One tale opens a new shelf: the first 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 for one part of eight.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
The King's Joke — the King, amusing himself one morning in the chief Queen's apartments, decides that married life is far too happy a thing to keep to himself, and orders a wedding for that very afternoon. Twenty-five of his pages — the best players at the seed game — are to marry twenty-five of the Queen's maids of honour. The brides are chosen by lot, drawing tamarind seeds from a bag; the grooms draw their brides' names from another. One maid, Diamond Earrings, has her eye on a page with roguish eyes and a laugh always on his face — but the lot is blind, the palace garden at evening is full of alleys, and by moonlight the King has one more surprise in store: any bride who is not happy may give back her jewels and be a maid again. A gentle court comedy, read exactly as printed in 1900.
The book's seven remaining tales wait for the parts that follow.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:24 The King's Joke
H. Fielding, Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) — public domain.
Narrated by Scratch. Music: opening and closing theme, "Damp Pine Sunrise" — 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
