There was once a king of Egypt who had no son. He visited temples throughout the land, presenting rich offerings to the gods and begging them to grant him an heir.

At last, the gods decreed that his wish should be fulfilled. The king hurried home to his queen, and nine months later she gave birth to a beautiful son.

On the night of the child’s birth, as he slept surrounded by nurses, fan-bearers, and armed guards, the Seven Hathors came to pronounce his fate.

No one saw them enter the palace. No one heard their footsteps. Yet suddenly the seven goddesses stood around the child, gazing down at his peaceful face.

“He shall die by a crocodile, a snake, or a dog,” they declared together.

Then the Hathors vanished as mysteriously as they had appeared.

The nurses rushed to tell the king what they had heard. He was overcome with grief, but he refused to surrender his son to such a terrible destiny.

Far out in the western desert, he ordered a magnificent palace to be built. The young prince was taken there with servants, tutors, soldiers, and every luxury a royal child could desire. He was never permitted to leave. The prince was seven years old before he even knew what an animal was.

One day, during his eighth year, he discovered a stairway leading to the palace roof. From there he looked across the vast red sands of the desert.

In the distance, he saw a man walking along the road with a dog bounding playfully behind him.

The prince was fascinated. When one of his attendants hurried onto the roof after him, the boy pointed toward the animal.

“What is that creature following the man?”

The attendant hesitated before answering.

“Your Highness, it is a greyhound.”

“Bring me one just like it,” said the prince.

From that moment, nothing else could satisfy him. His attendants reported the request to the king. He was alarmed, remembering the prophecy, yet he could not bear to see his son unhappy.

After much thought, he said, “Find the smallest and gentlest puppy you can. Perhaps it will keep him content.”

The prince was enchanted with his new companion. He played with the puppy from morning until night.

At first, the servants watched anxiously, ready to snatch the animal away at the slightest sign of aggression. But the puppy grew into a loyal and affectionate dog, and in time everyone forgot the danger foretold by the Hathors.

As the years passed, however, the prince became increasingly restless. The splendid desert palace began to feel like a prison.

At last his attendants told him the truth about the prophecy pronounced on the night of his birth. They hoped fear would persuade him to remain safely within the palace.

Instead, the prince sent a message to his father.

“Why must I remain imprisoned here? If I am destined to die, nothing you do can prevent it. Let me follow my heart until the gods choose to take me.”

The king was deeply saddened, but he knew his son had spoken wisely.

He sent him a golden chariot drawn by two white horses, a fine sword, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. Then he gave the prince permission to travel wherever he wished.

With his greyhound beside him, the prince crossed the Nile and entered the eastern desert. He marveled at everything he saw, unaware that an enormous and ancient crocodile had emerged from the river and begun following him.

The prince drove northward in his chariot. By day he hunted ibex, ostriches, gazelles, and wild asses. By night he slept beneath the stars.

All the while, the crocodile followed. It was one of the three fates named by the Seven Hathors. After many weeks, the prince’s feet became sore from standing in his chariot, and he finally reached the land of Naharin.

The king of Naharin had only one child, a beautiful daughter. Many princes from the land of Khor wished to marry her, but her father could not decide among them.

He therefore ordered a tower to be built with a single window high above the ground. Then he announced that his daughter would marry whichever suitor could reach her window in a single leap.

The princes of Khor gathered beneath the tower.

Day after day and week after week, they ran toward the wall and leaped with all their strength. None could reach the window.

Still, they continued trying, for occasionally the princess appeared above them, and no man who saw her could help falling in love.

One morning, while the princes exercised beneath the tower, the Egyptian prince arrived.

He climbed stiffly from his chariot, exhausted from his journey.

The princes welcomed the weary stranger kindly. They bandaged his feet, rubbed scented oil into his wind-burned skin, and gave him food.

When he had eaten and rested, they asked who he was.

The prince did not wish anyone to know about the prophecy hanging over his life.

