Labakan was afraid, but he did not know what to do. The other horsemen reached the foot of the hill, and he tied his tired horse to the tree there and ran up to the pillar.
“He is an impostor. I am the Prince! Please do not rob me of that.”
The prince tried charging at Labakan, but the people around Labakan caught the prince.
The king seemed confused as he looked at the faces of the Labakan and the other man.
At last Labakan decided to say something in his favour. “Father, as far as I know this is a half-crazy tailor’s apprentice from Alexandria. He is called Labakan. He deserves your pity, not your anger.”
Hearing this, the Prince became very angry. He tried to charge towards Labakan, but the attendants around the king held him and bound him behind his back.
The king nodded to himself. “This man is quite mad. Let us Bind them and take him to our kingdom on one of our camels. In our kingdom we may be able to find someone to help him.”
The king took Labakan’s arms and with his support walked down the hillock. There both the men got on rich horses and rode across the plane towards their own kingdom.
The unlucky prince was tied and fastened on a camel and he was also taken back to the Kingdom.
The king’s name was Sached and he was the king of Wachabites.
There was joy all around Wachabites, for the news of the princess safe return had reached all the citizens of the Kingdom.
Slowly while they arrived at the capital after the public rejoiced, the King and his ground entered the castle.
The queen eagerly awaited the arrival of the prince and she was pacing the castle.
Then the Queen suddenly stepped down the throne and looked at her husband and the man beside him, she unhappily shook her head. “This is not my son. I am sure that he is not my son.”
The king was shocked at first, but he was about to reason with her when the door was thrown violently open and the real prince barged in. “Father, I am your son.” The Prince cried. “Kill me at once because I cannot bear this shame any more.”
The Queen looked at the real Prince and nodded. “He is my son. He is the one whom we are all waiting for.”
The king patiently shook his head and pointed at Labakan. “He is the one who bought the dagger which I gave to the Pacha of Cairo. He has to be the Prince.”
“He stole it from me.” The real Prince screamed from behind.
The king was unsure, but he felt that the real Prince was lying and he had the real Prince dragged from the hall to the dungeons, and he did not listen to his wife either.
The queen wondered how she could make her husband see the truth.
Adapted from Egyptian Folk Tales
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