Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm

by Philip Pullman

  ‘That’s a comfort to me,’ said the king. ‘I can die peacefully now. When I’ve gone, this is what you must do: show him over the whole castle, all the vaults, the chambers, the halls, and all the treasure they contain. But keep him away from the last room in the long gallery. There’s a portrait of the Princess of the Golden Roof in there, and if he sees that picture, he’ll fall in love with her. You’ll know if that’s happened, because he’ll fall down unconscious. And then he’ll put himself into all kinds of dangers for her sake. Keep him away from all that, Johannes: that’s the last thing I ask of you.’

  Faithful Johannes gave his promise, and the old king lay back on his pillow and died.

  After the funeral, Faithful Johannes said to the young king, ‘It’s time you saw all your possessions, your majesty. Your father asked me to show you over the castle. It belongs to you now, and you need to know about all the treasures it holds.’

  Johannes took him everywhere, upstairs and downstairs, up in the attics and way below ground in the cellars. All the magnificent rooms were open to him – all but one, that is, because Faithful Johannes kept the young king away from the last room in the long gallery, where the portrait of the Princess of the Golden Roof was hung. The picture was displayed in such a way that anyone entering the room would see it at once, and it was painted so well and so vividly that the princess seemed to live and breathe. No one could imagine anything in the world more beautiful.

  The king noticed that Faithful Johannes always ushered him past that door, or tried to distract him when they were near it, and said, ‘Come on, Johannes, I can see you’re trying to stop me going in there. Why do you never open this door?’

  ‘There’s something horrifying in there, your majesty. You don’t want to see it.’

  ‘I certainly do! I’ve seen the whole castle now, and this is the last room. I want to know what’s in it!’

  And he tried to open the door by force, but Faithful Johannes held him back. ‘I promised the king your father that I wouldn’t let you see inside this room,’ he said. ‘It will bring nothing but bad luck for both of us.’

  ‘Well, you’re wrong about that,’ said the young king. ‘I’m so curious to see what’s inside, it’ll be bad luck if I can’t. I shall have no peace, day or night, till I know what’s in there. Johannes, open the door!’

  Faithful Johannes saw that he had no choice. With a heavy heart and sighing deeply, he took the key from the ring and opened the door. He went in first, thinking that he might block the portrait from the young king’s eyes, but that didn’t work: the king stood on tiptoes and looked over his shoulder. And it happened just as the old king had said it would: the young man saw the portrait, and at once he fell unconscious to the floor.

  Faithful Johannes picked him up and carried him to his room. ‘Oh, Lord,’ he thought, ‘this is a bad start to his reign. What bad luck will come to us now?’

  The king soon came back to his senses, however, and said, ‘What a beautiful picture! What a beautiful girl! Who is she?’

  ‘She’s the Princess of the Golden Roof,’ said Faithful Johannes.

  ‘Oh, I’m in love, Johannes! I love her so much that if all the leaves on all the trees were tongues, they couldn’t express it. I’d risk my life to win her love. Johannes, my faithful servant, you must help me! How can we reach her?’

  Faithful Johannes thought hard about this. It was well known that the princess was a reclusive character. However, he soon thought of a plan, and went to tell the king.

  ‘Everything she has around her is gold,’ he explained, ‘tables, chairs, dishes, sofas, knives and forks, all solid gold. Now among your treasures, your majesty, as you’ll no doubt remember, are five tons of gold. What I suggest is to get the royal goldsmiths to take, say, a ton of it and make all manner of pretty things, birds and beasts and strange animals and the like. They might take her fancy, and we could try our luck.’

  The king summoned all the goldsmiths and told them what he wanted. They worked night and day and produced a large number of pieces so beautiful that the young king was sure the princess would never have seen the like.

  They loaded everything on board a ship, and Faithful Johannes and the king disguised themselves as merchants so that they were quite unrecognizable. Then they weighed anchor, and they sailed across the sea until they came to the city of the Princess of the Golden Roof.

