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Palace Tales of Burma — Part 3: The Adventure of the Shan Prince
Description
Part Three of the shelf: the fifth story of Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) by H. Fielding — Harold Fielding Hall (1859–1917), who spent years in Burma in the government service and heard these stories in the palace world of Mandalay. Billed by author and book, as tales of the old Burmese court; not a survey of all Myanmar's peoples, and no completeness is claimed. Three of the book's tales stand set aside under the shelf's standing rule and are named in the shelf register; this, the book's longest tale, stands alone as one part, exactly as its fellows did.
The Adventure of the Shan Prince — at sunset two riders come down from the Shan Hills: a Prince's younger brother, and Ma Ka, the girl he loves, who was to be married in four days to the Prince himself. They beg the Queen's protection. The Queen shelters the girl and charms easily; the King counts what a Shan rebellion could cost and will not decide. For nearly two weeks the palace prevaricates — the girl kept with a secretary's wife, the young Prince forbidden to see her, and, unknown to all, the elder Prince himself hidden in an inn in the outer city, waiting. On the night before the final answer must be given, he comes to the garden himself, and this time he woos the girl he had treated as a matter of business. What she answers, and how a ladder comes to be standing against the garden wall, is the tale. A romance of two elopements, read exactly as printed in 1900.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:25 The Adventure of the Shan Prince
H. Fielding, Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) — public domain.
Narrated by Benedetto. Music: opening and closing theme, "Winter Palace Rhapsody" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the tale itself is read dry.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
Burmese folk tales · Myanmar folk tales · folk tales of Burma · Palace Tales · H. Fielding · Mandalay palace tales · world folk tales · free audiobook