“Royal Road” Malraux in brief
The action takes place in Southeast Asia a few years after the First World War. The young Frenchman Claude Vannek goes to Siam in search of ancient Khmer bas-reliefs. In Europe, there was a demand for Asian rarities, and Claude hopes to get rich. On the ship he meets Perken – this German or Dane belongs to the number of Europeans who are ready to put life at stake for the sake of fame and power. He has extensive experience with the natives – according to rumors, he even managed to subdue one of the local tribes. Claude invincibly draws to Perken, for he guesses in him a kindred spirit – both are eager to fill with meaning their existence. Claude realizes that he needs a reliable companion: in the Siamese jungle of white people lies in wait for many dangers, and the most terrible of them is to fall into the hands of unconquered savages. Claude opens Perkin his plan: Pass along the former Royal road, which once connected Angkor with the delta of the Menam River and Bangkok.
Perken agrees to take part in the expedition: he suddenly needed money and, in addition, he wants to know about the fate of his disappeared friend – traces of Grabo lost in the places where the Thai tribe lives. Arranging a meeting in Phnom Penh, Perken descends to shore in Singapore, and Claude swims farther, to Saigon, where the branch of the French Institute is located, which sent him on a business trip supposedly for archaeological investigations. Claude receives coupons for requisition, which gives him the right to hire caravans with wagons. However, the young archaeologist is warned that all found bas-reliefs should remain in place – henceforth they are only allowed to describe. In Bangkok, the representative of the French colonial administration advises Claude not to contact such a dangerous type as Perken: this adventurer tried to buy machine guns in Europe. At the meeting Perken explains that his cherished goal is to protect his tribes from the
The jungles look more hostile and dangerous. On the way to the main village of Stieng, travelers begin to worry: the conductor does not always warn them of poisoned war arrows and thorns – only Perkin’s experience allows them to avoid traps. Perhaps this is the intrigues of other leaders, but it is possible that Grabo was wild among the Stiegens and is trying to protect his freedom. The horrible truth is only revealed on the spot: the Stiengi, blinded and glazed Grabo, turned him into a miserable slave – almost into an animal. Both white men are threatened by the same fate: a young archaeologist is ready to shoot a bullet in his forehead, but Perken rejects this faint-hearted way out and goes to negotiations, knowing full well what awaits him in case of failure. Stumbling on the tension, he falls on his knee on a military arrow stuck into the ground. He manages to do the impossible: the Stieng agree to let them out of the village, to exchange Grabo for a hundred clay jugs that will be delivered to the agreed place. The treaty is confirmed by an oath on rice vodka. Only after that, Perken smears his swollen knee with iodine. He has a very strong fever.
In five days the travelers get to the Siamese village. The visiting English doctor does not leave Perken with any hopes: with a purulent arthritis the wounded will live no more than two weeks – an amputation could save him, but he will not have time to get to the city. Perken sends a message to Bangkok that the wild Steienges have mutilated the white man. The authorities immediately expel the punitive detachment. To the place of exchange, Perken is transported on a cart – he is no longer able to move independently. Claude is traveling with him, as if fascinated by the breath of death. Following the liberation of Grabo, hunting begins for the Stiegens – they are persecuted as animals, and they desperately rush to the villages of mountain tribes who recognized as their leader Perken. But now the white man is so weak that he can not inspire respect for himself: Siamese do not want to listen to him and accuse him, that he became the cause of the furious attacks of the Stiegens. In vain Perken calls to fight with the approaching civilization: if the mountaineers miss the military column, the railway will follow. In the views of the natives Perken clearly discerns indifference – for them he is already dead. As the drug addict warned, Perken’s agony is terrible. Just before the end, there is nothing human in his face – he wheezes that there is no death, for only he alone is destined to die. Claude burns with the desire to give the friend at least a fraction of fraternal sympathy, but when he embraces Perken, he looks at him as a creature from another world. In the views of the natives Perken clearly discerns indifference – for them he is already dead. As the drug addict warned, Perken’s agony is terrible. Just before the end, there is nothing human in his face – he wheezes that there is no death, for only he alone is destined to die. Claude burns with the desire to give the friend at least a fraction of fraternal sympathy, but when he embraces Perken, he looks at him as a creature from another world. In the views of the natives Perken clearly discerns indifference – for them he is already dead. As the drug addict warned, Perken’s agony is terrible. Just before the end, there is nothing human in his face – he wheezes that there is no death, for only he alone is destined to die. Claude burns with the desire to give the friend at least a fraction of fraternal sympathy, but when he embraces Perken, he looks at him as a creature from another world.
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