DID IT HAPPEN
THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1959. `
The bis
edged Corward and Baused at the Tina moonlight..
Mrs Puma gets her baby back
on the scene with Juan, her gordoners. They had found us husband, who was one of the
Ro OMANCE and danger are two things which have often gone hand in hand in my life. Even as a small child strange events seemed to crowd down upon me.
this clearing. So strange, indeed, that they have been called fictitious, But what I am going to tell you now is still very clear and real to
me.
I was seven at the time and my brother, Bernard, nine. My father, who was a well-known fecturer on musical theory and history, had been invited by the Colon Opera Company In Buenos Aires to make a tour of the Argentine Republic.
The invitation coincided with the dissolution of his marriage, ant le devicted to take us with him. His sister, our Aunt Lillian, was to our mother's place and take care of us,
this
We were enchanted by great new country which WAR Beginning then to stir with s consclusness
of wealth And
national grandeur. After a week in Burnos Aires we went up Country. As to Rosario and then
Ka Cordoba, Here my father received an invitation to extend the tour with a week In
Chile.
by DENISE ROBINS
"We ought to give him back,
aid. "Nilo was naughty take him from his mother."
W33
دان
o
Come
THE SHAH OF PERSIA
He Has $ Wealth, Health
And Power, But
By Simon Kavanaugh
also
years' education in Switzerland, Iess Shah had decided to marry How perfect, it seemed, that Soreys Esfandiari Bakhtiari, the this Arabian Nights Agure beautiful 18-year-old daughter should lose his heart to one of of a Persian · nobleman and a the world's most beautiful prin German mother. His first glimpse
·resses - voluptuous, doe-eyed of her, se.It is said, was Fawzich, 16-year-old slater of in a glossy magazine. Egypt's King Farouk. And how perfect, it seemed, that he should have rai fallen in love with her picture In a glossy Swiza magazine.
It was one of history's most abortive and palhalle coups d'etat. Mosendoq's guards deftly turned the tables and prrested the Imperial Guard commander himself. The-Shah fled to Iraq with_bis Queen, said Messadey's pro-Government troops occupied his palaces.
But the wheel of revolution · after the Shah's was tufning tart. Three days hasty laht, General Zahedi mustered his Royalist forces, retrieved contrul nt Teheran and arrested the 73-year-old Mossadcq. On August 22, the Shah returned in triumph. and Mosandeq WAS Snow-o lucky omen in Tersia rentenced 10 three years On March 15, 1939, the Crown corpeted Teheran on the solitary confinement, being freed Prince and his belde-who wore wedding day, February 12, 1031. In August, 1936.
£400 gown and £50,000 The bride drove to the pink OSTENSIBLY, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlevi, worth of
diamonds stood on marble Golestan
Although today Persia is pre- Palace in m Shahanshah of Persia, King of Kings, Shadow the flower-covered balcony of golden Rolls-Royce. She wore a dominantly Royalist, atrong of the Almighty, Centre of the Universe, should be ledging a thunderous royal salute blue
Cairo's Abdin Palace, teknow fabulous dress of silver and ice- Communist factions are growing
one of the world's happiest men.
London.
The
next
Jame embroidered with in Teheran and the Shah and the roar of thousands. 0,000 diamonds and 1,500,000 having to hold tight rein over Festivilles lasted a month,
sequins. Two tons of flowers his 130,000-strong Army, his He is fit, young and handsome. He is
hind been flown from Holland to Air Force (5,000 men 200 supposedly immortal. He owns seven palaces, and
decorate the palace.
planes), and tiny Navy, com- prising a small ficet of gun- gone, searches and traced us to
rales 19 million people. He inherited a throne and
But again the shouls and the beats and motorboats in the £28 million, today lives on a tax-free £80,000 a
guns were to echo hollowly in Persian Gulf, en this story was rel.
But the salutes and the eheers the Shah's cars. we were informed that ataria. year. And he has been married to two of the were to have a hollow ring for menili, his moderate Prime upon seeing the big cat, opened most beautiful women in the Middle East,
Mohammad Reza in the years to Minister, All Razmara, who was her lips lo sercam but her hus
follow.
