Chapter 5: "Shall we dance?"
Georg sat on the sofa, reading a book and enjoying the peace and quiet of having the children in bed. As much he loved them, he always looked forward to the end of the day when he had Maria all to himself.
He casually stroked Maria's silky hair with one hand as her head lay on his lap. She lay stretched out on the chaise lounge, engrossed in her own book. Georg glanced down to marvel at the shimmering hues of gold and honey in the soft strands, which were a source of endless fascination for him.
"Darling?" Maria looked up from the large tome of Greek literature that she had been immersed in for the last few evenings.
"Mmm?"
"This is a very interesting play I've been reading by that Greek playwright, Aristophanes."
"Oh? Which one?"
"Lysistrata. It's about-"
"Ah, yes, I know the one. It's where the women of all the Grecian City States refuse their menfolk their sensuous pleasures until the men do what they say. I believe the women were trying to stop the endless war between Athens and Sparta."
"Yes, that's right," Maria said thoughtfully.
Georg looked down to see Maria regarding him speculatively. What was she up to now, he wondered with amusement.
"You would never have to use that with me. You already have me wrapped around your delightful little finger," he assured her, taking her hand and kissing the finger in question.
"Well if that is the case, then why are you being so difficult about telling me about the governesses?"
Georg's mouth twitched. In truth he was no longer averse to telling her, but this had become an enthralling game between them and he was always intrigued to see what lengths she would go to, to get information out of him. So far her efforts had reaped blissful rewards for them both
He could tell she was grappling with ideas in her mind as she plotted a new strategy. This could be interesting, he thought with relish.
He sighed with mock exasperation. "Oh Maria, I've already told you so many stories about those infernal governesses. Surely that is enough?"
"But there were eleven of them, there's still so many to go. What about governess number five for example? I don't know about her."
"And if I refuse to tell you about her?"
"Well then I will take a leaf out of the Lysistrata story and you can forget about any intimacies until you are willing to tell me more."
He held back his laughter. He remembered the play well. It was quite a bawdy romp for a play written in 400 BC. The womenfolk had found abstinence just as vexing as the men, leading to some desperate and amusing escapades. If that was the strategy she planned, he wondered which of them would be the first to give in.
He gave a blasé shrug. "Ah, well, I could do with a rest. As rapturous as our intimate life is, I'm not a teenage boy any more after all." He hid his amusement as his wife looked cross. Clearly that was not the response she was looking for.
He mused idly, "I believe there is a line in the play from the chorus of cantankerous old men lamenting that "Wives are impossible to live with and impossible to live without.""
Then he added, deliberately, infuriatingly, "But if you are looking for a play to be inspired by, might I suggest 'The Taming of the Shrew' by that English writer, William Shakespeare?"
Maria made a sound that could have been a snort. "So you think of yourself as Petruchio with a troublesome wife who needs to be made compliant?" she asked indignantly.
Georg merely smiled provocatively and remained silent, enjoying teasing her. He knew full well there was nothing he would change about her, impulsiveness and all. She already knew how much he adored her.
Maria chewed her lip in annoyed silence. "You would be bored to death within a week with a blindly obedient wife," she huffed after a while.
True enough, Georg conceded to himself. Still, a day or two might be quite nice. He merely chuckled and went back to his book, feigning indifference, but not reading a word on the page. He wondered what she would do now that she had thrown down the gauntlet.
He didn't have to wait long. Maria put down her book and stretched sensuously, deliberately and slowly. Then she sat up, and somehow one sleeve of her dress had slipped down her arm, revealing more creamy enticing skin. He pretended not to notice, and continued reading while focusing on taming his body's reaction to her allure.
So, she intended to torment him like in Lysistrata, so that he would be on his knees begging, willing to do anything. Well he could play dirty too, he decided.
He had already discarded his smoking jacket, but now he loosened his tie so that it hung down low from his neck, still knotted. Languorously, he unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt, knowing how appealing Maria always found that. For good measure he unbuttoned another one and slipped a casual hand inside his shirt to stroke his chest absently.
"It's rather warm tonight isn't it?" he murmured nonchalantly, not looking up from his book. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that she was staring, transfixed, at the column of his throat and the smattering of hair on his upper chest that could be seen by his open shirt.
He kept his mouth from forming a smirk at her flushed cheeks and hitched breath, but he knew better than to underestimate her. He had a worthy opponent.
Maria pulled the book from his hands so she could sit on his lap, She cradled his head as she kissed him, her fingers caressing his hair and neck. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me about another governess tonight, because if you do, we could have an early night afterwards," she murmured seductively with a beguiling smile, in the midst of trailing small kisses along his jaw and neck.