“I am the son of an Egyptian officer,” he said. “My mother died, and my father married again. My stepmother hated me, so I fled from her cruelty.”

The princes pitied him and invited him to remain among them.

Soon the Egyptian asked why they had gathered beneath the tower.

“For three months,” one of them explained, “we have tried to reach the princess’s window. Whoever succeeds will become her husband.”

“If my feet were not so sore,” said the Egyptian prince, “I might try the leap myself.”

The princes laughed, believing he was joking.

The following morning, they tried once again. The Egyptian stood at a distance and watched as each prince ran forward, leaped, and fell back into the sand.

Then the princess appeared at her window.

She struggled not to laugh at the suitors’ desperate efforts. Suddenly she noticed the handsome stranger standing among the tents.

She hoped he would look up, but he pretended not to see her.

For the next several mornings, the princess returned to the window. The princes of Khor believed she had come to watch them, never realizing that the Egyptian stranger had captured her attention.

On the seventh morning, the prince finally looked up. Their eyes met. He ran toward the tower and, with a single mighty leap, reached the windowsill.

The princess welcomed him with a kiss. Her attendants rushed to tell the king that someone had succeeded.

“Which prince of Khor reached her?” asked the king.

“It was none of them,” answered an officer. “It was the son of an Egyptian officer who claims to have fled from his stepmother.”

“What?” roared the king. “Am I to give my only daughter to a nameless fugitive? Send him away immediately!”

The attendants hurried to the tower.

“Leave this place and return to your own country,” they ordered.

They tried to pull the prince away, but the princess clung to him.

“I swear by Ra-Horakhty that if he is taken from me, I will neither eat nor drink until he is returned!”

The attendants reported her words to the king.

“Then kill the stranger,” he commanded.

Soldiers entered the tower with raised spears. The princess stood between them and the prince.

“I swear by Ra that if you kill him, I shall die before sunset. I will not live one hour longer than he does.”

The soldiers dared not harm him. Once more they returned to the king. Furious, the ruler ordered both his daughter and her suitor brought before the throne.

When the Egyptian prince stood proudly before him, the king was struck by his dignity, courage, and unmistakably royal appearance.

At last he sighed and gave the young man the kiss of peace.

“If you are to become my son, tell me who you are.”

The prince repeated his story about the cruel stepmother. The marriage was celebrated that very day. The king gave his daughter and her husband a splendid palace, and for a time they lived together in great happiness.

Within the palace gardens lay a broad lake.

One night, the crocodile that had followed the prince from Egypt entered its cool waters and hid there, waiting for the chance to fulfill the prophecy.

But a water demon already lived in the lake and refused to share its home.

For three months, the demon and the crocodile fought each day for control of the waters. While they battled, the prince remained safe from one of his three possible fates.

Before long, the princess persuaded her husband to reveal the truth about his life.

When she heard the prophecy of the Seven Hathors, she stared fearfully at the greyhound lying at his feet.

“You must have the dog killed,” she begged.

The prince laughed.

“What foolishness. I raised him from a puppy. I will not kill a loyal companion because of a prophecy.”

The princess said nothing more, but from that day forward she watched over her husband carefully.

One evening, after a magnificent feast, the prince fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down.

His wife remained awake beside him. Suddenly a poisonous snake emerged from a crack in the wall and glided toward the bed. The princess seized a jar of wine and poured it into a bowl, placing it in the snake’s path.

The serpent lowered its head and drank. Then the princess poured a bowl of beer. The snake drank that as well.

Soon it was so intoxicated that it could no longer move. The princess called for the guards, who rushed in and cut the serpent into pieces. The noise awakened the prince. His wife showed him the dead snake.

“Surely Ra intends to save you from your fate,” she said. “One of the three dangers has already been delivered into your hands.”

Early one morning, the prince rose before his wife and went walking through his estates.

His greyhound followed, bounding playfully at his heels.

In a distant part of the gardens, the prince stopped beside the palm-fringed lake and bent down to stroke the animal.

