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Translated by E. A. Bowring
GREAT Mahawasant, of Siam the King, | |
| Has half of India under his wing; | |
| Twelve kings, with the Great Mogul, obey | |
| His rule, and acknowledge his sovereign sway. | |
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| Each year, with banner, trumpet, and drum, | 5 |
| To Siam the trains with the tribute come; | |
| Many thousand camels, with backs piled high | |
| With the costliest treasures of earth, draw nigh. | |
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| When the camels he sees with their heavy piles, | |
| The soul of the king in secret smiles; | 10 |
| But in public in truth he always deplores | |
| That his storehouses serve not to hold all his stores. | |
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| Yet these storehouses all are so lofty and spacious, | |
| So full of magnificence, so capacious, | |
| The reality’s splendor surpasses in glory | 15 |
| The Arabian Nights’ most wondrous story. | |
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| The “Castle of Indra,” call they the hall, | |
| In which are displayed the deities all, | |
| The golden images, chiselled with care, | |
| And all incrusted with jewels so rare. | 20 |
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| Full thirty thousand their numbers are: | |
| Their ugliness passes description far; | |
| A compound of men and animals dread, | |
| With many a hand and many a head. | |
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| In the “Hall of Purple” one wonderingly sees | 25 |
| Some thirteen hundred coral trees, | |
| As big as palms, a singular sight, | |
| With spiral branches, a forest bright. | |
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| The floor of purest crystal is made, | |
| And all the trees are in it displayed, | 30 |
| While pheasants of glittering plumage gay | |
| Strut up and down in a dignified way. | |
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| The ape on which the monarch doth dote | |
| A ribbon of silk wears round his throat, | |
| Whence hangs the key that opens the hall | 35 |
| Which people the “Chamber of Slumber” call. | |
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| All kinds of jewels of value high | |
| All over the ground here scattered lie | |
| Like common peas, with diamonds rare, | |
| That in size with the egg of a fowl compare. | 40 |
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| On sacks that stuffed with pearls appear | |
| The monarch is wont to stretch himself here; | |
| The ape lies down by the monarch proud, | |
| And both of them slumber and snore aloud. | |
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| But the king’s most precious, costly treasure, | 45 |
| His happiness, his soul’s first pleasure, | |
| The joy and the pride of Mahawasant | |
| Is truly his snow-white elephant. | |
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| As a home for a guest so highly respected | |
| A splendid palace the king has erected; | 50 |
| Gay lotos-headed columns uphold | |
| Its roof, all covered with plates of gold. | |
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| Three hundred heralds stand at the gate, | |
| As the elephant’s guard of honor to wait; | |
| And kneeling down with low-bent back | 55 |
| There serve him a hundred eunuchs black. | |
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| For his proboscis the daintiest meat | |
| On golden dishes they bring him to eat; | |
| From silver buckets he drinks his wine, | |
| Well seasoned with spices sweet and fine. | 60 |
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| With perfumes they rub him, and otto of roses, | |
| On his head a chaplet of flowers reposes, | |
| The richest shawls that are made in the East | |
| As carpets serve for the dignified beast. * * * * * | |
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