Georg swallowed convulsively. She was damn good at this, he admitted ruefully as he felt her soft mouth on the skin of throat.
He tried to maintain control of his own uneven breath, and faked a composure he didn't feel. "No, darling, I don't think so, I've already told you so many stories already."
Did she really think he was so weak, despite what a temptress she could be? he wondered, affronted. He was made of sterner stuff than that surely? After all he had been an officer of the Imperial Habsburg Navy, who had never surrendered, even as the Empire had crumbled around him.
He could almost hear the male Greek Chorus from Lysistrata compelling him to have fortitude against women: "If we give them the least hold over us, 'tis all up! their audacity will know no bounds!"
Georg added as Maria looked both annoyed and determined, "Besides I really don't think you would like the story of governess number five. Her story doesn't have the happy ending that you seem to enjoy so much."
Unfortunately that seemed to pique Maria's curiosity even more. "Oh but you simply have to tell me now," she pleaded.
She trailed a bewitching finger down his chest, halting at his belt, toying with it teasingly, and making his heart thud. "Why don't we go upstairs and I could give you a massage?" Maria suggested with a dazzling smile.
With a rapid intake of breath he couldn't suppress Georg swore inwardly and profusely. Now he was really in trouble, he realised, knowing how all their massages usually ended.
"A massage sounds marvelous but it's not going to work Maria, I'm stronger than you think," he blustered, knowing it was false bravado.
Maria just gave him one of her confident 'we-shall-see' smiles and took his hand to lead him upstairs.
Minutes later, lying on his front on their bed, feeling the exquisite glide of Maria's hands on the skin of his back, he knew he was perilously close to surrendering for the first time in his life. He glanced surreptitiously at his watch near his head.
Damn it, was it only 30 minutes since she had laid down her challenge?
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists under his head, trying to gather the remnants of his masculine pride to strengthen his backbone to see him through this torture. Now he understood how Odysseus would have felt trying to resist the sirens on his epic voyage. He barely managed to suppress a shudder of intense need as those enchanting hands roamed and caressed.
When he closed his eyes tightly for a moment he could just imagine the entire Greek Chorus from the Lysistrata play suddenly appearing in their bedroom, laughing uproariously and mocking his puny efforts to resist his wife.
Perhaps if he silently recited the Habsburg Officer's Code of Conduct, all twelve volumes of it, it would provide sufficient distraction to his tormented body. Painfully aware of Maria's every movement as she knelt next to him, he gave it a try.
An Officer of the Imperial Habsburg Navy always displays courage and valour under fire…
Goddammit. Maria was bringing out the heavy artillery. He could feel the nip of teeth and the softness of her mouth on the back of his neck, making the fine hairs there stand on end and sending electric pulses through his body.
An Officer of the Imperial Habsburg Navy never surrenders even when faced with insurmountable obstacles. The honour and prestige of the Empire rests on his conduct…
He let loose a string of silent profanities in his head. Maria was now using the equivalent of a lethal depth-charge – the dread of every submariner. Her hands were roaming at will, along with her mouth, pressing hot kisses into the sensitive areas of his back and sending jolts of ferocious longing surging through his entire being.
Through his befuddled senses he felt her warm seductive breath and heard her soft captivating whisper in his ear, as beguiling as any siren. "Why don't you turn around darling?"
He froze in indecision. If he turned over all would be lost. For a moment he pondered his options. Then he did the only thing a brave, fearless Officer of the Habsburg Imperial Navy would do in the face such agonised torment: he pretended to sleep.
He forced himself to breathe evenly; light snores emerged from his mouth and he managed a somnolent grunt for good measure.
There was a long moment of silence and he could almost feel Maria's frustration and disbelief. He pressed his smile into the pillow as he heard her outraged "Ohhh!" as she irritably flounced on to her side of the bed and pulled the covers over herself, thoroughly vexed.
Well he had won that one, he thought wryly. But for the first time he understood the meaning of a pyrrhic victory: a victory that feels like defeat. If only he had surrendered, even now they could be-.
But he clamped down on such thoughts abruptly. It would be difficult enough going to sleep as it was. Eventually his body calmed down enough to fall into a restless sleep, but he was troubled by surreal dreams full of mocking Greek choruses, white flags, and Maria doing unspeakably wonderful things to him while reciting the Habsburg Officer's Code .
