When the old King had been carried to his grave, Faithful John toldthe young King all that he had promised his father on his deathbed,and said, "This will I assuredly perform, and will be faithful to theeas I have been faithful to him, even if it should cost me my life." Whenthe mourning was over, Faithful John said to him, "It is now time thatthou shouldst see thine inheritance. I will show thee thy father'spalace." Then he took him about everywhere, up and down, and let himsee all the riches, and the magnificent apartments, only there was oneroom which he did not open, that in which hung the dangerous picture. Thepicture was, however, so placed that when the door was opened you lookedstraight on it, and it was so admirably painted that it seemed to breatheand live, and there was nothing more charming or more beautiful in thewhole world. The young King, however, plainly remarked that FaithfulJohn always walked past this one door, and said, "Why dost thou neveropen this one for me?" "There is something within it," he replied, "whichwould terrify thee." But the King answered, "I have seen all the palace,and I will know what is in this room also," and he went and tried tobreak open the door by force. Then Faithful John held him back and said,"I promised thy father before his death that thou shouldst not see thatwhich is in this chamber, it might bring the greatest misfortune onthee and on me." "Ah, no," replied the young King, "if I do not go in,it will be my certain destruction. I should have no rest day or nightuntil I had seen it with my own eyes. I shall not leave the place nowuntil thou hast unlocked the door."
Then Faithful John saw that there was no help for it now, and with a heavyheart and many sighs, sought out the key from the great bunch. When hehad opened the door, he went in first, and thought by standing beforehim he could hide the portrait so that the King should not see it infront of him, but what availed that? The King stood on tip-toe andsaw it over his shoulder. And when he saw the portrait of the maiden,which was so magnificent and shone with gold and precious stones, hefell fainting to the ground. Faithful John took him up, carried him tohis bed, and sorrowfully thought, "The misfortune has befallen us, LordGod, what will be the end of it?" Then he strengthened him with wine,until he came to himself again. The first words the King said were,"Ah, the beautiful portrait! whose it it?" "That is the princess ofthe Golden Dwelling," answered Faithful John. Then the King continued,"My love for her is so great, that if all the leaves on all the treeswere tongues, they could not declare it. I will give my life to winher. Thou art my most Faithful John, thou must help me."
The faithful servant considered within himself for a long time how toset about the matter, for it was difficult even to obtain a sight of theKing's daughter. At length he thought of a way, and said to the King,"Everything which she has about her is of gold—-tables, chairs, dishes,glasses, bowls, and household furniture. Among thy treasures are fivetons of gold; let one of the goldsmiths of the Kingdom work these upinto all manner of vessels and utensils, into all kinds of birds, wildbeasts and strange animals, such as may please her, and we will go therewith them and try our luck."
The King ordered all the goldsmiths to be brought to him, and theyhad to work night and day until at last the most splendid things wereprepared. When everything was stowed on board a ship, Faithful John put onthe dress of a merchant, and the King was forced to do the same in orderto make himself quite unrecognizable. Then they sailed across the sea,and sailed on until they came to the town wherein dwelt the princess ofthe Golden Dwelling.
Faithful John bade the King stay behind on the ship, and wait forhim. "Perhaps I shall bring the princess with me," said he, "thereforesee that everything is in order; have the golden vessels set out andthe whole ship decorated." Then he gathered together in his apron allkinds of gold things, went on shore and walked straight to the royalpalace. When he entered the courtyard of the palace, a beautiful girlwas standing there by the well with two golden buckets in her hand,drawing water with them. And when she was just turning round to carryaway the sparkling water she saw the stranger, and asked who he was. Sohe answered, "I am a merchant," and opened his apron, and let her lookin. Then she cried, "Oh, what beautiful gold things!" and put her pailsdown and looked at the golden wares one after the other. Then said thegirl, "The princess must see these, she has such great pleasure in goldenthings, that she will buy all you have." She took him by the hand and ledhim upstairs, for she was the waiting-maid. When the King's daughter sawthe wares, she was quite delighted and said, "They are so beautifullyworked, that I will buy them all of thee." But Faithful John said, "Iam only the servant of a rich merchant. The things I have here are notto be compared with those my master has in his ship. They are the mostbeautiful and valuable things that have ever been made in gold." Shewanted to have everything brought to her there, but he said, "Thereare so many of them that it would take a great many days to do that,and so many rooms would be required to exhibit them, that your house isnot big enough." Then her curiosity and longing were still more excited,until at last she said, "Conduct me to the ship, I will go there myself,and behold the treasures of thine master."
