Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, or in islands, or in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. There were no princesses or islands in his father\u2019s domain, and no sign of God. The young prince believed his father. One day, the prince ran away from his palace to the next country. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore. \u201cAre those real islands?\u201d asked the young prince. \u201cOf course they are real islands,\u201d said the man in evening dress. \u201cAnd those strange and troubling creatures?\u201d \u201cThey are all genuine and authentic princesses.\u201d \u201cThen God must also exist!\u201d cried the prince. \u201cI am God,\u201d replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow. The young prince returned home as quickly as he could. \u201cSo you are back,\u201d said his father, the king. \u201cI have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God,\u201d said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved. \u201cNeither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God, exist.\u201d \u201cI saw them!\u201d \u201cTell me how God was dressed.\u201d \u201cGod was in full evening dress.\u201d \u201cWere the sleeves of his coat rolled back?\u201d The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled. \u201cThat is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived.\u201d At this the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress. \u201cMy father, the king, has told me who you are,\u201d said the young prince indignantly. \u201cYou deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician.\u201d The man on the shore smiled. \u201cIt is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father\u2019s kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father\u2019s spell, so you cannot see them.\u201d The prince returned pensively home and when he saw his father he looked him in the eyes. \u201cFather, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?\u201d The King smiled and rolled back his sleeves. \u201cYes my son, I am only a magician.\u201d \u201cI must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic.\u201d \u201cThere is no truth beyond magic,\u201d said the king. The prince was full of sadness. He said, \u201cI will kill myself.\u201d The king, by magic, caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the real prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses. \u201cVery well,\u201d he said. \u201cI can bear it.\u201d \u201cYou see, my son,\u201d said the king, \u201cyou too now begin to be a magician.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, or in islands, or in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. There were no princesses or islands in his father\u2019s domain, and no sign of God. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachingstories.briancullen.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}