Born This Way: The Medieval Parable "The Prince Who Never Saw a Woman"

Name:  Anonymous Date: c. 13th / 14th century CE Region: Unknown Citation: The Prince Who Had Never Met A Woman[1]

Although the original moral to the following medieval Latin parable was to avoid temptation during celibacy, modern readers see this story as an example of how bias is learned behavior, not inherited.

The Prince Who Had Never Met A Woman

There’s a story about a king who was very upset that he did not have any sons. When his son was finally born, he was overjoyed. However, his doctors told him that his son had a medical condition that if he saw any light before his tenth birthday, he would go blind.

When he heard this, he locked the child in a cave with servants, and so his son did not see the light of day for ten years. When the boy was brought out of the cave, he knew nothing of the world. The king ordered others to show the prince everything that was in the world, separated by type, like men and women separately, horses, etc. in one place; in another place, gold, silver, precious gems, and all other things that delight the eye.

The boy asked the names of each thing as he saw it. When he met a woman, one of the king’s servants responded jokingly, “They are demons who corrupt men!” The prince’s heart leapt in desire for the woman more than any other thing.

Later on, when the king asked his son what he liked most of all the thing he’d seen, the prince responded, “The thing I love the most are the demons who seduce men.”

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[1]Preserved in Wright, Thomas, ed. A Selection of Latin Stories, From Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: A Contribution to the History of Fiction During the Middle Ages. London: Percy Society, 1842, p. 7.

Latin Text: 

Legimus de rege quodam, qui cum filios mares non haberet, tristabatur valde; cui natus est filius, et gavisus est gaudio magno valde. Dixerunt autem regi periti medici quod filius eius talis erat dispositionis, quod si solem vel ignem videret infra X annos, lumine oculorum privaretur. Quo audito, rex filium suum in spelunca cum nutricibus inclusit, ita quod usque ad X annos luminis claritatem non vidit.

 Et tunc puero de spelunca educto, cum rerum mundialium nullam haberet notitiam, praecepit rex ostendere ei omnia quae sunt in mundo, secundum genus suum, videlicet viros seorsum, mulieres, equos; in alio loco aurum, argentum, et lapides preciosos, et omnia quae delectare possunt oculos intuentium. Cum autem puer quaereret nomina singulorum, et ventum esset ad mulieres, quidam regis servus respondet, ludendo, “Istae sunt daemones homines seducentes.” Cor vero pueri illarum desiderio plusquam ceteris rebus anhelabat. Cumque rex quaereret a puero quid magis ex omnibus quae videret amaret, respondit, “Magis diligo daemones illos qui homines seducunt, quam omnia aliae quae vidi.”