On this Faithful John was quite delighted, and led her to the ship, andwhen the King saw her, he perceived that her beauty was even greater thanthe picture had represented it to be, and thought no other than that hisheart would burst in twain. Then she got into the ship, and the King ledher within. Faithful John, however, remained behind with the pilot, andordered the ship to be pushed off, saying, "Set all sail, till it fly likea bird in air." Within, however, the King showed her the golden vessels,every one of them, also the wild beasts and strange animals. Many hourswent by whilst she was seeing everything, and in her delight she did notobserve that the ship was sailing away. After she had looked at the last,she thanked the merchant and wanted to go home, but when she came to theside of the ship, she saw that it was on the deep sea far from land,and hurrying onwards with all sail set. "Ah," cried she in her alarm,"I am betrayed! I am carried away and have fallen into the power ofa merchant—-I would die rather!" The King, however, seized her hand,and said, "I am not a merchant. I am a king, and of no meaner origin thanthou art, and if I have carried thee away with subtlety, that has come topass because of my exceeding great love for thee. The first time that Ilooked on thy portrait, I fell fainting to the ground." When the princessof the Golden Dwelling heard that, she was comforted, and her heart wasinclined unto him, so that she willingly consented to be his wife.
It so happened, however, while they were sailing onwards over the deepsea, that Faithful John, who was sitting on the fore part of the vessel,making music, saw three ravens in the air, which came flying towardsthem. On this he stopped playing and listened to what they were sayingto each other, for that he well understood. One cried, "Oh, there he iscarrying home the princess of the Golden Dwelling." "Yes," replied thesecond, "but he has not got her yet." Said the third, "But he has gother, she is sitting beside him in the ship." Then the first began again,and cried, "What good will that do him? When they reach land a chestnuthorse will leap forward to meet him, and the prince will want to mountit, but if he does that, it will run away with him, and rise up into theair with him, and he will never see his maiden more." Spake the second,"But is there no escape?"
"Oh, yes, if any one else gets on it swiftly, and takes out the pistolwhich must be in its holster, and shoots the horse dead with it, theyoung King is saved. But who knows that? And whosoever does know it, andtells it to him, will be turned to stone from the toe to the knee." Thensaid the second, "I know more than that; even if the horse be killed,the young King will still not keep his bride. When they go into thecastle together, a wrought bridal garment will be lying there in a dish,and looking as if it were woven of gold and silver; it is, however,nothing but sulphur and pitch, and if he put it on, it will burn him tothe very bone and marrow." Said the third, "Is there no escape at all?"
"Oh, yes," replied the second, "if any one with gloves on seizes thegarment and throws it into the fire and burns it, the young King will besaved. "But what avails that?" "Whosoever knows it and tells it to him,half his body will become stone from the knee to the heart."
Then said the third, "I know still more; even if the bridal garment beburnt, the young King will still not have his bride. After the wedding,when the dancing begins and the young queen is dancing, she will suddenlyturn pale and fall down as if dead, and if some one does not lift herup and draw three drops of blood from her right breast and spit themout again, she will die. But if any one who knows that were to declareit, he would become stone from the crown of his head to the sole of hisfoot." When the ravens had spoken of this together, they flew onwards,and Faithful John had well understood everything, but from that timeforth he became quiet and sad, for if he concealed what he had heard fromhis master, the latter would be unfortunate, and if he discovered it tohim, he himself must sacrifice his life. At length, however, he said tohimself, "I will save my master, even if it bring destruction on myself."