Dí European war... failure opposed to nationalisation But wealth, health and power have not brought ease band had put his hand over her
to produce a male heir...le Persia's 40 millon-1ons-a-year
Perhaps past experiences, have mouth.
of mind to the 39-year-old Shah of Persla,
father's oblication, and his own oil industry, Was assassinated partly cured the lonely Shala "Do not utter a sound. 18
shock-accession. estrangement and, less than two months later, the divorced the Persia's hissed, "she will lear the boy Bennie potentates end shuilling menths, working 10 hours a day.
childless you frighten
In 19 years of uneasy rule the animal,"
now Shah was a with Fawzich und. In 1948, Dr Mohammed Mosanden, who Soraya in nyer a conglomeration of mil- model of industry. Within divorce. The troubles piled up. upproved of nationalisation, was compromise and taught him the April last year) of elected in his place.
Peacock Throne; his life has emancipating the women. Flery, where
secret that power in the Middle Industrial beggars, he has once (in 1953) be was achieving
Meanwhile, rebellion was
st beets forced to flee from his miracles, obolishing the harem, simmering in Northern
relles on stemer stuff. Parsia
Perhaps, if he finds a new queen The Russian-supported
"I need the love of a woman" limes by anti-Royallet. [ections, in turn, he rampaged through foster been seriously threatened four unpredictable, hated and loved Tudel Party was trying to
and begets himself a mule and race he was wounded
a separatist sccl. On in 3 verrs of autoerotic rule ratil February 4, 1949, a Tudeh fans-
1-ci, he will strengthen hi he the face.
1941, when he made the mistake le fired five shots at the Shah. threat to the Peacock
With Mussadeg came a new position.
Throne. of sympathicine with Gomany Three missed,
but one and wes ferred by the Allies to his he and another grazed his Resignations, riots,
struck
ultimatums blerte in favour of his son, shoulder. Taking his three' wives with
s-lert into exile Sim, he
pieces."
ed: "Dios mies, the poverio
Maria, half-fainting, mutter
43 good as dead"
he
to
They stored in agony. They saw my brother smiling and watching delightedly GS pushed the little puma toward the mother.
UNCERTAIN
To top it all off, the Shab bug ne male heir after 16 years of two broken marriages,
Today, behind the wall of his settled in South Africa. and
marble palace, dominating the he died three years inter teeming squalor and opulence of Teheran (population: 1,500,000).
of
The Tudeh Party was Im- where mediately proceribed and the vacillating Majlis (Lower
Δ
Certainly, it looks at present eventually came to a houd in na if the reign of the Pahleyl 1963 when the Shah dismissed dynasty,
two-generation, the brilliant, ambitious docter 34-year chapter following more from offles for trying to dissolve than two centuries of despolie the Majis. In a place went Qajar rule, might end soon for Zahadi. on ex- lack of an heir. The Shat's next brother was killed in aa air-crash in 1314, and the re- The Shah rushed in to finish mainder of his family exiled Mossadeg off. With a few for complieity in intrigues, days, a fank and severni lorry- loads of Imperial Guards rum- If the Shah'a present-day bled to the gates of Mossadeq's search for a new queen smacki Teheran home with orders to of high romance, it is also
grim and harsh necessity. nirest him,
Now Mrs Puma instinctively tensed herself, uncertain, afraid.
House), shocked" into action. General Neither Bernard nor 1 count
It wrs ainst this background began to come out more on the Minister of the Interior, "Yes," agreed my brother, She growled softly and whisked the Shali is, und jooks, a very that the young Shah grew up. persuade him to take us with
we must give him back. ment, the little puma wriggled in prematurely grey; the
her tall. Frantic with exelte worried man. The springy hair
side of the Shah's democratic him DICTORS the Ander. We on, let's do it, Deulse.”
deep. At 10, the handseme heir to ideas. "Keep going," the Sach were sent instend to an
and squeaked and shuffled to-set I
Cyes DTC permanently the Peacock Throne was Persia's said wryly. "You cannot expect eid w
always his in the Cordoba
slave. ward her. Then, like a spolled darkened by thleic, frowning eye- idol. He was a fine sportsman, me to be shot at cach week to Bernard picked up the Cordillerax, there to stay out of puma. We put
baby child sat back on his houaches brows. He is expressing no more he was a poet, and he was one keep you on your toes.” harm's way until he returned.
