The Green Eye of the Yellow God

rdf:langString The Green Eye of the Yellow God

rdf:langString The Green Eye of the Yellow God, a 1911 poem by J. Milton Hayes, is a famous example of the genre of "dramatic monologue", a music hall staple in the early twentieth century. The piece was written for and performed by actor and monologist Bransby Williams. It has often been misattributed to Rudyard Kipling, who classed its author as being among his many imitators, and often parodied, most famously by Billy Bennett as The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog. The opening lines are still very well known: There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu,There's a little marble cross below the town;There's a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,And the Yellow God forever gazes down. It is set in Nepal ("to the north of" Kathmandu), and tells the tale of a wild young officer known as "Mad Carew", who steals the "green eye" of a "yellow god" (presumably an emerald in a gold statue) in order to impress his beloved. He is wounded in the course of the robbery, and later murdered, presumably by a devotee of the god for the theft, who returns the jewel to the idol.