The Prince said, “As I was going there, younger brother having played at ‘Disks,’ and the counters being driven out, was dragging the hop counters. Having seen me going, younger brother asked, ‘Where, elder brother, are you going?’ I said, ‘Father gave me this letter to give to such and such a potter; having given it I am going to return.’ Then younger brother said, ‘Elder brother, I will give that letter and come; you draw these hop counters.’ So I gave the letter into the hand of younger brother, and I myself having drawn the hop counters came back.”
Then the King quickly said to the Ministers, “Go to the potter, and look if the Prince is there, and return.”
The Ministers went and asked the potter, “Is the Prince here?”
The potter said, “I killed the Prince.”
So the Ministers came and told the King that the Prince was dead.
The King immediately wrote a letter to the King of another city, that when he saw the Prince who brought the letter he was to kill him; and having given the letter into the hand of this adopted Prince, he said, “Give this letter to the King of such and such a city, and come back.”
The Prince having taken the letter went to the palace of the King of the city. At that time the King was not in the palace; the King’s Princess was there. This Prince having grown up was beautiful to look at; the Princess thought of marrying him. Asking for the letter in the hand of the Prince, when she looked at it there was written that on seeing the Prince they were to kill him.
Then the Princess having torn up and thrown away the letter, wrote a letter that on seeing the Prince they were to marry him to the Princess. Having written it and given it into the hand of the Prince, she said, “After our father the King has come give him this letter.”
After that, while the Prince, having taken the letter, was there, the King came. The Prince gave him the letter. When the King looked at the letter he learnt that on seeing the Prince he was to marry the King’s Princess to him. So the King married the King’s Princess to the Prince.
Having married her, while the Prince was there, illness seized the King who brought up the Prince, and they sent letters for this Prince to come. The Prince would not. Afterwards they sent a letter: “Even now the King cannot be trusted [to live]; he is going to die even to-day. You must come.” To that also the Prince replied, “I will not.”