This short story is about a future emperor of the galaxy who is brought to Earth for what he thinks is a tour. A guide takes him around Earth on horseback and keeps saying “your life is in my hands”. The prince thinks the guide is security and he is there on a vacation. In reality the prince is being evaluated. In the end he turns out to be a coward and the guide has to kill him.
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This sounds a previous question in the last few years.– M. A. GoldingJul 14, 2019 at 18:24
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1Possibly the same as Fantasy Short Story that appeared in an anthology about 1968-1971 and also Looking for short story from Asimov's Foundation universe– John RennieJul 14, 2019 at 19:06
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1Possible duplicate of Fantasy Short Story that appeared in an anthology about 1968-1971– Dave JohnsonJul 15, 2019 at 14:21
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2Not a dupe because not yet accepted.– JenayahJul 15, 2019 at 14:28
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1 Answer
Gordon R. Dickson Call Him Lord. The visit to Earth is a kind of "manhood test" to reveal the Prince's suitability (or not) to be the next Emperor.
When the escort meets the Emperor, the latter demands to know how his son failed the test. After going over a few lesser problems, the escort gets to the heart of the matter, saying "Lord. He was a coward," and the Emperor of a hundred worlds recoils in shame.
This first appeared in the May 1966 Analog. There is a Wikipedia article about it.
answered Jul 14, 2019 at 18:55
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If accepted (I agree it's correct) then a duplicate of this old question: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/54996/… Jul 14, 2019 at 19:07
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3@OrganicMarble, just because the answer is the same, it doesn't mean the Question is the same. To me, the Questions differ significantly in description of events. Jul 15, 2019 at 16:21
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1Here's the site policy: scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7065/… Have a nice day. Jul 15, 2019 at 16:31