The next morning he woke up groggy and disgruntled. He deliberately turned his back on the allure of his wife's winsome sleeping form. After asking himself if his pride was really worth this misery he took a brutally cold shower before going downstairs.
If it was any consolation Maria looked as hollow-eyed and irritable as he did, though she hid it well for the children's sake. She was just as tender and loving with them as she usually was. He watched for a moment, still slightly in awe of her mothering skills, and marveling at her ability to juggle her roles as wife and mother to so many children so seemingly effortlessly. He placed his own surly countenance behind his paper so it wouldn't bother the children, but warmly accepted their hugs and kisses as they left for school.
After the cacophony of the children's squabbling and laughter, the dining room seemed painfully silent when Maria came back and sat down to sip her tea in a desultory fashion.
Georg muttered grudgingly from behind his paper, "I am willing to consider an armistice in your little challenge."
Immediately Maria's head appeared above his newspaper. She could move as silently and quickly as a cat sometimes.
"Oh thank heavens," she gushed with relief. "I couldn't stand it a moment longer. We didn't last nearly as long in Lysistrata. That went on for weeks, but the women did stop the war in the end."
She added indignantly, "It was just awful the way you fell asleep last night in the middle of the massage. I couldn't believe it."
Georg could see the annoyance flashing in her eyes at the memory. He lowered his paper with dignity. He wasn't going to admit that he hadn't been sleeping.
He gave her a patronising little smirk as if he had been the victor. "I am sure I could have lasted a lot longer than…" he looked at his watch, "…. 12 hours, but for your sake I am willing to concede a little," he said generously.
Maria stared at him for a moment. "Oh really?" She raised skeptical eyebrows. "Well I can hold out as long as you can," she replied stubbornly, looking him straight in the eye with a cool little smile and a hint of a tease in her eyes.
Damn and blast, she was calling his bluff, Georg realised, shifting uneasily under her scrutiny. He cleared his throat after a lengthy silence and asked tersely, "What are your terms?"
"Two governess stories and a dance."
"A dance?" he objected in disbelief. "That wasn't quite what I had in mind Maria. Stumbling around to Strauss is the last thing I want to be doing right now," he muttered disagreeably.
"Well I think it's only appropriate that you tell me about governess number five while we waltz. The only thing the children told me about her was that she loved to dance. In fact on the night of the party I found Friedrich and Liesl doing a haphazard polka. They told me later that it was their fifth governess who taught them that."
"Did she indeed? I didn't know that. But I was away a lot in those days so I don't really know what she got up to. But it doesn't surprise me. Like you, she was strong-willed and had difficulty following instructions."
Maria attempted to look indignant but her heart wasn't in it; not when the delicious anticipation was already coiling around them both. The wicked hunger she could see in her husband's eyes was no doubt mirrored in her own as he stood up decisively.
He grasped her hand to pull her out of the room. She trailed along, full of laughter at his haste.
He grunted, "Now, unless you want me to ravish you in the ballroom or right here in the dining room, I strongly suggest we go upstairs now. You can have your waltz later and I will tell you one governess story."
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Two hours later, in a profoundly better mood, Georg was willing to give her the story and the dance. Hell, he was willing to give her the stars and moon, he decided buoyantly.
In the ballroom Maria put on Strauss' 'Tales of Viennese Woods' on the gramophone. After a moment of rhythmic scratching sounds the lovely melody floated in the air.
With aching tenderness he watched as Maria approached him for her dance, then his mouth quirked with humour as he remembered his first sight of her in this very room. He deliberately bowed to her with ridiculously exaggerated flourishes.
She burst into peals of giggles. "I did not do that," she objected to his unspoken teasing.
"Trust me, this is height of grace and dignity compared to what I saw you doing," he told her dryly. He took her hand and held it against his heart; with the other hand around her waist, he led her in a waltz.
"Now, let me see. Governess number five was a widow with a young boy, Louis. He was about Friedrich's age. A nice enough boy, and certainly better behaved than my own unruly urchins, though they did try to involve him in all their scrapes. But his mother was very strict with him."
"What was her name?"
"Frau Anna Leonowens. She had lost her husband, a British military officer in battle, but she was very independent. Courageous even. She had been working in the Kingdom of Siam."
"Siam," Maria gasped, intrigued. "Oh how fascinating."
"Mmm, it gets even more interesting. She was the governess to the King of Siam's children." He paused for dramatic effect. "All seventy of them."
"Seventy?" Maria echoed in disbelief.
Georg looked at her in amusement, as he whirled her around. "But you like children, Maria."
"Yes, but seventy!" she repeated, aghast.
