title: Four Reigns
author: Kukrit Pramoj
description: "Kukrit, famous as a journalist, wit, connoisseur of the arts, and, for much of his life, a politician, and once the prime minister. . . is also a world-class writer, equipped with imagination, humor, narrative skill, and keen understanding of human nature."<i>The New York Review of Books</i>
zlib_text: # FOUR REIGNS
  
  
  (SI PHAENDIN)
  
  
  by
  
  
  KUKRIT PRAMOJ
  
  
  ENGLISH VERSION
  
  
  by
  
  
  TULACHANDRA
  
  
  ![image](../images/00001.gif)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CONTENTS
  
  
  [Preface](part0002.html#1T140-44b82778f1ce45d1af0e6db64ea75a10)
  
  
  [Pronunciation Guide](part0003.html#2RHM0-44b82778f1ce45d1af0e6db64ea75a10)
  
  
  [Four Reigns](part0004.html#3Q280-44b82778f1ce45d1af0e6db64ea75a10)
  
  
  [Credit page](part0060.html#1P71O0-44b82778f1ce45d1af0e6db64ea75a10)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## PREFACE
  
  
  There comes a time in a man’s life when he feels the urge to set down in
  writing the modes and mores of a disappearing age, of which he was a part,
  however small. I had this urge when I sat down to write this book in Thai over
  thirty years ago.
  
  
  It was merely an urge with no inspiration, no forethought and no plot in mind.
  Phloi, the so-called heroine of the story, just left home to enter the Grand
  Palace. This was a natural act for a young girl of her position at that time.
  The reason for her departure was also natural: her mother was disillusion