  Faithful Johannes said to the king, ‘I think you should wait on the ship, your majesty. I’ll go ashore and see if I can interest the princess in our gold. What you’d best do is set some things out for her to look at. Decorate the ship a bit.’

  The king set to eagerly, and Faithful Johannes went ashore with some of the smaller gold objects in his apron, and went straight to the palace. In the courtyard he found a beautiful girl drawing water from two wells with two golden buckets, one for plain water and one for sparkling. She was about to turn and go in when she saw Faithful Johannes and asked who he was.

  ‘I’m a merchant,’ he said. ‘I’ve come from a far land to see if anyone’s interested in our gold.’

  He opened his apron to show her.

  ‘Oh, what lovely things!’ she said, putting the buckets down and taking up the gold pieces one after the other. ‘I must tell the princess about them. She loves gold, you know, and I’m sure she’d buy everything you’ve got.’

  She took Faithful Johannes by the hand, and led him upstairs, for she was the princess’s own chambermaid. When the princess saw the golden objects she was delighted.

  ‘I’ve never seen such beautifully made things,’ she said. ‘I can’t resist them. Name your price! I’ll buy them all.’

  Faithful Johannes said, ‘Well, your royal highness, I’m only the servant really. My master is the merchant – he usually deals with that side of things. And these little samples of mine aren’t to be compared with what he’s got on the ship. They’re the most beautiful things that have ever been made in gold.’

  ‘Bring them all here!’ she said.

  ‘Ah, well, I’d like to oblige you, but there’s so many of them. It would take days to bring them all up here, and besides, it would need so much space to set all the pieces out that I don’t think your palace has got enough rooms, big and splendid though it is.’ He thought that would make her curious, and he was right, because she said, ‘Then I’ll come to your ship. Take me there now, and I’ll look at all your master’s treasures.’

  Faithful Johannes led her to the ship, feeling very pleased. When the young king saw the princess on the quayside, he realized that she was even more beautiful than her portrait, and his heart nearly burst. But he escorted her on board and led her below, while Faithful Johannes remained on deck. ‘Cast off and set all the sail you have,’ he told the bosun. ‘Fly like a bird in the air.’

  Meanwhile below decks the king was showing the princess the golden vessels and all the other beautiful objects, the birds, the animals, the trees and flowers, both realistic and fantastical. Hours went by, and she didn’t notice that they were sailing. When she’d seen everything she gave a little sigh of contentment.

  ‘Thank you, sir,’ she said. ‘What a beautiful collection! I’ve never seen anything like it. Truly exquisite! But it’s time I went home.’

  And then she looked through the porthole, and saw that they were on the high seas.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she cried. ‘Where are we? I’ve been betrayed! To fall into the hands of a merchant – but you can’t be a merchant! You must be a pirate! Have you kidnapped me? Oh, I’d rather die!’

  The king took her hand and said, ‘I’m not a merchant. I’m a king, just as well born as you are. If I tricked you into coming on board, it’s only because I was overpowered by love. When I saw your portrait in my palace, I fell to the ground unconscious.’

  The Princess of the Golden Roof was reassured by his g
entle manner, and presently her heart was moved, and she agreed to become his wife.

  Now as the ship sailed onwards, Faithful Johannes happened to be sitting in the bows, playing the fiddle. While he was doing that, three ravens flew around the ship and settled on the bowsprit, and he stopped playing and listened to what they were saying, for he knew the language of the birds.

  The first said, ‘Kraak! Look! That’s the Princess of the Golden Roof! He’s taking her home with him!’

  The second one said, ‘Yes, but he hasn’t got her yet.’

  The third one said, ‘Yes, he has! Kraak! There she is, sitting next to him on the deck.’

  ‘That won’t do him any good,’ said the first one. ‘As soon as they step ashore, a chestnut horse will run up to greet them, and the prince will try and mount it. Kraak! But if he does, the horse will leap into the air and carry him away, and he’ll never see her again.’

