Home Reading Report No. 3
The Vigil of Mah May
by: Mimosa
Submitted by:
Patricia L. Lumapas
8-A
Submitted by:
Ms. Jesselle Cortes
MIMOSA’ BACKGROUND
The tale you are to read was written by certain Mimosa, which was the pseudonym of
Mabel Cosgrove. Mabel Cosgrove Wodehouse Pearse, also known as Mabel Cosgrove
and as Mrs. or Princess Chantoon, was an Irish writer who married Prince Chantoon, the
nephew of the King of Burma. She is known for her novels about Burma, particularly A
Marriage in Burmah, and for a controversy surrounding the authorship of For Love of the
King, a play that she claimed had been written by the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. Mabel
Cosgrove was born in Ireland in 1872. In 1893 or 1894 she married Prince Chantoon, a
nephew of a hereditary king of Arakan. In a checkered life, she wrote several books, was
married a second time to Armine Wodehouse-Pearse, and spent time in an English prison
for theft and in a Mexican prison for blackmail. In October 1921, Hutchinson's Magazine
published an undiscovered play, For Love of the King, allegedly by Oscar Wilde. The play
was subsequently published in book form by Methuen Publishing in 1922. The manuscript
was offered to Methuen by Wodehouse Pearse along with a letter from Wilde (written in
November 1894) stating that he was sending her the fairy play "for the love of the king"
for her "own amusement". In 1925, Christopher Millard, a well-known biographer of Wilde,
was approached by Wodehouse Pearse who tried to sell him some letters that she said
were written by Wilde. Convinced that the letters as well as the play were forgeries, Millard
published a pamphlet stating that Methuen had knowingly published a play that it knew
to be a forgery. Methuen sued Millard for defamation and won an award of £200. During
the trial, Wodehouse Pearse could not be found to testify (she was later discovered in
prison serving a sentence for theft).
Settings:
Mimosa, “The Vigil of Mah May”, in Told on the Pagoda: Tales of Burmah (London: T.
Fisher Unwin, 1895)
Characters:
Mah May
Mah Khine
Moulla Khan
Pun Lun
Plot:
The story opens in Burmese, with Mah May, a tiny Burmese girl who was falsely
accused of crime.
Exposition:
Starts of with Mah May, The main character, who had lived with Mah Khine, a blackbrowed woman
Rising Action:
The proprietor looked upon Moulla Khan as one of the best customers he had. For him
was his smile the sweetest, to him was he most accommodating in the matter of money.
Climax:
So time went on, and it wanted but three months for the money to be complete. They
had been rarely lucky.
Conflict:
She never learnt different—she never will—unless, indeed, the day dawns when the sea
shall give up its dead.
Falling Action:
His dark, acquiline face was as cunning as that of any fox cub. He paused for a second
or two. Then, as if a sudden thought struck him, he gathered her up hastily in his arms.
She was a little heavy, but he was strong.
Resolution:
He drew it forth triumphantly, the poor little shabby treasure-house, and took the money,
letting some drop in his haste, hiding it with trembling, feverish hands in his white linen
jacket.
Point of View:
This story is about “he” or “she”. The narrator is outside of the story.
Theme:
She never learnt different—she never will—unless, indeed, the day dawns when the sea
shall give up its dead.
SYMBOLISM:
MAH MAY was a little Burmese girl who kept a small stall filled with cheroots in one of
the crowded many-coloured streets of Rangoon. There she sat all through the sultry,
languorous days smoking and waiting, with philosophical calm, for customers; now and
then a great, big, well-fed looking Indian would stop and handle her goods, and,
grumbling perhaps a little, would eventually buy; or a lean Chinaman, in baggy blue
trousers, would pause and smile and talk awhile; or some little naked child would come
and beg one for nothing; or the black coolies, their silver belts glittering in the sunlight,
would cluster round and bargain and quarrel among themselves, perhaps, in the end,
throwing her goods back to her with no very complimentary language; or a “Chetty,”
airily attired in scanty white muslin, his shaved head protected by a big cotton umbrella,
would come and haggle over the annas as a poor Burman would never dream of doing;
then, again, a well-to-do woman of her own race, dressed in silk, and with gold
bracelets on her wrists, would purchase, but they were always, as Mah May used to say
with a shake of her small head, the meanest of all.
VOCABULARY WORDS

SULTRY: (of the air or weather) hot and humid.
EXAMPLE:
There she sat all through the sultry, languorous days smoking and waiting.

LANGUOROUS: characterized by tiredness or inactivity, especially of a
pleasurable kind.
EXAMPLE:
There she sat all through the sultry, languorous days smoking and waiting.

MERCILESSLY: in a way that shows no mercy.
EXAMPLE:
For two years past she had squatted behind her tray, in the hot, hard, cruel glare, when
the sun beat on the flat-roofed white houses mercilessly;

AMIDST: in the middle of; amid.
EXAMPLE:
Amidst rows, hard words, evil things, cries of little children, and growls of half-starved
dogs Mah May dwelt, and was happy.

AZURE: bright blue in color like a cloudless sky.
EXAMPLE:
The day passed in the fresh air under the changeless azure of the skies and the night
curled up in a corner of the hut.

SUCCUOR: assistance and support in times of hardship and distress.
EXAMPLE:
Even the deep groans from those who, wounded, lay helplessly for many hours gained
no sympathy or succour of any kind.

UTTERED: make (a sound) with one's voice.
EXAMPLE:
He only uttered one word, and that in a voice which drink had rendered hoarse and
thick.

GURGLING: making or characterized by a hollow bubbling sound.
EXAMPLE:
He gave a sort of gurgling laugh.

PUNY: small and weak
EXAMPLE:
Yet what could she do? She was so small and her strength so puny.

TRIUMPHANTLY: in a way that shows great happiness or joy at a victory or
achievement.
EXAMPLE:
At last he drew it forth triumphantly, the poor little shabby treasure-house, and took the
money
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Would you be satisfied if you were in Mah May’s situation? Explain your answer.
No, since Mah May's situation is risky.
2. If you were Mah Khine, would you be convinced by Moulla Khan’s alibi? Explain
your answer.
Yes, to encourage her to find out the truth behind Mah May's disappearance.
3. Would you be happy and fulfilled achieving your goal in life but having hurt
people along the way? Explain your answer.
No, because I realize it's fortunate to have a fulfilled objective in life, but harming
individuals along the road will change your life.