 The subplot involving Tuptim, although heavily altered by  Hammerstein in the play to make it more of a definite romance  between Tuptim and Lun Tha, was once thought to have a basis in  reality, but it has turned out to be completely fictional, part of  the embellishments that the real Anna Leonowens added to her  autobiography during her years as governess and schoolteacher to the  Kings children.