  ‘Kraak!’ said the second. ‘Isn’t there any way of preventing that?’

  ‘Yes, of course there is, but they don’t know it. If someone else jumps in the saddle, takes the pistol from the holster and shoots the horse dead, the king will be safe. Kraak! But whoever does that must never tell the king why he did it, because if he does, he’ll be turned to stone up to his knees.’

  ‘I know more than that,’ said the second raven. ‘Even if the horse is killed, the king isn’t safe. When they go into the palace, they’ll find a beautiful wedding robe laid out for him on a golden tray. It’ll seem to be made of gold and silver, but really it’s made of sulphur and pitch, and if he puts it on it’ll burn his flesh away right down to the marrow. Kraak!’

  ‘Surely they won’t be able to save him from that,’ said the third.

  ‘Oh, yes, it’s easy, but they don’t know how. Someone wearing gloves will have to take the robe and throw it on the fire, and then it’ll burn up safely and the king won’t be harmed. Kraak! But if he tells the king why he did it, he’ll be turned to stone from his knees to his heart.’

  ‘What a fate!’ said the third. ‘And the dangers don’t end there, either. Even if the robe burns up, I don’t think this king is destined to have his bride. After the ceremony, when the dancing begins, the young queen will suddenly turn pale and fall down as though dead.’

  ‘And can she be saved?’ said the first.

  ‘With the greatest of ease, if anyone knew. All they have to do is lift her up, bite her right breast, draw three drops of blood from it and spit them out. Then she’ll come to life again. But if they tell the king why they’ve done it, their entire body will turn to stone, from the crown of their head to the soles of their feet. Kraak!’

  And then the ravens flew away. Faithful Johannes had understood every word, and from then on he grew silent and sorrowful. If he didn’t do what the ravens had said, his master would die, and yet if he explained to the king why he’d done these strange things, he would be turned to stone.

  But finally he said to himself, ‘Well, he’s my master, and I’ll save his life even if I have to give up my life in doing so.’

  When they landed, it happened exactly as the raven had said it would. A magnificent chestnut horse came galloping up, saddled and bridled in gold.

  ‘A good omen!’ said the king. ‘He can carry me to the palace.’

  And he was about to climb into the saddle when Faithful Johannes pushed him aside and leaped up himself. A moment later he’d pulled out the pistol from the saddle holster and shot the horse dead.

  The king’s other servants didn’t care much for Johannes, and they said, ‘What a shame to kill such a beautiful horse! And to shove the king aside like that, what’s more, just as it was going to carry him to the palace.’

  ‘Hold your tongues,’ said the king. ‘This is Faithful Johannes you’re talking about. I’m sure he had a good reason for it.’

  They went into the palace, and there in the hall was a beautiful robe laid out on a golden tray, just as the raven had said. Faithful Johannes was watching closely, and as soon as the king moved to pick it up, Johannes pulled his gloves on, snatched the robe away, and threw it on the fire. It blazed up fiercely.

  The other servants whispered together again: ‘See that? See what he did? He burned the king’s wedding robe!’

  But the young king said, ‘Enough of that! I’m sure Johannes had a good reason. Leave him alone.’

  Then the wedding took place. After the service the dancing began, and Faithful Johannes stood at the edge of the ballroom, never taking his eyes off the queen. Suddenly she turned pale and fell to the floor. At once Johannes ran to her, picked her up, and carried her to the royal bedchamber. He laid her down, and then knelt and first bit her right breast and then sucked out three drops of blood, and spat them out. Instantly she opened her eyes and looked around, and then sat up, breathing easily, perfectly well again.

  The king had seen everything, and not understanding why Johannes had behaved like that, became angry and ordered the guards to take him to prison at once.

  Next morning Faithful Johannes was condemned to death and led to the gallows. As he stood on the scaffold with the noose around his neck he said, ‘Everyone condemned to die is allowed to say one last thing. Do I also have the right?’

  ‘Yes,’ said the king. ‘You have that right.’

