The prince and the magician

Brian Goodwin told a fairytale during the congress dinner speech, which, unfortunately, wasn't heard by most people (including me); he also mentioned it the following day. So I've searched for it: it's called The Prince and the Magician, and it was included in a novel by John Fowles called The Magus and adapted from it from the guys who do neuro linguistic programming. Interesting story with many meanings, which can be adopted by scientists and pseudo-scientists alike...