Showing results for "the faithful" in Literature & Fiction

There was a king who was a fair and wise ruler who had three daughters. He was fair in most things, but he could not stand ever to admit that he might be wrong. He felt he should make all the big decisions for his daughters. He called them together and asked if each of them agreed that he would make all the important decisions for them since he was so wise and their father. The two oldest daughters agreed, and the king embraced them and told them he would always take care of them.

“Faithful John,” a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, follows a loyal servant named John who promises a dying king to protect his son, the young prince, and keep him from harm. The king entrusts John with the secret of a forbidden room containing a portrait of a beautiful princess, warning that if the prince sees it, he will fall in love and face grave dangers. Despite John’s efforts, the prince discovers the portrait and insists on finding the princess to marry her.

When his king dies, Faithful John becomes the servant of the new king. Taking him on a tour of his newly acquired castle, John shows his master all of the rooms but one, which he refuses to enter: a room that contains a mysterious portrait.