Big Book of Ancient Gabanian Fables

Book LXXVI: The Good Bargain

There was once upon a time an old king who was ill and thought tohimself 'I am lying on what must be my deathbed.' Then said he 'tellfaithful John to come to me.' Faithful John was his favorite servant,and was so called, because he had for his whole life long been sotrue to him. When therefore he came beside the bed, the king said tohim 'most faithful John, I feel my end approaching, and have noanxiety except about my son. He is still of tender age, and cannotalways know how to guide himself. If you do not promise me to teachhim everything that he ought to know, and to be his foster-father, Icannot close my eyes in peace.' Then answered faithful John 'I willnot forsake him, and will serve him with fidelity, even if it shouldcost me my life.' At this, the old king said 'now I die in comfortand peace.' Then he added 'after my death, you shall show him thewhole castle - all the chambers, halls, and vaults, and all thetreasures which lie therein, but the last chamber in the longgallery, in which is the picture of the princess of the goldendwelling, shall you not show. If he sees that picture, he will fallviolently in love with her, and will drop down in a swoon, and gothrough great danger for her sake, therefore you must protect himfrom that.' And when faithful John had once more given his promise tothe old king about this, the king said no more, but laid his head onhis pillow, and died.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 keep, and will be faithful to you asI 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 thatyou should see your inheritance. I will show you your father'spalace.' Then he took him about everywhere, up and down, and let himsee all the riches, and the magnificent apartments, only there wasone room which he did not open, that in which hung the dangerouspicture. The picture, however, was so placed that when the door wasopened you looked straight on it, and it was so admirably paintedthat it seemed to breathe and live, and there was nothing morecharming or more beautiful in the whole world. The young kingnoticed, however, that faithful John always walked past this onedoor, and said 'why do you never open this one for me.' 'There issomething within it, he replied, 'which would terrify you.' But theking answered 'I have seen all the palace, and I want to know what isin this room also, and he went and tried to break open the door byforce. Then faithful John held him back and said 'I promised yourfather before his death that you should not see that which is in thischamber, it might bring the greatest misfortune on you and on me.''Ah, no, replied the young king, 'if I do not go in, it will be mycertain destruction. I should have no rest day or night until I hadseen it with my own eyes. I shall not leave the place now until youhave unlocked the door.'Then faithful John saw that there was no help for it now, and with aheavy heart and many sighs, sought out the key from the great bunch.When he opened the door, he went in first, and thought by standingbefore him he could hide the portrait so that the king should not seeit in front of him. But what good was this. The king stood ontip-toe and saw it over his shoulder. And when he saw the portraitof the maiden, which was so magnificent and shone with gold andprecious stones, he fell fainting to the ground. Faithful John tookhim up, carried him to his bed, and sorrowfully thought 'themisfortune has befallen us, Lord God, 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 of the golden dwelling, answeredfaithful John. Then the king continued 'my love for her is so great,that if all the leaves on all the trees were tongues, they could notdeclare it. I will give my life to win her. You are my mostfaithful John, you 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 ofthe king's daughter. At length he thought of a way, and said to theking 'everything which she has about her is of gold - tables, chairs,dishes, glasses, bowls, and household furniture. Among yourtreasures are five tons of gold, let one of the goldsmiths of thekingdom fashion these into all manner of vessels and utensils, intoall kinds of birds, wild beasts and strange animals, such as mayplease her, and we will go there with 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 Johnput on the dress of a merchant, and the king was forced to do thesame in order to make himself quite unrecognizable. Then they sailedacross the sea, and sailed on until they came to the town whereindwelt the princess of the 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,'therefore see that everything is in order, have the golden vesselsset out and the whole ship decorated.' Then he gathered together inhis apron all kinds of golden things, went on shore and walkedstraight to the royal palace. When he entered the courtyard of thepalace, a beautiful girl was standing there by the well with twogolden buckets in her hand, drawing water with them. And when shewas just turning round to carry away the sparkling water she saw thestranger, and asked