text
stringlengths 0
74
|
---|
force. Then faithful John held him back and said 'I promised your
|
father before his death that you should not see that which is in this
|
chamber, 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 my
|
certain destruction. I should have no rest day or night until I had
|
seen it with my own eyes. I shall not leave the place now until you
|
have unlocked the door.'
|
Then faithful John saw that there was no help for it now, and with a
|
heavy heart and many sighs, sought out the key from the great bunch.
|
When he opened the door, he went in first, and thought by standing
|
before him he could hide the portrait so that the king should not see
|
it in front of him. But what good was this. The king stood on
|
tip-toe and saw it over his shoulder. And when he saw the portrait
|
of the maiden, which was so magnificent and shone with gold and
|
precious stones, he fell fainting to the ground. Faithful John took
|
him up, carried him to his bed, and sorrowfully thought 'the
|
misfortune 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, answered
|
faithful 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 not
|
declare it. I will give my life to win her. You are my most
|
faithful John, you must help me.
|
The faithful servant considered within himself for a long time how to
|
set about the matter, for it was difficult even to obtain a sight of
|
the king'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 your
|
treasures are five tons of gold, let one of the goldsmiths of the
|
kingdom fashion these into all manner of vessels and utensils, into
|
all kinds of birds, wild beasts and strange animals, such as may
|
please her, and we will go there with them and try our luck.'
|
The king ordered all the goldsmiths to be brought to him, and they
|
had to work night and day until at last the most splendid things were
|
prepared. When everything was stowed on board a ship, faithful John
|
put on the dress of a merchant, and the king was forced to do the
|
same in order to make himself quite unrecognizable. Then they sailed
|
across the sea, and sailed on until they came to the town wherein
|
dwelt the princess of the golden dwelling.
|
Faithful John bade the king stay behind on the ship, and wait for
|
him. 'Perhaps I shall bring the princess with me, said he,
|
'therefore see that everything is in order, have the golden vessels
|
set out and the whole ship decorated.' Then he gathered together in
|
his apron all kinds of golden things, went on shore and walked
|
straight to the royal palace. When he entered the courtyard of the
|
palace, a beautiful girl was standing there by the well with two
|
golden buckets in her hand, drawing water with them. And when she
|
was just turning round to carry away the sparkling water she saw the
|
stranger, and asked who he was. So he answered 'I am a merchant, and
|
opened his apron, and let her look in. Then she cried 'oh, what
|
beautiful golden things.' And put her pails down and looked at the
|
golden wares one after the other. Then said the girl 'the princess
|
must see these, she has such great pleasure in golden things, that
|
she will buy all you have.' She took him by the hand and led him
|
upstairs, for she was the waiting-maid. When the king's daughter saw
|
the wares, she was quite delighted and said 'they are so beautifully
|
worked, that I will buy them all from you.' But faithful John said 'I
|
am only the servant of a rich merchant. The things I have here are
|
not to be compared with those my master has in his ship. They are
|
the most beautiful and valuable things that have ever been made in
|
gold.' 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 do
|
that, and so many rooms would be required to exhibit them, that your
|
house is not 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 your master.' At this
|
faithful John was quite delighted, and led her to the ship, and when
|
the king saw her, he perceived that her beauty was even greater than
|
the picture had represented it to be, and thought no other than that
|
his heart would burst in twain. Then she boarded the ship, and the
|
king led her within. Faithful John, however, remained with the
|
helmsman, and ordered the ship to be pushed off, saying 'set all
|
sail, till it fly like a bird in the air.' Within, the king showed
|
her the golden vessels, every one of them, also the wild beasts and
|
strange animals. Many hours went by whilst she was seeing
|
everything, and in her delight she did not observe 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 the side of the
|
ship, she saw that it was on the high seas 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 of a
|
merchant - 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 origin
|
than you are, and if I have carried you away with subtlety, that has
|
come to pass because of my exceeding great love for you. The first
|
time that I looked on your portrait, I fell fainting to the ground.'
|
When the princess of the golden dwelling heard this, she was
|
comforted, and her heart was drawn to him, so that she willingly
|
consented to be his wife. It so happened, while they were sailing
|
onwards over the deep sea, that faithful John, who was sitting on the
|
fore part of the vessel, making music, saw three ravens in the air,
|
which came flying towards them. At this he stopped playing and
|
listened to what they were saying to each other, for that he well
|
understood. One cried 'oh, there he is carrying home the princess of
|
the golden dwelling.' 'Yes, replied the second, 'but he has not got
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.