  ‘I’ve been unjustly condemned,’ said Faithful Johannes. ‘I’ve always been loyal to you, your majesty, just as I was to your father.’ And he told all about the conversation between the ravens on the bowsprit, and how he had to do these strange things in order to save the king and queen from death.

  Hearing that, the king cried out, ‘Oh, my Faithful Johannes! A pardon! A pardon for you! Bring him down at once!’

  But something strange was happening to Johannes: as he spoke the very last word, his feet and then his legs and then his trunk and his arms and finally his head changed into stone.

  The king and the queen were grief-stricken.

  ‘Oh, what a terrible reward for his loyalty to us!’ the king said, and he ordered the stone figure to be carried to his bedchamber and placed next to his bed. Every time he looked at it, the tears flowed down his cheeks, and he’d say, ‘Oh, if only I could bring you back to life, my dear, most faithful Johannes!’

  Time went by, and the queen gave birth to twin boys, who were healthy and happy and became her greatest delight. One day when the queen was at church, the two boys were playing in their father’s bedroom, and their father the king looked at the stone figure and said, as he always did, ‘Oh, my dear faithful Johannes, if only I could bring you back to life!’

  And then to his astonishment the stone began to speak and said, ‘You can bring me back to life, if you sacrifice what you love most.’

  The king said, ‘For you I’ll give up everything I have!’

  The stone went on, ‘If you cut off your children’s heads with your own hand and sprinkle their blood on me, I shall come back to life.’

  The king was horrified. To kill his own beloved children! What a terrible price to pay! But he remembered how Faithful Johannes had been ready to give his own life for those he served, and he steeled himself, drew his sword, and lopped off his two children’s heads in a moment. And when he had sprinkled the stone figure with their blood, the stone changed into flesh again, starting at the head and going all the way down to the toes, and there was Faithful Johannes, healthy and well.

  He said to the king, ‘You were faithful to me, your majesty, and you won’t go unrewarded.’

  And Johannes took the children’s heads and put them on again, rubbing their necks with their own blood, and they sat up and blinked and came alive once more, and went on jumping around and playing as if nothing had happened.

  The king was overjoyed. And then he heard the queen coming back from church, and he made Johannes and the children hide in the wa
rdrobe. When she came in, he said, ‘My dear, have you been praying?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘but my mind was always on Faithful Johannes and what a dreadful thing happened to him because of us.’

  ‘Well,’ said the king, ‘we can bring him back to life, but it’ll be at a heavy cost. We shall have to sacrifice our two little boys.’

  The queen turned pale, and horror nearly stopped her heart. But she said, ‘We owe him that much, for his great loyalty.’

  The king rejoiced to hear that her response was the same as his, and he opened the wardrobe and out came Faithful Johannes and the two little boys.

  ‘God be praised!’ said the king. ‘Faithful Johannes has been saved, and our two sons are alive as well!’

  He told the queen how everything had come about. And after that they lived together happily till the end of their lives.

  ***

  Tale type: ATU 516, ‘Faithful John’

  Source: a story told to the Grimm brothers by Dorothea Viehmann

  Similar stories: Alexander Afanasyev: ‘Koshchey the Deathless’ (Russian Fairy Tales)

  There are several intriguing motifs in this story: the portrait that must be hidden, the fatal knowledge acquired by overhearing what the birds say, the dreadful fate of poor Johannes and the appalling dilemma faced by the king.

  The story in Afanasyev is not as tight and well contructed as the Grimms’ version, which moves with great swiftness and skill from event to event. As elsewhere in their tales, we can see the organizing hand of Dorothea Viehmann (see the note to ‘The Riddle’).

  FIVE

  THE TWELVE BROTHERS

  Once there were a king and queen who lived together happily and ruled their kingdom well. They had twelve children, and every single one was a boy.

  One day the king said to his wife, ‘You’re carrying our thirteenth child in your womb. If she turns out to be a girl, then the other twelve must die. I want her to inherit the kingdom and all my wealth.’