_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 in the forest with the mother who he knows awaits them there_. _The peacock spreads its wings as if for flight_, _then crouches down once more_, _and over it watches the young prince_. _The sun envelops them both in a sudden shaft of rose and purple and gold_. _A servant descends and comes across the grass_. _He shikoes profoundly to the two young men_, _lifting up his hands in the deepest reverence of Burmah_. "The Lord of the Earth and the Sky desires his sons; he nears the Great Unknown." CURTAIN SCENE IV _The retreat of_ HIP LOONG, _the Wizard_. _Time_: _the same night_. _The curtain discovers_ MAH PHRU, _who has returned to human form_, _and the Wizard together_. _He tells her that he has restored her to her former state only because she has implored him to do so_; _that her life is measured by hours as a consequence of such insensate folly in breaking the vow of five years back_. "But the King will live," _she murmurs_.