The irony of fate, the Battle of Ladubidibis

Author: (Egypt) Mahfouz, translated by Meng Kai and others
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: The historical trilogy is an important early work by the Nobel Prize-winning author Mahfouz. It is a purely fictional story. The protagonist, Dadauf, is a handsome young man who is chosen by the crown prince to become a guard officer at the military academy graduation ceremony. Later, on a hunting field, Dadauf bravely saves the crown prince from the jaws of a fierce lion. In a battle commanding the army against the Bedouin tribes, he achieves a complete victory, and thus the king betroths his beloved princess to him. Later, Dadauf ascends the throne. However, what surprises the king in the end is that Dadauf is actually the infant he had once led his troops to pursue and kill decades earlier—the one prophesied to inherit the throne. Fate cruelly mocks the ruler. It is a brilliant love tragedy. The dancer Radoubis and the young king fall deeply in love, unable to break free. The priests exploit the king's romantic affair, inciting the people's hatred for the king and causing them to shoot their arrows into his chest. On his deathbed, this couple parting in life and death, reluctant and heartbroken, presents a deeply moving scene. In the end, Radoubis takes poison and follows the king into the afterlife. It is a war novel. The ancient city of Thebes is the capital of the southern people, and invaders constantly demand tribute, their greed insatiable. Finally, an inevitable war breaks out. The southern people are defeated. However, they endure hardship and humiliation, and ten years later, the Theban battle that shakes the Arab world erupts. From then on, a unified Egypt stands tall by the Nile.