Jorge Luis Borges (1946) — one king builds a maze of bronze; the other answers with a maze that has no walls
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Borges tells this whole story in barely a page — a fable disguised as a fragment of an old chronicle. This is a graded retelling in three short movements. Read each part, pause for the discussion box, then continue. The whole thing turns on the last speech. Do not skip ahead.
It is told — and God alone knows the truth — that in the early days there was a king of the islands of Babylon who gathered his architects and his magicians and commanded them to build a labyrinth so cunning and so intricate that no wise man would dare enter it, and that those who did enter would lose themselves inside.
It was a scandalous thing to make, for confusion and wonder belong properly to God and not to men. In time a king of the Arabs, whose lands lay across the desert, came to the court of Babylon, and the king of Babylon, wishing to mock the simplicity of his guest, invited him to step into the labyrinth, where he wandered, humiliated and bewildered, until the fall of evening.
The Arab king, who had never seen such a building, did not complain. He wandered the bronze corridors that twisted back on themselves, and only when he implored divine help did he find the door. His lips let fall no reproach, but he said to the king of Babylon that in his own country he had a better labyrinth, and that, God willing, he would one day let him see it.
Then he returned to Arabia, gathered his captains and his armies, and made war on the kingdoms of Babylon with such good fortune that he flattened its castles, broke its peoples, and took the king himself prisoner.
He bound the king of Babylon onto a swift camel and carried him out into the desert. They rode for three days, and then he said to him:
"In Babylon you tried to make me lose my way in a labyrinth of bronze, a labyrinth that had many stairways, doors and walls. Now the Almighty has seen fit to let me show you mine — but mine has no stairways to climb, no doors to force, no weary galleries to cross, and no walls to bar your path."
Then he loosed the king's bonds and left him in the middle of the desert, where he died of hunger and thirst. Glory be to the One who does not die.
Ten words from the fable, chosen because they carry weight in any discussion of pride, power and reversal. Tap to reveal the meaning and a usable example.
Borges writes a modern story in the borrowed voice of a medieval chronicle. Notice the markers that create that archaic, scriptural tone — and the plain modern equivalents you would use yourself.
| Plain modern | Borges's chronicle register |
|---|---|
| People say that… | It is told that… / They relate that… |
| He decided to build… | He commanded his architects to build… |
| If God allows it | God willing / if it be God's will |
| Thank God | Glory be to the One who does not die |
Borges's sentences spiral like the labyrinth itself, and the engine of that spiral is the relative clause — "a king who gathered his architects", "a maze that had no walls". Master defining and non-defining clauses and you can build long, controlled sentences that never lose the reader.
A defining clause identifies which person or thing we mean. No commas. Use who (people), which / that (things), where (places). ("He built a labyrinth that had many doors.")
1. The king built the labyrinth wished to humiliate his guest.
2. He made a maze had stairways, doors and walls.
3. The desert the Arab king left him had no exit at all.
4. The man they took prisoner was the king of Babylon himself.
1. who / that
2. which / that
3. where
4. who / that / whom
A non-defining clause adds extra information about something already identified. It needs commas, and you cannot use "that". ("The Arab king, who had never seen such a building, did not complain.")
1. The king of Babylon, pride knew no limit, mocked his guest.
2. The Arab king, said nothing at the time, returned with an army.
3. The labyrinth, had taken years to build, was destroyed in a single war.
4. They rode for three days into the desert, the king of Babylon would die.
1. whose (possession)
2. who
3. which (never "that" in a non-defining clause)
4. where
Join each pair into one sentence using a relative clause. Decide whether it should be defining (no commas) or non-defining (commas).
1. The king built a labyrinth. It confused even wise men.
→
2. The Arab king said nothing. He later took his revenge.
→
3. The desert is a labyrinth. It has no walls.
→
1. The king built a labyrinth that confused even wise men. (defining)
2. The Arab king, who said nothing, later took his revenge. (non-defining)
3. The desert is a labyrinth that has no walls. (defining) — or, for effect: The desert, which has no walls, is the more perfect labyrinth.
Four moves to spot. They are how a single page carries the weight of a parable.
Borges opens "It is told — and God alone knows the truth." He disguises his invention as an ancient chronicle, which lends the fable the authority of scripture while quietly admitting it may be untrue. The frame does half the work.
Everything in the story is doubled and mirrored: two kings, two mazes, two humiliations. The Arab's revenge is not just defeat but a precise inversion of the original insult — the king who made others lose their way is made to lose his.
We are promised a "better labyrinth" in Part 2, but Borges withholds what it is until the final speech. When the desert is revealed as the maze, the word "labyrinth" expands from a building into an idea.
The last line gives the glory to God, not to the victor. Borges reframes the human contest as a small thing inside a divine one: the truly inescapable labyrinth was never bronze or sand, but the will that placed both men in the story.
Now move to the next tab. The technique work above feeds directly into the three speaking tasks.
Do all three. Each one builds on the last. The timer is for your benefit — it forces you to fill the time rather than escape it. Use relative clauses and effect verbs from the previous tabs.
Retell the fable in your own words, but with a constraint: build at least four long sentences, each containing a relative clause. For example: "There was a king of Babylon who, wishing to mock his guest, built a maze that had countless doors…"
Try to keep each long sentence clear and easy to follow, even as it grows. Then say which image from the fable stays with you most.
What makes a "labyrinth with no walls" — a trap with no visible barriers — harder to escape than an obvious one? Think of an example from life, history, or fiction: a bureaucracy, a debt, a habit, an open desert of choices. Explain why the absence of walls made it harder, not easier, to escape.
Define the labyrinth precisely using non-defining relative clauses ("The system, which seemed simple, had no way out…"). Use at least three effect verbs from Tab 3.
The king of Babylon falls because he could not resist humiliating a guest. For two minutes, argue that his real crime was hubris, not cruelty — that the maze was only pride made solid. For two more, make the harder case: that the Arab king's patient, total revenge is no better, and that the desert is just hubris of a quieter kind.
Use cleft sentences ("What destroys him is not the maze but the pride behind it") and at least one defining relative clause.