who he was. So he answered 'I am a merchant, andopened his apron, and let her look in. Then she cried 'oh, whatbeautiful golden things.' And put her pails down and looked at thegolden wares one after the other. Then said the girl 'the princessmust see these, she has such great pleasure in golden things, thatshe will buy all you have.' She took him by the hand and led himupstairs, 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 from you.' But faithful John said 'Iam only the servant of a rich merchant. The things I have here arenot to be compared with those my master has in his ship. They arethe most beautiful and valuable things that have ever been made ingold.' When she wanted to have everything brought up to her, he said'there are so many of them that it would take a great many days to dothat, and so many rooms would be required to exhibit them, that yourhouse is not big enough.' Then her curiosity and longing were stillmore excited, until at last she said 'conduct me to the ship, I willgo there myself, and behold the treasures of your master.' At thisfaithful John was quite delighted, and led her to the ship, and whenthe king saw her, he perceived that her beauty was even greater thanthe picture had represented it to be, and thought no other than thathis heart would burst in twain. Then she boarded the ship, and theking led her within. Faithful John, however, remained with thehelmsman, and ordered the ship to be pushed off, saying 'set allsail, till it fly like a bird in the air.' Within, the king showedher the golden vessels, every one of them, also the wild beasts andstrange animals. Many hours went by whilst she was seeingeverything, and in her delight she did not observe that the ship wassailing away. After she had looked at the last, she thanked themerchant and wanted to go home, but when she came to the side of theship, she saw that it was on the high seas far from land, andhurrying onwards with all sail set. 'Ah, cried she in her alarm, 'Iam betrayed. I am carried away and have fallen into the power of amerchant - I would rather die.' The king, however, seized her hand,and said 'I am not a merchant. I am a king, and of no meaner originthan you are, and if I have carried you away with subtlety, that hascome to pass because of my exceeding great love for you. The firsttime that I looked on your portrait, I fell fainting to the ground.'When the princess of the golden dwelling heard this, she wascomforted, and her heart was drawn to him, so that she willinglyconsented to be his wife. It so happened, while they were sailingonwards over the deep sea, that faithful John, who was sitting on thefore part of the vessel, making music, saw three ravens in the air,which came flying towards them. At this he stopped playing andlistened to what they were saying to each other, for that he wellunderstood. One cried 'oh, there he is carrying home the princess ofthe golden dwelling.' 'Yes, replied the second, 'but he has not gother yet.' Said the third 'but he has got her, she is sitting besidehim in the ship.' Then the first began again, and cried 'what goodwill that do him. When they reach land a chestnut horse will leapforward to meet him, and the prince will want to mount it, but if hedoes that, it will run away with him, and rise up into the air, andhe will never see his maiden more.' Spoke the second 'but is there noescape.' 'Oh, yes, if someone else mounts it swiftly, and takes outthe pistol which he will find in its holster, and shoots the horsedead, the young king is saved. But who knows that. And whosoeverdoes know it, and tells it to him, will be turned to stone from thetoe to the knee.' Then said the second 'I know more than that, evenif the horse be killed, the young king will still not keep his bride.When they go into the castle together, a wrought bridal garment willbe lying there in a dish, and looking as if it were woven of gold andsilver, it is, however, nothing but sulphur and pitch, and if he putit on, it will burn him to the very bone and marrow.' Said the third'is there no escape at all.' 'Oh, yes, replied the second, 'if anyone with gloves on seizes the garment and throws it into the fire andburns it, the young king will be saved. But what good will that do.Whosoever knows it and tells it to him, half his body will becomestone from the knee to the heart.' Then said the third 'I know stillmore, even if the bridal garment be burnt, the young king will stillnot have his bride. After the wedding, when the dancing begins andthe young queen is dancing, she will suddenly turn pale and fall downas if dead, and if some one does not lift her up and draw three dropsof blood from her right breast and spit them out again, she will die.But if any one who knows that were to declare it, he would becomestone from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot.' When theravens had spoken of this together, they flew onwards, and faithfulJohn had well understood everything, but from that time forth hebecame quiet and sad, for if he concealed what he had heard from hismaster, the latter would be unfortunate, and if he disclosed it tohim, he himself must sacrifice his life. At length, however, he saidto himself 'I will save my master, even if it bring destruction onmyself.' When therefore they came to shore, all happened as had beenforetold by the ravens, and a magnificent chestnut horse sprangforward. 