She looked at him suspiciously, "But how is that even possible?"
"I suppose that is what happens when you have 25 wives and twice as many concubines."
Maria's mouth dropped open in shock. "You're making this up," she accused.
"I assure you I am not. I sailed to many parts of the Orient myself as a young Naval cadet. Such things are not uncommon, especially among kings." He chuckled as Maria still looked stunned, her mouth agape.
He went on, "I suppose looking after my seven boisterous children was a picnic in comparison. Though, perhaps, given my children's behaviour, it must have seemed like there were seventy of them at times."
"What was she like?"
"Frau Anna was very school 'teacherish' which I approved of; quite prim and proper. Her one indulgence was that she wore the most extraordinary hooped skirts, as impractical as they were. It was the sort of thing my grandmother would have worn as a young lady. But Frau Anna insisted on bustling around in such unwieldy garments. I am surprised she did not get stuck in doorways. The girls loved it of course. They thought she dressed like Cinderella at the Ball, but I put my foot down when they wanted similar such skirts themselves."
"Did the children like her?"
"I am not sure. I think they respected her but her strictness made some of them even more rebellious. Whenever the children were naughty she made them write lines. I remember Kurt had to write 'I will not lock my governess in her bedroom,' two hundred times. She put the fear of God into him by threatening he would miss dinner if he didn't complete it."
Maria smiled at the apt punishment for her younger stepson.
"Louisa resented her the most because she had to write lines constantly. Things like: 'I will not put spiders in governess' beds,' and 'I will not put snakes in governess' wardrobes.' It didn't tame Louisa's belligerence but it did keep her occupied."
Georg continued wryly, "Frau Anna was very forthright with me too, she had tendency to lecture me, much to my annoyance. I am sure she would have had me writing lines too, if she could. Probably things like 'I will spend more time at home.'"
Maria giggled, imagining her husband writing his lines like a naughty school-boy. "Or what about 'I will not blow my silly whistle' or 'I will not make my children wear uniforms' or-"
"Yes, thank you Maria, I get the idea," he interrupted dryly. Maria laughed and kissed him lovingly as they danced.
Maria remembered something. "The children told me she sang a little song when she taught them to dance. Now how did it go…?" She hummed a tune.
"Shall we dance?
On a bright cloud of music shall we fly?
Shall we dance?
Shall we then say goodnight and mean goodbye?"*
She pondered some more. "And there was another song too, that the children said she sang. She said it would help them when they were feeling frightened. I suppose it was much like the My Favourite Things song. Now how did it go?
"I whistle a happy tune
And every single time
The happiness in the tune
Convinces me that I'm not afraid
The result of this deception
Is very strange to tell
For when I fool the people
I fear I fool myself as well"**
Maria trailed off. "I can't remember any more of it," she mused.
"Yes I can recall Brigitte singing that song occasionally, though she always stopped when I was around," Georg admitted, remorsefully.
Maria gave him a sympathetic look, knowing how wretched he felt about banning music from the house and the harsh way he had been with children. She sought to distract him.
"Tell me more about her."
Georg sighed. "There was one time she tried to convince me to find my peace about losing Agathe. She told me the King had forced her to realise that she needed to live again after she lost her husband, for the sake of her son. But it was only two years after I had lost Agathe and I was not ready to hear such things. It made me furious."
Maria moved her hand from his shoulder as they continued to waltz, and stroked his neck tenderly. "She would have known your anger came from your pain. She would have understood."
"Perhaps." Georg shrugged regretfully. "She was right, but it wasn't until a saucy impudent minx burst into my life and forced me to fall in love with her, that I understood what she meant."
"Forced?" Maria protested with a smile.
"Yes forced. You know I didn't stand a chance from the moment you turned those beautiful blue eyes on me and poked infuriating fun at me."
Maria smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "What happened with her?"
"She decided to leave us. Maybe she went back to Siam. Louis had grown very close to the Crown Prince and thought of him as a brother. He was longing to go back to Siam. And Frau Anna, well, it was clear she was nursing a broken heart. Not from anything she said of course, but the pain in her eyes was there to see. As someone with my own heartache I could recognise it."
Maria lifted his hand that was clasping hers against his chest and kissed it. She held it against her cheek in gentle sympathy.
Georg squeezed her hand back. "I am sure it was the King she loved. It was the way she spoke of him with such yearning and anguish."
"But he was married."
"Yes, 25 times over. I doubt anything happened between them. Frau Anna was much too respectable and proper for anything scandalous. It must have been a love that could never be fulfilled, but no less intense for that."
