ace that overhangs the sea_.
_The scene is aglow with light and colour_, _yet holds a shadowed
silence_.

_Enter some courtiers_, _who converse in perturbed fashion as they go
towards the Palace_.

_Enter_ MOUNG PHO MHIN _and_ U. RAI GYAN THOO, _accompanied by the Court
Physicians and Astrologers_.

"The King cannot live beyond the night," _the Physicians say_. _The
sudden_, _mysterious illness that has attacked him defies their skill_.

_The Astrologers declare that the stars in their courses fight against
his recovery_; _unless a miracle should happen_, _the new day will see
him dead_.

_The Ministers regard each other in consternation_; _then walk the
terrace with bent heads_.

_The peacock on the wall spreads its tail and utters a melancholy cry of
poignant pain_.

_The listeners start in superstitious horror_.

_The peacock folds its tail and resumes its meditations_.

"That bird is not as other birds," _one astrologer declares_. "I have
watched it for years past--it is ever alone--the others all avoid it. I
think it has a soul."

"You mistake," _replies his colleague_; "it is but an evil Nat. {32}
Observe its eyes: they are not those of a bird; they are those of a
spirit in prison."

_They pass on in the wake of the ministers_.

_The peacock closes its eyes_.

_Enter the two young_ PRINCES, _accompanied by two great Pegu hounds_.
_They converse in subdued tones_, _strolling slowly_. _They are followed
by pages of honour_, _carrying grain_, _which the young men proceed to
distribute amongst the birds as they rapidly approach them_. _The
peacock on the wall never stirs_; _she watches the young men always_.
_Then the elder one comes with a handful of food and proffers it_, _but
the peacock does not eat_.

"I shall never understand you, Queen of the Kingdom of Birds," _he says_,
_and strokes her feathers_. _At his touch the plumage scintillates with
a brighter_, _a more exquisite sheen_.

_He murmurs to the bird in soft tones and mythical words_. _He tells it
that the fear of everyone is that the King is mortally stricken_, _for he
lies yonder in most strange and evil agony_; _that the hearts of himself
and his brother are numb with the sorrow that knows no language_. _The
bird listens eagerly_. _And if the King should go_, _he_, _the speaker_,
_will reign in his stead_. _The prospect fills him with fear_. _He
desires_, _as also his brother_, _if the King must die_, _to return to
dwell