_The home of the Chinese Wizard_, HIP LOONG, _by the river_--_a place fitted with Chinese things_: _Dragons of gold with eyes of jade gleaming from out dim corners_, _Buddhas of gigantic size fashioned of priceless metals with heads that move_, _swinging banners with fringes of many-coloured stones_, _lanterns with glass slides on which are painted grotesque figures_. _The air is full of the scent of joss sticks_. _The Wizard reclines on a divan_, _inhaling opium slowly_, _clothed with the subdued gorgeousness of China_--_blue and tomato-red predominate_. _He has the appearance of a wrinkled walnut_. _His forehead is a lattice- work of wrinkles_. _His pigtail_, _braided with red_, _is twisted round his head_. _His hands are as claws_. _The effect is weird_, _unearthly_. _Enter_ MAH PHRU. _The Wizard silently motions her to some piled-up cushions at a little distance_. _He listens to what she tells him_. _He appears unmoved_, _at a recital apparently full of tragedy_. _Only the eyes of the dragons move_, _and the heads of the Buddhas go slowly like pendulums_. _When she has finished speaking_, HIP LOONG _makes reply_. "This is how passion always ends. I have lived for a thousand years; and on this planet it is ever the same." MAH PHRU _is not listening_. "How can I go to my children?" _she demands_, _once again_. "I can turn you into a bird," _the Wizard says_. "You can fly to the palace and walk and watch ever on that terrace in the rose gardens above the sea." "What bird?" _she asks_, _trembling_. "You shall have the form of the white paddy bird, because, though a woman and foolish as women ever are, you are very pure ivory. O! daughter of man and of love." _To this_ MAH PHRU _dissents_. _She paces the long room_. "Transform me into a peacock; they are more beautiful." _The Wizard_, _leaning on his elbow_, _smiles_, _and the smile is a revelation of a mocking comprehension_. "So be it." _He bows his head_. _The lights fade one by one_. CURTAIN SCENE III _The Gardens of the Palace of the King_. _Time_: _late afternoon_. _Colonnades of roses stretch away on every side_. _Fountains play_, _throwing a shower on water-lilies of monstrous size_. _Peacocks walk with stately tread across the green turf_. _Only one_, _larger and more beautiful than the rest_, _is perched alone_, _with drooping head and folded tail_, _on the broad-pillared terrace 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_.