Orestes Utah Bean was a Richfield schoolteacher in the 1890s. He became enchanted with “Corianton,” a tale by Mormon general authority B.H. Roberts, based loosely – very loosely – on a Book of Mormon story about an ancient missionary who succumbed to the wiles of the harlot Isabel.
Bean dramatized the story. He added sword fights and a melodramatic love interest, and framed its speeches in bad imitation of Shakespeare: “Relia dear, thou lovest me; for thy heart speaks when thy lips would fain be mute.”