Trying to remember a title...

[usernotabuser]

So I've been trying for ~1 year to remember the name of a short story (and what collection it was in, for that matter) that I read about 10 or 15 years ago.

The story was about a twin prince who was going to be king. At some point his brother kidnapped him and had him placed at the bottom of a well in a sacred courtyard or some such. He was trapped there for several years and finally escaped and took revenge.

If I recall correctly the short story (or novella even) had some arabic undertones and may have been in Persia or some similar country.

Any ideas as to the collection I may have read this in or the author? It was pretty old paperback I think, so I'm having a hard time remembering or googling the plot to identify it.

Thanks for your time

[usernotabuser]

uh, bump...?

[semi-fly]

I doubt this is right, but it sounds like The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

[usernotabuser]

Nah, this is a short story, darker... more of a horror, escape story.

[Sapphire]

Do you think you'd recognize the title when you see it?
Librarything - Twins Fiction (http://www.librarything.com/subject.php?subject=Twins%09Fiction)
It might be amongst those...

The only stories about twins that popped up in my mind were GEMINI (Kipling) and The PRINCE and the PAUPER (Twain). None of those is as you described though...

[usernotabuser]

I don't know if I'd recognize the title... thanks for that idea though.

It's neither of those titles.

I did remember another tidbit though. Upon escape from the well (after 7 or so years there) he pulled a tooth or two so that he would resemble his brother exactly.

Also, he broke out of the well by using urine to eat through the iron grate he was sitting on top of above the level of water in the well and then digging up through the earth surrounding the well. He also made a straw out of rat bones to drink out of the well so he could use his cup (previous hydration method) as a tool.

I appreciate the efforts, any other places (forum) that you guys know of that I should try to hit up with this identification effort?

I should also note that this was probably in a horror or scifi collection. I'd lean farther towards horror.

[Pecksie]

Sounds like something Poe might have written...

[usernotabuser]

It does doesn't it?

But it's not, I'm guessing something way more obscure. It was in one of those older paperbacks with the yellow/orangy edges on the pages. You all know the high quality stuff I'm talking about.

It was actually a decent collection iirc, and that's part of why I'm searching so diligently for it.