"How shameful to kill that beautiful animal that was to have carried the king to his castle." But the King said, "Hold your tongues, and let him be: he is my Faithful John; he knows what is the good of it."
Then they went up to the castle, and there stood in the hall a dish, and the wrought bride-shirt that lay on it seemed as if of gold
and silver. The young King went up to it and was going to put it on, but Faithful John pushed him away, picked it up with his gloved
hands, threw it quickly on the fire, and there let it burn. The other servants began grumbling again, and said,
"Look, he is even burning up the king's bridal shirt!" But the young King said,
"Who knows but that there may be a good reason for it? let him be, he is my Faithful John."
Then the wedding feast was held; and the bride led the dance; Faithful John watched her carefully, and all at once she grew pale and fell down as if she were dead. Then he went quickly to her, and carried her into a chamber hard by, laid her down, and kneeling, took three drops of blood from her right breast. Immediately she drew breath again and raised herself up, but the young King witnessing all, and not knowing why Faithful John had done this, grew very angry, and cried out,
"Throw him into prison!"
The next morning Faithful John was condemned to death and led to the gallows, and as he stood there ready to suffer, he said, "He who is about to die is permitted to speak once before his end; may I claim that right?"
"Yes," answered the King, "it is granted to you." Then said Faithful John,
"I have been condemned unjustly, for I have always been faithful," and he related how he had heard on the sea voyage the talk of the ravens, and how he had done everything in order to save his master. Then cried the King,
"O my Faithful John, pardon! pardon! lead him down!" But Faithful John, as he spoke the last words, fell lifeless, and became stone. The King and Queen had great grief because of this, and the King said,
"Ah, how could I have evil-rewarded such faithfulness!" and he caused the stone image to be lifted up and put to stand in his sleeping-room by the side of his bed. And as often as he saw it he wept and said,
"Would that I could bring thee back to life, my Faithful John!"
After some time the Queen bore twins--two little sons--that grew and thrived, and were the joy of their parents. One day, when
the Queen was in church, the two children were sitting and playing with their father, and he gazed at the stone image full of sadness, sighed, and cried,
"Oh that I could bring thee back to life, my Faithful John!" Then the stone began to speak, and said,
"Yes, thou canst bring me back to life again, if thou wilt bestow therefor thy best-beloved." Then cried the King, "All that I have in the world will I give up for thee!" The stone went on to say,
"If thou wilt cut off the heads of thy two children with thy own hand, and besmear me with their blood, I shall receive life again."
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The King was horror-struck at the thought that he must put his beloved children to death, but he remembered all John's faithfulness, and how he had died for him, and he drew his sword and cut off his children's heads with his own hand. And when he had besmeared the stone with their blood life returned to it, and Faithful John stood alive and well before him; and he said to the king,
"Thy faithfulness shall not be unrewarded," and, taking up the heads of the children, he set them on again, and besmeared the wound with their blood, upon which in a moment they were whole again, and jumped about, and went on playing as if nothing had happened to them.
Now was the King full of joy; and when he saw the Queen coming he put the Faithful John and the two children in a great chest. When she came in he said to her,
"Hast thou prayed in church?"
"Yes," answered she, "but I was thinking all the while of Faithful John, and how he came to such great misfortune through us."
"Then," said he, "dear wife, we can give him life again, but it will cost us both our little sons, whom we must sacrifice."
The Queen grew pale and sick at heart, but said, "We owe it him, because of his great faithfulness."
Then the King rejoiced because she thought as he did, and he went and unlocked the chest and took out the children and Faithful
John, and said,
"God be praised, he is delivered, and our little sons are ours again;" and he related to her how it had come to pass. After that they all lived together in happiness to their lives' end.
here was once a wonderful musician, and he was one day walking through a wood all alone, thinking of this and that: and when he had nothing more left to think about, he said to himself,
"I shall grow tired of being in this wood, so I will bring out a good companion."
So he took the fiddle that hung at his back and fiddled so that the wood echoed. Before long a wolf came through the thicket and
trotted up to him.
"Oh, here comes a wolf ! I had no particular wish for such company," said the musician: but the wolf drew nearer, and said to him,
"Ho, you musician, how finely you play! I must learn how to play too."
"That is easily done," answered the musician, "you have only to do exactly as I tell you." "O musician," said the wolf, "I will obey you, as a scholar does his master."
The musician told him to come with him. As they went a part of the way together they came to an old oak tree, which was hollow within and cleft through the middle.
"Look here," said the musician, "if you want to learn how to fiddle, you must put your fore feet in this cleft."
The wolf obeyed, but the musician took up a stone and quickly wedged both his paws with one stroke, so fast, that the wolf was a
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prisoner, and there obliged to stop.
"Stay there until I come back again," said the musician, and went his way. After a while he said again to himself,
"I shall grow weary here in this wood; I will bring out another companion," and he took his fiddle and fiddled away in the wood.
Before long a fox came slinking through the trees.
"Oh, here comes a fox!" said the musician; "I had no particular wish for such company." The fox came up to him and said,
"O my dear musician, how finely you play! I must learn how to play too."
"That is easily done," said the musician, "you have only to do exactly as I tell you." "O musician," answered the fox, "I will obey you, as a scholar his master."
"Follow me," said the musician; and as they went a part of the way together they came to a footpath with a high hedge on each side. Then the musician stopped, and taking hold of a hazel-branch bent it down to the earth, and put his foot on the end of it; then he bent down a branch from the other side, and said: "Come on, little fox, if you wish to learn something, reach me your left fore foot."
The fox obeyed, and the musician bound the foot to the left hand branch.
"Now, little fox," said he, "reach me the right one;" then he bound it to the right hand branch. And when he had seen that the knots
were fast enough he let go, and the branches flew back and caught up the fox, shaking and struggling, in the air.
"Wait there until I come back again," said the musician, and went his way.
By and by he said to himself: "I shall grow weary in this wood; I will bring out another companion." So he took his fiddle, and the sound echoed through the wood. Then a hare sprang out before him. "Oh, here comes a hare!" said he, "that's not what I want."
"Ah, my dear musician," said the hare, "how finely you play! I should like to learn