The Story of the Prince and the Magician

The world is our subjective construction.

Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in everything except three things.
He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, and he did not believe in God.
His father, the king, told him that these things did not exist. And since in his father’s realm there were no princesses, no islands, and no sign of God, the prince believed his father.
But one day the prince ran away from his father’s palace.
He came to the neighboring land.

There, to his astonishment, he saw islands from every shore, and on these islands strange and confusing creatures that he dared not name. While he was looking for a boat, a man in a tailcoat approached him on the shore.

"Are those real islands?" asked the young prince.
"Of course, they are real islands," said the man in the tailcoat.
"And those strange and confusing creatures?"
"Those are real princesses."
"Then God must also exist!" cried the prince.
"I am God," replied the man in the tailcoat and bowed.

The young prince returned home as fast as he could.

"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved: "There are no real islands, no real princesses, and no real God."
"But I have seen them."
"Tell me, how was God dressed?"
"God was dressed festively, in a tailcoat."
"Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?"

The prince remembered that they were. The king smiled.

"That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived."

Then the prince returned again to the neighboring land and went to the same shore, where once more the man in the tailcoat came toward him.

"My father the king told me who you are," said the young prince indignantly. "You deceived me the last time, but not this time. I now know that these are not real islands and not real princesses, because you are a magician."
The man on the shore smiled. "No, you have been deceived, my boy. In your father’s kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father’s spell, therefore you cannot see them."

The prince returned home thoughtfully. When he saw his father, he looked into his eyes.
"Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?"
"Yes, my son, I am only a magician."
"Then the man on the shore was God?"

"The man on the shore was another magician."
"But I must know the real truth — the truth beyond magic."
"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.
The prince was filled with sadness. He said, "Then I will kill myself."

The king conjured death. Death stood in the doorway and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the wonderful but unreal islands and the unreal but magnificent princesses.
"Very well," he said. "I can bear it."
"You see, my son," said the king, "that you are about to become a magician yourself."

from: John Fowles, *The Magus*, Munich 1969, p. 607f