Suddenly the dog snarled. Its eyes glittered strangely.

“Prince,” it said, “I am your fate.”

The greyhound sprang toward his throat.

The prince fled.

The dog chased him with astonishing speed.

In desperation, the prince waded into the lake. The greyhound stopped at the shore and paced back and forth, barking furiously.

Believing himself safe, the prince moved deeper into the water.

Then the crocodile rose behind him and seized him in its jaws.

The prince nearly fainted with terror as the creature dragged him beneath the surface.

Yet to his amazement, he could still breathe.

“Prince,” said the crocodile, “I am also your fate. I followed you from Egypt to kill you. But for three months I have fought the demon who rules this lake. Help me destroy him, and I will spare your life.”

At this point, the only surviving ancient copy of The Doomed Prince breaks off. The original conclusion has been lost, so no one knows exactly how the Egyptian story ended.

The following is a possible modern ending inspired by the surviving tale.

A Possible Ending

When the water demon returned, the lake began to boil and churn. A terrible cold passed through the prince’s body, leaving him almost unable to move.

Every night, the demon left the lake to search for prey, returning before sunrise because it could not endure the sun’s heat.

As always, the crocodile attacked as soon as the demon appeared. The creature let out a bubbling roar as the crocodile clamped its jaws around one of its legs.

The demon raked its claws across the crocodile’s back, and the two monsters rolled through the mud at the bottom of the lake.

They were evenly matched, and neither could defeat the other. Gathering his courage, the prince drew the bronze dagger from his belt.

He swam toward the demon and struck with all his strength. But the water slowed his blow, and the demon’s scales were too hard for the bronze blade to pierce.

The creature turned. Its red eyes fixed upon the prince.

He kicked upward and broke through the surface of the lake, but before he could swim toward the shore, the demon seized him.

Meanwhile, the greyhound continued racing around the water’s edge, barking furiously.

The princess had awakened to find her husband missing. Hearing the dog, she summoned a palace guard and hurried into the gardens.

They found the greyhound near the lake, baring its teeth. At the princess’s command, the guard fitted an arrow to his bow. The dog charged. The guard released the arrow, striking it through the throat.

The greyhound fell dead.

Then the princess saw her husband struggling with a monstrous creature in the middle of the lake.

The guard prepared another arrow, but the prince and demon were too close together.

The demon’s claws tore at the prince’s hair and pierced his shoulder. It began dragging him beneath the surface.

The prince looked toward the clouded sky.

“O Ra,” he prayed, “save me.”

At once the clouds parted. A brilliant shaft of sunlight struck the lake. The demon hissed in agony.

Its grip weakened as its green scales withered beneath the sun’s burning rays. It released the prince and tried to dive back into the cooler depths.

As its head sank beneath the surface, the prince raised his dagger and drove it into the demon’s eye.

The creature gave a terrible shriek. Its thrashing limbs knocked the prince beneath the water. On the shore, the princess cried out, believing her husband had drowned.

The guard rushed into the lake. Then the crocodile rose from the water with the prince lying across its broad back. It carried him safely to shore. The prince stumbled into his wife’s arms.

Although the dog had tried to kill him, the prince remembered the loyal companion it had once been. He ordered that the greyhound be buried with the honors due to a royal servant.

He gave the lake to the crocodile and commanded that rich offerings of meat be thrown into the water each day.

The crocodile grew fat and contented and never returned to Egypt. Soon the prince and princess invited the King of Naharin to a magnificent banquet.

There the prince finally revealed his true identity. The king rejoiced to learn that his daughter had married the only son of the ruler of Egypt, a king far greater than any prince of Khor.

Before long, the couple journeyed to Egypt. When the king saw his son alive, he was overcome with happiness. The prince had faced the snake, the dog, and the crocodile, yet had survived them all. In gratitude, the king ordered a temple built in honor of Ra.

The prince and princess lived together for many years, praising the mercy of the Sun God, whose power had proved greater even than fate.