The Vine

On a blazing starlit night in the desert, the stable-boy Afif cannot sleep. Neither can the sultan’s youngest son, gentle and cultured Prince Zayn. On this unearthly, magical night, the prince and the stable-boy meet properly for the first time, as they ride their treasured horses through the dunes; but if they ever wish to converse again it must be in secret, for the sultan deems it inappropriate for a prince to be friends with a stable-boy. The prince is determined not to be denied his new friend, and a great vine becomes the means by which the two surreptitiously meet. They find, through each other, that the world is more beautiful than either had imagined.
An old-fashioned short story in the tradition of Oscar Wilde’s fairytales, set in the palace and stables of a fantasy Middle-Eastern realm.