The Legend of The Prince In The Underworld

Once, a long time ago, a Prince of Persia named Amour was dying of a terrible illness and his wife Romantia begged of death,

"If you let my husband live then I will marry you, no matter how terrible you look, I will become your queen".

And because princess Romantia was very beautiful and death longed to know the warm touch of love that living men knew, he agreed to take the woman as his bride.

Immediately the ground opened up and, Death taking the Princess's hand, he led her downwards.

When the prince suddenly recovered from his illness, however, he asked his courtiers.

"Where has my wife gone? I wish to tell her the good news that I am recovered".

Then to the young mans horror, his chief minister informed him of the terrible sacrifice that his wife had made.

"I must get her back", he said, "If there is any hope, I will go down into the underworld and save her".

And so he went to see his royal priests and told them of his plan but they were all dismissive.

"No one has ever gone into the land of the dead and returned", said the chief among them, "Even brave warriors who sit in the hall of heroes must give up the taste of air".

"If I cannot return with the princess then I do not want to return at all", said the prince.

So the chief of the priests rolled out a map of the underworld, showing him the three gates that a soul must pass through to reach the kingdom of the dead; the gate of surrendering where a person had to give up all their worldly attachments or else spend an eternity in the hell of unfulfilled desire; the gate of judgement where a persons sins are weighed and the wicked condemned to the burning darkness for eternity and the gate of forgetting where a person must eat the fruit of forgetting, forgetting life and thus making it easier for them to accept death or else become an unhappy ghost wandering the Earth.

"You shall not be able to take a weapon or armour with you", said the priest, "For they are worldly things and must be given up with your body at the first gate".

"Then my love shall be my sword and my heart, my shield", said the prince.

"They may serve you well at the second gate. The gate of judgement", said the priest, "Providing your sins are not many".

"I have lived a life in accordance with the faith", said the Prince, "Performed my social duties and honored my gods".

"Very well, but when you enter the third gate; the gate of forgetting you will forget your life and that includes your love for the princess", said the Priest.

"I do not believe that", said the Prince, "I do not believe that a love that is true can be forgotten. More than spirits or gods, I believe that true love is everlasting".

"Well let us hope", said the priest, "For your sake that that is true".

Then the priest showed the Prince a cave, upon the map, which led to the underworld and, mounting a black horse he rode to the cave.

But when the Prince arrived at the cave he was immediately assailed by ghosts that dragged him from his horse away from the cave.

"Do not go in there", he heard their voices say, "That is the way to death. Cherish your life for you do not want to be dead like us".

"But I must go to rescue the one I love", he pleaded with them.

"Forget her. She is not worth giving up your life for", they said, "There is nothing more precious than life".

"A life without her, to me, is worthless", said the Prince.

"Well then", said the Ghosts picking him up and hurling him into the cave, "Go fool and good riddance to you".

But then, inside the cave, the prince saw the glowing arch of the first gate and his spirit leaving his body he approached it.

"What is your name?", asked the angel at the first gate.

"I am Prince Amour of Persia", he said.

"There is but one prince in the land of the dead", said the angel, "That is death himself. If you are to enter then you must accept the identity of a common soul".

"Then I accept it humbly", said the Prince, "Title means nothing without the love of my wife; without her love I am a pauper and with her love, a prince among princes".

Hearing this, the Angel was pleased and the Prince was allowed to pass through the first gate.

But then the Prince came to the second gate where his sins were weighed and he wept to see the poor souls who were being dragged down beneath a lake of darkness into hell.

"Is that really necessary?", he asked the guardian of the second gate.

"Should lead float upon water?", asked the angel.

"No ofcourse not", said the prince.

"Why not?", asked the angel.

"Because it is too heavy", said the Prince.

"That is why their souls fall down to hell", said the angel, "Because they are too heavy with evil".

But then the angel told the prince to walk across the lake.

"If your heart is good then you will walk across the lake as if it were solid ground but if your heart is filled with evil you will sink into hell", he said.

Fortunately, the prince had been a good and kind man and the soles of his feet barely touched the water.

But then the Prince came to the third and final gate; the gate of forgetting and the prince worried about eating the fruit there.

"If I eat this", he wondered, "Will my heart forget to love my princess?".

Just then, however, the Prince had an idea.

He noticed that the guardian of the third gate had a plate that produced food for him to eat as if by magic, perhaps to stop the angel from getting hungry and eating the fruit of forgetting.

And so he started to talk to the guardian.

"Is it nice beyond", he asked him.

"Better than being a ghost", said the angel.

"Oh I don't know", said the Prince, "Perhaps being a ghost isn't so bad".

"Life without a body. Unable to touch anything, taste, amell, feel. Constantly envying the living", said the Guardian, "What sort of a life is that. But in the kingdom beyond there is peace and contentment; true happiness if happiness truly exists".

"Hmm", said the Prince, turning round, "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I will eat the fruit".

Then the guardian took another piece of food from his magic plate but, unbeknown to him, while they had been talking the prince had put a piece of the fruit of forgetting on his plate and it was this the angel ate and when it did, it forgot who it was and why it was there.

"Who am I?", asked the angel.

"You are the soul of a dead person and I am the guardian of the third gate", said the Prince, "Please, follow me".

Then the Prince led the angel through the third gate.

On the otherside, however, the Prince saw the soul of his wife sitting upon a black throne and holding hands with death.

"Romantia, my love", he called out to her.

But when Death saw him he called out to the dark winged angels that served in his kingdom;

"Guardians. Seize this man and throw him into the hell of burning darkness for he has committed the most grievest of sins".

Now, the Prince did not know what to do but then, suddenly, the throne room of death was filled with the golden spirits of ancient heroes; those who because of their great acts of valour had become legends and gone to live in the fabulous hall of heroes.

"Stop", one of the heroes demanded of death, "This man is one of us. A great hero indeed".

"A great hero", asked death, "For breaking into my kingdom and disobeying the rule of the third gate?".

"But who else but a great hero would undertake such a journey", said another, "All for love he went into the land of the dead; the most fearsome of all places, not knowing if he might return. Even the bravest among us is not as brave as he".

Death sighed.

"Very well", he said, "As it is the law. He may enter the hall of heroes".

But the Prince did not care about being a hero.

"All I want is to be with my princess again", he said.

So Death, fearing that the heroes would rise up and tear apart his kingdom if he disobeyed, returned the Prince and Princess to their kingdom and they both lived happily ever after but, not only that, when they died the Princes bravery and his love for his wife became a legend and he lived with his love in a special place made for the souls of lovers so that their two souls remained together for all time.