slippers and walted for her to collect than fact when he refers to the of the most eligible bachelors in ard, in our night clothes, lip him,
opposition destoring against him. the world. He was also whe in Later that year, first reports The estancia, Rincon Flor led along the patto and berpas The big cat,
the mcon-bleached compound.
still crouching and says: "I could be killed at the ways of the West, after Ave began to circulate that the heir- (or Flower Corner) was owned
edged forward, and paused at any moment.” by friends whom father had We guessed this was where the fringe of moonlight, “. She made in Buenos Aires. Ber- the Mra Puma had come from, took no notice whatsoever of sard and I were delighted with and because we were very Bernard or me. For a long the prospect of living f the young and full of love for the me mother and chlid surveyed wilds.
baby puma, we knew no fear, each other as thought woffing no doubt, as we crept into the for the next move.
Nine years after his accession. We quickly made friends with shadows of the wood.
Then, very slowly Mrs Puma he had already given away £25 The
ranch hands and the
Presently we found a clearing, slithered forward agaln peasants, who adored children. It seemed that here the maun
his private In- unili million hor whole silky length was heritance. And, when that was Although Aunt Lilon was cut a sort of clear circle of spread into the clearing.
gone, he insisted on selling to always in the background, we brightest. We nut down
Maria and Juan said they poor peasants all his remaining. were free to do as we pleased the middle of this circle and nearly died of fright but Mrs Crown lands. and, oddly, we seldom abused walled.
Puma knew, somehow, that we the privilege.
The Shah's weaknessen, how- We stayed quiet and listened children were not her enemies, ever, ore many. In the arid But one day something to the hundred and one small but her friends.
[table-land of Persia, where the sensational happened. A pean night. The stealth, the slither, ate moment
noises of a South American Suddenly, in a quick, deliter-richest survive, his very de- buy, Nilo, came to us
of decision, ahemocracy is stripping him of his pens where the bulls were being call of a bird.
crack of twigs, the alarm straightened her legs, stepped strength. He tends to com- branded. "Th his arms he held
gracefully forward and picked promise and he is dovoled, to The big eat came upon us her child off the ground. the cutest, cuddliest ille
She pleasurable pursuits among bundle of fur we had ever seen her Bist, but the night was
very suddenly. We did not see turned about and walked to them, horse-racing. tennis We did not know it, but it was all at once lled with her In-
wards the shadows. But at the (which he plays like a Star), edge of the moonlight circle, be reckless driving pun.
fast curs visible presence, The baby, fore she disappeared for ever tiger-shooting, and piloting his Nilo spoke no English, but it who wis dozing in Bernard's Inta 1 dork pampos, she own plane. soon became apparent that he'd armis, immediately became alert, stopped, turned agam with the brought us this baby 03 n
vars forward, and peered an- baby in her mouth, and for a All this is very much in line present.
xiously about him.
Iull ten seconds stared at us. with the Shah's character. Then, in the shadows beyond As much as to say: Muchas Lithe, handsome, soft-spoken, he the chicle, we saw the black gracias!
Thank you, title profers outdoor adventure to the shape of Mrs Puma crouching Les, for giving my child back rortex of politics, romance 10 motionless, eyes fixed unmoving to me."
mtrigue. Unfortunately, his upon her child.
and reign bas had to survive
nt the
Bernate and 1 were delighted, and Aunt Lillian (who had no Idea what manner of beast it wan) agreed that we should keep. It during our sluy Rincon Flor.
DELIGHTED
the
them
Then the disappeared, That she was one of the most Maria and Juan sobbing, all." deadly and dangerous of feline whed toward u7. creatures never entered our honda Snakes and spiders ~had been told to avoid, but who would have mentioned pumas? Besides, we little children had no natural fear of anything that looked so like a large domwalika sam p
The story of the Shah of Perslų „DID IT REALLY. HAPPEN? | is n story of old customs venus
Delighted, we petted and fed the lille thing and that right "we Pur Bm hit box beneath""cat
the window. Even before we ud climbed into bed. he was fust usicep in the drugged slum ber of the very young That is, til his mother traced 1s GENE and canu from the pampas to fetch him away.
