“I don’t actually believe in my own decree,” he retorted, laughing, “but go ahead; if it’s true, let’s switch. But only for six months, no more. At the end of six months, we’ll change back.”

They agreed to make the exchange that very night. While the city slept, they sent for the royal barge, stepped aboard, and let themselves drift away. None of the rowers saw them. When Dawn appeared, urging on the golden-red cows drawing her glittering chariot, Kinnara offered up the mysterious invocation. Her soul detached itself from her body and hovered in the air, waiting for the king’s body to become vacant too. Her own body lay slumped on the rug.

“Ready?” asked Kalaphangko.

“Ready. I’m here in the air, waiting for you. Please excuse my undignified state, Your Majesty . . .”

But the king’s soul did not hear the rest. Sprightly and shimmering, it left its physical vessel and entered Kinnara’s body, while her soul took possession of the royal remains. Both bodies sat up and gazed at each other, and one can only imagine their amazement. It was the same situation as Buoso and the serpent in Dante’s Inferno, but see here my audacity. The poet silences Ovid and Lucan, because he considers his metamorphosis worthier than either of theirs. I am silencing all three of them. Buoso and the snake never meet again, whereas my two heroes continue talking and living together after the switch—which, though I say so myself, is obviously even more Dantesque.

Kalaphangko said: “This business of looking at myself and calling myself ‘Your Majesty’ is very strange. Does Your Majesty not feel the same?”

Both of them were content, like people who have finally found their proper home. Kalaphangko luxuriated in Kinnara’s feminine curves. Kinnara flexed her muscles in Kalaphangko’s solid torso. Siam finally had a king.

IV

Kalaphangko’s first action (from now on, it should be understood that “Kalaphangko” means the king’s body and Kinnara’s soul, whereas “Kinnara” means the body of the beautiful Siamese lady and Kalaphangko’s soul) was to bestow the very highest honors upon the sexual academy. He did not elevate its members to the status of mandarins, for they were men given to philosophy and literature rather than action and administration, but he decreed that everyone must prostrate themselves before them, as was the custom with mandarins. He also presented them with rare and valuable gifts, such as stuffed crocodiles, ivory chairs, emerald tableware, diamonds, and sacred relics. Grateful for all these favors, the academy also requested the official right to use the title “Light of the World,” which was duly granted.