When therefore they came to shore, all happened as had been foretoldby the ravens, and a magnificent chestnut horse sprang forward. "Good,"said the King, "he shall carry me to my palace," and was about to mountit when Faithful John got before him, jumped quickly on it, drew thepistol out of the holster, and shot the horse. Then the other attendantsof the King, who after all were not very fond of Faithful John, cried,"How shameful to kill the beautiful animal, that was to have carried theKing to his palace." But the King said, "Hold your peace and leave himalone, he is my most faithful John, who knows what may be the good ofthat!" They went into the palace, and in the hall there stood a dish,and therein lay the bridal garment looking no otherwise than as if itwere made of gold and silver. The young King went towards it and wasabout to take hold of it, but Faithful John pushed him away, seized itwith gloves on, carried it quickly to the fire and burnt it. The otherattendants again began to murmur, and said, "Behold, now he is evenburning the King's bridal garment!" But the young King said, "Who knowswhat good he may have done, leave him alone, he is my most faithful John."
And now the wedding was solemnized: the dance began, and the bride alsotook part in it; then Faithful John was watchful and looked into herface, and suddenly she turned pale and fell to the ground, as if shewere dead. On this he ran hastily to her, lifted her up and bore herinto a chamber—-then he laid her down, and knelt and sucked the threedrops of blood from her right breast, and spat them out. Immediately shebreathed again and recovered herself, but the young King had seen this,and being ignorant why Faithful John had done it, was angry and cried,"Throw him into a dungeon." Next morning Faithful John was condemned,and led to the gallows, and when he stood on high, and was about to beexecuted, he said, "Every one who has to die is permitted before his endto make one last speech; may I too claim the right?" "Yes," answeredthe King, "it shall be granted unto thee." Then said Faithful John,"I am unjustly condemned, and have always been true to thee," and herelated how he had hearkened to the conversation of the ravens when onthe sea, and how he had been obliged to do all these things in order tosave his master. Then cried the King, "Oh, my most Faithful John. Pardon,pardon—-bring him down." But as Faithful John spoke the last word hehad fallen down lifeless and become a stone.
Thereupon the King and the Queen suffered great anguish, and the Kingsaid, "Ah, how ill I have requited great fidelity!" and ordered the stonefigure to be taken up and placed in his bedroom beside his bed. And asoften as he looked on it he wept and said, "Ah, if I could bring theeto life again, my most faithful John." Some time passed and the Queenbore twins, two sons who grew fast and were her delight. Once when theQueen was at church and the two children were sitting playing besidetheir father, the latter full of grief again looked at the stone figure,sighed and said, "Ah, if I could but bring thee to life again, my mostfaithful John." Then the stone began to speak and said, "Thou canst bringme to life again if thou wilt use for that purpose what is dearest tothee." Then cried the King, "I will give everything I have in the worldfor thee." The stone continued, "If thou wilt will cut off the heads ofthy two children with thine own hand, and sprinkle me with their blood,I shall be restored to life."
The King was terrified when he heard that he himself must kill hisdearest children, but he thought of faithful John's great fidelity, andhow he had died for him, drew his sword, and with his own hand cut offthe children's heads. And when he had smeared the stone with their blood,life returned to it, and Faithful John stood once more safe and healthybefore him. He said to the King, "Thy truth shall not go unrewarded,"and took the heads of the children, put them on again, and rubbed thewounds with their blood, on which they became whole again immediately,and jumped about, and went on playing as if nothing had happened. Thenthe King was full of joy, and when he saw the Queen coming he hid FaithfulJohn and the two children in a great cupboard. When she entered, he saidto her, "Hast thou been praying in the church?" "Yes," answered she,"but I have constantly been thinking of Faithful John and what misfortunehas befallen him through us." Then said he, "Dear wife, we can give himhis life again, but it will cost us our two little sons, whom we mustsacrifice." The Queen turned pale, and her heart was full of terror,but she said, "We owe it to him, for his great fidelity." Then the Kingwas rejoiced that she thought as he had thought, and went and opened thecupboard, and brought forth Faithful John and the children, and said,"God be praised, he is delivered, and we have our little sons again also,"and told her how everything had occurred. Then they dwelt together inmuch happiness until their death.
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