When Bernard awoke-me, the moon was low in the sky and very silver.
Bernard whispered: "Some- one's trying to get im." I listened, but the only sound seemed to be a faint rustling benroth our window. Then we SAW that our baby puma had
left his box and was pulsed
with his small front against the s
Bernard moved forward
and
YES
NO
new-ideas, of Evolutions and disasters, of a man who wanted all, yet gave everything away.
Mohammad Reza Pahley! and his twin sister, Ashraf, verë” born in a dark, tapestated harem In Teberan's better residentia)
placed the baby pama on the Put a tick against your choice in quarter, on October 26, 1910. ground. He stood a moment the race above. watching it with me.
It was then that Maria, Aunt Lilian's special maid, appeared
• BY THE
The answer is on Pare 18.
÷fLondon Express Service),
WAY
0
by Beachcomber
It was no royal barem, but a modest middle-class estabilch- ment of three dutiful wives, nine equally dutiful children [of which Mohammad and Ashraf were the eldest), and a nery, moustachioed captain in the Persian Cossack Brigade called Reza Pahlevi.
WDS
At that time, there
no hint of great wealth of
power for the Inhlevis. The twing years
all the 731,248 committees habit has been formed. After played happily for three the pullulating up and down one rather senndalou Incident Rong the merchants of paws England none has touched
crowded bazaara And the washer-women. gazing wide.
(the theft my
of a roulette table heart more surely than the one from the music-master's ɛiudy) Fresntly he gave an excited set up to give codlah a more et- detectives came to anger-printed at the long camel convoys
tractive neme
and so Increuse all the masters and boy... A science muster.saved the honour of the school by saying this had
n
light
queak. Outside, very distinct-the sales, ly, we heard a low responding growl followed by
So for "Cleopatra, Ciulette, alrerdy been done, and handing thump. Then, cut sharp and and Camellia have been block against the moon, a head gested."
sug them a number of finger-prints
collected came slowly over the window- Cleopatra or bailed Camellia Australia."
the head of a large cat. would soon become the rage.
But if cod is to be
We
I think fileted of cborigines
made so Shave for a rainy day
In
as they came swinging in from the desert,
Then suddenly, in 1921, the вселе changed. One-time For a second, while mother alluring. hate must change its
shepherd Reza Pahlevi, now. 49 and son gazed upon each other, name
colonel, led his hard- by fish-deed-poll to Everyone who is wise shaves and a stayed
watching. Mignonette.
riding Consacks to an audaciou breathless and fascinated. Then
And what about In preparation for did AEC.-
coup d'etat that made him over- Bernard could conlain himself Melisande?
kipper called City Notes),
night Prime Minister of Perela. smart precaution Four years later, his National against a beard. The carcices Asembly deporod Persla's man who leaves to chance Sultan Ahmed Shah, last of the detectives will find his face, in rotirement, Qafar dusty, and plocted
covered with hair...
no longer.
"Denise," he whispored. "It's Mrs Puma. She's come, lo fetch her babyl"
At that, "Mrs
glamorous
Narkover outwits
T
the
SKED. to comment on the Stop proas Puma,"ager-printing of boys at a RUMOUR......, that
Alliek said: "Most of our bʊya Bardot
A
Pahlevi in bla, placo ne Shah.
As in a fairy-tale, the middle- Dost class background of Mohamme
stariled by his voice leaped back school by detectives, Dr Smart 4 rowed by Donnle Baba Reza. disappeared in a puff of into the compound.
hon been smuggling | intrigue. The house became come from homes · where gloves arma into Moneco Its been seven palaces, the street
Jehania poleniates, the cluttered **-=-=-(London Express"Bervice),, allsyways whatiffllered hails,
*
suppose ́ ́I' wared
her are
OTTI for cortain jove, no denied, that when they arrive here the
Away," Bernard said,
...
X
39
Uvels
the only watch-in the world with `GYROTRONS
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