiting informed me that an extraordinary honor was about to be conferred on me.
Word Of The Day