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Prologue Siam before the turn of the century was a green and luxuriant land — a land of paddy fields with sparkling waterways chock-a-block with heaving river barges laden with rice destined for the royal capital. Society was at peace — the people gentle, forgiving and inextricably rooted in the Buddhist heritage that had been a pillar of Siamese society since the thirteenth century. At that time, Siam was materially poor. People dressed modestly, even trousers being considered an extravagance. The material simplicity of life prevented the basic virtues of life from being obscured. In Siam, the social order was based on the home, with the bonds of filial warmth and duty between father and son, mother and daughter, brother and sister, closer than any colleague’s or friend’s. The home was the hub of society. In other countries, the roads came first and the houses would be built along the roads — but not Siam — the houses came first and the roads were built to suit the location of the houses. In other countries people were born with rights but in Siamese society, where the emphasis was so much on accruing as many virtues as possible during the short period of one’s life, people were born with duties to