While traveling through a desolate city, a Sultan discovered a magnificent palace where he found a young man sitting upon a throne. To the Sultan’s horror, the young prince was human from the waist up but turned to cold, black marble from the waist down. The prince wept as he told his story: he was once the King of the Black Isles, but he discovered his wife, the Queen, was a powerful sorceress who loved another. When the prince attempted to kill her lover in a fit of rage, he only wounded the man. In revenge, the Queen used dark magic to transform her husband into half-stone, cast a spell of eternal pain upon him, and turned his entire kingdom into a lake filled with four colors of fish—representing the four religions of his people. Moved by the prince's suffering, the Sultan devised a plan. He hid in the bed of the Queen’s wounded lover and, mimicking the lover’s voice, tricked the Queen into believing that her spells were preventing her paramour's recovery. He commanded her to restore the prince and the kingdom to their natural forms. Fearing for her lover's life, the Queen obeyed. Once the prince was flesh again and the city restored, the Sultan leaped from the bed and slew the sorceress, ending her reign of terror and bringing the prince back to his people.
Betrayal and cruelty may yield temporary power, but wisdom and justice will eventually shatter even the strongest enchantments.
Questions about this story
What is the moral of The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince?
The moral is that justice and wisdom prevail over treachery and dark intentions. It also emphasizes that even the most hopeless situations can be resolved through the intervention of a clever and compassionate friend.
Who turned the prince to stone?
The prince's own wife, the Queen, used dark sorcery to turn him half-to-stone as punishment for his attempt to kill her secret lover.
What do the four colors of fish represent?
In the story, the four colors of fish in the enchanted lake represent the four different religious groups of the kingdom: Muslims (white), Magians (red), Christians (blue), and Jews (yellow).
How does the Sultan save the prince?
The Sultan uses cunning by posing as the Queen's wounded lover and speaking from the shadows. He tricks her into reversing all her spells before finally executing her to prevent further evil.
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Good night.