'Good, said the king, 'he shall carry me to my palace,and was about to mount it when faithful John got before him, jumpedquickly on it, drew the pistol out of the holster, and shot thehorse. Then the other attendants of the king, who were not very fondof faithful John, cried 'how shameful to kill the beautiful animal,that was to have carried the king to his palace.' But the king said'hold your peace and leave him alone, he is my most faithful John.Who knows what good may come of this.' They went into the palace, andin the hall there stood a dish, and therein lay the bridal garmentlooking no otherwise than as if it were made of gold and silver. Theyoung king went towards it and was about to take hold of it, butfaithful John pushed him away, seized it with gloves on, carried itquickly to the fire and burnt it. The other attendants again beganto murmur, and said 'behold, now he is even burning the king's bridalgarment.' But the young king said 'who knows what good he may havedone, leave him alone, he is my most faithful John.' And now thewedding was solemnized - the dance began, and the bride also tookpart in it, then faithful John was watchful and looked into her face,and suddenly she turned pale and fell to the ground as if she weredead. On this he ran hastily to her, lifted her up and bore her intoa chamber - then he laid her down, and knelt and sucked the threedrops of blood from her right breast, and spat them out. Immediatelyshe breathed again and recovered herself, but the young king had seenthis, and being ignorant why faithful John had done it, was angry andcried 'throw him into a dungeon.' Next morning faithful John wascondemned, and led to the gallows, and when he stood on high, and wasabout to be executed, he said 'every one who has to die is permittedbefore his end to make one last speech, may I too claim the right.''Yes, answered the king, 'it shall be granted unto you.' Then saidfaithful John 'I am unjustly condemned, and have always been true toyou, and he related how he had hearkened to the conversation of theravens when on the sea, and how he had been obliged to do all thesethings in order to save his master. Then cried the king 'oh, my mostfaithful John. Pardon, pardon - bring him down.' But as faithfulJohn spoke the last word he had fallen down lifeless and become astone.Thereupon the king and the queen suffered great anguish, and the kingsaid 'ah, how ill I have requited great fidelity.' And ordered thestone figure to be taken up and placed in his bedroom beside his bed.And as often as he looked on it he wept and said 'ah, if I couldbring you to life again, my most faithful John.'Some time passed and the queen bore twins, two sons who grew fast andwere her delight. Once when the queen was at church and the fatherwas sitting with his two children playing beside him, he looked atthe stone figure again, sighed, and full of grief he said 'ah, if Icould but bring you to life again, my most faithful John.' Then thestone began to speak and said 'you can bring me to life again if youwill use for that purpose what is dearest to you.' Then cried theking 'I will give everything I have in the world for you.' The stonecontinued 'if you will cut off the heads of your two children withyour own hand, and sprinkle me with their blood, I shall be restoredto life.'The king was terrified when he heard that he himself must kill hisdearest children, but he thought of faithful John's great fidelity,and how he had died for him, drew his sword, and with his own handcut off the children's heads. And when he had smeared the stone withtheir blood, life returned to it, and faithful John stood once moresafe and healthy before him. He said to the king 'your truth shallnot go unrewarded, and took the heads of the children, put them onagain, and rubbed the wounds with their blood, at which they becamewhole again immediately, and jumped about, and went on playing as ifnothing had happened. Then the king was full of joy, and when he sawthe queen coming he hid faithful John and the two children in a greatcupboard. When she entered, he said to her 'have you been praying inthe church.' 'Yes, answered she, 'but I have constantly been thinkingof faithful John and what misfortune has befallen him through us.'Then said he 'dear wife, we can give him his life again, but it willcost us our two little sons, whom we must sacrifice.' The queenturned pale, and her heart was full of terror, but she said 'we oweit to him, for his great fidelity.' Then the king was rejoiced thatshe thought as he had thought, and went and opened the cupboard, andbrought forth faithful John and the children, and said 'God bepraised, he is delivered, and we have our little sons again also,and told her how everything had occurred. Then they dwelt togetherin much happiness until their death.