"Oh how sad."
Georg nodded. "Possibly she could have accepted becoming wife number 26 but as a Christian woman it would never have been recognised by the Church; it would have been considered a sin for her. And of course she was a foreigner, and an Englishwoman. The relationship between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Siam is difficult and complicated enough. A marriage between them would have sent shock waves reverberating across several oceans."
"But the British monarchy survived when King Edward VIIIth gave up his throne for the woman he loved."
"True, but then there would still be the small matter of those 25 other wives."
Maria sighed wistfully. "It's so sad. How terrible that Frau Anna and the King could not be together."
"Mmm. She may have been able to find small snatches of happiness, all within the bounds of respectability. She mentioned a grand ball held for diplomats at the Court, where she was able to dance with the King. She spoke of it as one of the happiest times of her life. Perhaps that was enough to give her comfort."
Maria was silent for a while, her heart aching with sadness, and then spoke in a shaky whisper, "Imagine if it had been that way with us. If we only ever had that one dance, the laendler, to express our love and devotion for each other, and it had to last us a lifetime of being apart."
Her mouth quivered as she added, "I can just imagine her anguish and desperation."
Maria thought back to when the Reverend Mother had forced her to return. If she hadn't, would they too, be facing a lifetime apart, with only the memories of that one dance to comfort them through the long desolate years? She couldn't bear to think about the bleakness of a future without Georg and the children. For a moment she felt an inkling of the despair that Frau Anna and the King must have felt.
Georg stopped mid waltz as he noticed that Maria's eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
"You look pensive, my love." He cupped her face with both hands as the music swirled around them.
"It is so terribly sad: a love that could never find expression. It must have tormented her. She must have been very strong. Do you think she went back to Siam?"
"I don't know. She loved the King's children, all 70 of them. Maybe for her, being with them was enough to give her peace. As for the King, he is a Buddhist after all. Perhaps he believes that in a future life they will find each other again and they will never be apart."
Drawing Maria even closer to him, Georg caught a teardrop with his thumb as it rolled down, caressing the rose-petal softness of her cheek. "I should never have told you this story. I knew it would upset you." He sighed regretfully, and brushed his mouth against her forehead.
"No, it is still a beautiful story. It makes me realise even more how lucky we are to have found each other."
Georg brought her hand up and pressed his mouth to her palm, and then started to waltz once more.
"In an unguarded moment with me, she told me she had one last waltz with the King on the night before she left Siam. As dawn broke over their last day together he told her that: "As the sun rises, the moon surrenders the night. But the moon is always with the sun, even when he cannot see her. It is of great comfort to the sun.""
"Oh, that's beautiful," Maria whispered, though her chest still felt heavy with sorrow.
They whirled around in silence for a while, letting the music work its magic, its beauty seeping into their souls and providing Maria with a measure of comfort. She imagined what it would have been like to dance in the King's sumptuous Court.
"Would you want to have 25 wives?" she asked curiously after a while, and a little suspiciously.
Georg sensed a trap but he didn't have to fake his fervent "Oh Good God, no! What a ghastly idea. One wife at a time is definitely as much as I can handle." He had a sudden frightening vision of 25 Marias. "I'd be dead within a week," he muttered, provoking a watery smile from Maria.
"Well thank you for telling me another governess story even if we had to both undergo a miserable night before you told me."
"Huh, I was just fine," he denied, glibly, and laughed at Maria's skeptical look.
The notes of the waltz cascaded around them. Maria smiled. "By the way, the next story in the book of Greek classics is by Homer, it's called Dios apate: The Deception of Zeus."
She looked puzzled as Georg threw back his head roared with laughter. As the music rose to a crescendo, he lifted her high up above him without missing a step in the waltz.
"What's so funny?" she asked, holding onto his shoulders with a puff of laughter, as he whirled her around above him.
Still chuckling as he looked up at her, he continued the waltz. "It's a comedy about Zeus' wife Hera, disguising herself as another woman in order to seduce her own husband. Go ahead, make my day by reading it. I can't wait."
ooooOOOOoooo
A/N: I am basing Anna mostly on Jodie Foster's gorgeous portrayal in 'Anna and the King' rather than the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'The King and I.'
Thank you for reading and I would love to know your thoughts.
*Shall we dance? Music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
**I whistle a happy tune. Music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Julie Andrews has recorded the soundtrack of the King and I with Ben Kingsley, which can be found on youtube. As usual whenever I hear Julie sing I cannot listen to any other version after that.
I do not own TSOM, or Anna and the King, or The King and I.