"The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths" (original Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 title: "Una Leyenda Arábiga (Historia de los dos Reyes y los dos Laberintos, como Nota de Burton") is a short story by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...

, first published in June 1939. It deals with a number of Borgesian themes: labyrinths, supposed obscure folk tales, Arabia, and Islam. This is one of the shorter short stories in world literature.

Plot summary

A Babylonian king orders his subjects to build him a labyrinth "so confused and so subtle that the most prudent men would not venture to enter it, and those who did would lose their way." When an Arab king visited his court, the king of Babylonia told him to enter the labyrinth in order to mock him. The Arab king finally managed to get out and told the Babylonian that in his land he had another labyrinth, and Allah willing, he would see that someday the king of Babylonia made its acquaintance." The Arab king returned to his land, and launched an extremely successful attack on the Babylonians, finally capturing the Babylonian King. The Arab tied him on a camel and led him into the desert. After three days of riding, the Arab reminds the Babylonian that he tried to make him lose his way in his labyrinth, and says that he will now show him his, "which has no stairways to climb, nor door to force, nor wearying galleries to wander through, nor walls to impede thy passage." He then untied the Babylonian king, "and abandoned him in the middle of the desert, where he died of hunger and thirst..."

Meaning

The story is a reference to the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 passage, "The Tower of Babel," found in the book of Genesis. The labyrinth of the Babylonian king represents the Tower of Babel, made by humans to attain the awesome power of God. The Arabic King smites the Babylonian king and his people as God destroyed the Tower of Babel, and punished the people.