In Issue 1, we asked you to send us your Arabian Nights Stories. Congratulations to Samantha Heppermann! Here is yours!

The Immortal Camel
By Samantha Heppermann

"My dear Scheherazade," said the king Schahriar, "will you please tell me the story of the prince you were talking about last night. It sounded interesting, and you promised me that you would tell another one of your enchanting stories. If you refuse I might have to kill you, and that would be a great shame.
            "I guess I shall tell you the story. Now listen closely," said Scheherazade, "this is the story of a camel and a greedy prince.
            "There was once a very wise and kind king. He was over a hundred years old and greatly loved by the people of his kingdom. Even though the king was at an advanced age, he was still the healthiest person in the kingdom. He had ruled the kingdom for half his life, and still had a strong heart and participated in the army with a fierce fist.
            "The king had a very successful life, and had the perfect family, or so he thought. His wife was the loveliest woman in the kingdom, and she loved him very faithfully. They had a boy who had the face of an angel, and was most generous. He seemed to deeply care about the kingdom and the king was at peace knowing that his son would succeed him. No one knew though, that the prince had a great amount of bitterness in him. He hated the way his father ruled, and thought the kingdom should be more of a dictatorship. He would also be very cruel to those who were not beautiful as he was; the prince believed that his angel-like face gave him authority over all the ugly. The prince should have been throw out of the kingdom, but only his personal guards knew of his bitterness.
            "One night the prince arranged a secret meeting. He and a few guards in the kingdom's army were there. He was trying to devise a plan to kill his father, but none of the guards would do it, so the prince thought of a plan himself. 
            "The next night the prince was going to sneak into his father's room, capture him, and send him to a far away country.
            "I will be king soon!" thought the prince.
            "As he was walking to his father's room, a genie jumped out at him."
            "BOO! Leave you naughty prince!" screamed the genie.
            "The prince was greatly startled by this. He forgot all about his plan and ran all the way back to his quarters.
            "Back in his room the prince was enraged."
            "That stupid genie. Now my plan is ruined. I will summon my own genie and demand him to punish the genie that scared me. Rise genie!" said the prince.
            "What is it your highness?" said the genie.
            "I demand you to punish the genie that ruined my plan," said the prince. 
            "Oh, I am afraid that I cannot do that my highness. A genie cannot harm one of its own kind. It just cannot be done. But, before you get too angry, I can grant you something else. I can grant you a camel. This is not an ordinary camel though. When this camel dies, you will be able to follow through with your plan to get rid of the king," said the genie. The prince thought about this for a while then finally decided that this was a good idea. "I must warn you though, this camel is ..." said the genie. 
   "I do not need your warnings," said the prince, "now be gone." Then the genie left and the prince was left alone with the camel. "That silly genie. This will be easy. I shall simply have the camel executed in the morning and then I will be king," said the prince and then he went to sleep. What he prince did not know though, was that the camel was an immortal camel, and if he ever tried to kill it, an extra 100 years would be added on to the happy king's life.
            "So, for 100 days and 100 nights the prince tried to have the camel killed. The prince never succeeded, and the camel and the king still live on today, happily ruling their kingdom. The prince left the kingdom and determined to have a kingdom of his own but that is the beginning of another tale."
            "Oh Scheherazade what a lovely story, will you please tell me another one, about the prince," asked Schahriar. 
            "Another time Schahriar, another time."