Faithful john

F A I T H F U L

S T O N E S H A D O W

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Copyright © 2010 by Stone Shadow. 71475-HALS

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4500-0787-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fi ction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fi ctitiously, and any resemblance to

any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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F a i t h f u l J o h n 3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe content ( graphics / pic ) of this book, “Faithful John”,

was developed for me by the very creative employees ( see the credits ) of the Audio Visual Department

at Simon Fraser University, in 1979. It was originally, a two projector, sound sequenced,

music and voice lap dissolve slide show presentation.It was put into a CD format in April of 2000.

CONTACT: [email protected] for the details &to make the arrangements for ordering the CD.

NOTE: As in the credits the voice, on the CD, is that of George Bowring the fi rst Poet Laureate of the

Federal Government in Ottawa Ontario, Canada.


S t o n e S h a d o w4

FORWARDFairy tales are a “Love Gift” in that they:

1. Reassure.2. Give hope for the future.3. Promise a happy ending.4. Never make one feel inferior.5. Do not compel one to act or feel in a specifi c way.6. Do not place demands on the reader or listener.

“In order to gain the most from fairy tales one must be willing to dive into deep water”.

A. They arouse curiosity B. Enrich lifeC. Stimulate imagination D. Develop intellect E. Clarify emotionsF. Attune one to anxieties and aspirationsG. Bring recognition to diffi cultiesH. Promote confi dence in oneself and in the future.

Fairy tales take anxieties and lifes’ problems seriouslyand they take the reader or listener into and through them:

Primitive drives, violent emotions, the need to be loved, the fear that one is of little value, the love of life

and the fear of death.Enjoy, learn and teach about and from “FAITHFUL JOHN”.

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Artwork and designElizabeth Carefoot

PhotographyMichael Hoskins

Script adaptationRalph Maud

NarrationGeorge Bowring

MusicLou Crockett

SoundDoug Gyseman

Produced forJim Halstrum

By theInstructional Media Centre

Simon Fraser University


BIBLIOGRAPHYThis is a very limited list of books and authors.

1. Marie-Louise van Franz: ( Jungian )

A. An Introduction to the interpretation of Fairy tales, 1973, 159 pages

B.Shadow and Evil in Fairy tales, 1973, 284 pages

C. Individuation in Fairy tales, 1977, 210 pages

D. Problems of the Feminine in Fairy tales, 1972, 194 pages

Spring Publications, Postfach 190, 8024 Zurich, Switzerland.

2. Grimm, The Brothers:

A. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, New York: Pantheon Books, 1944

Note: Faithful John is in their major list of Fairy tales, Author unknown, in the Public Domain and not under copyright.

3. Elizabeth Cook

A. The Ordinary and the Fabulous: An Introduction to Myths, Legends and Fairy tales for Teachers and Storytellers:New York: Cambridge University Press, 1969

4. Bruno Bettelheim ( Freudian )

A. The Uses Of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy tales.Vantage Books Edition, May 1977

NOTE: This is a very limited list of books and authors,that do provide a starting place, related to Fairy tales,their Symbolism and their Interpretations.( Lessons in Psychology )

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There once was an old king, who was dying,

and he called for his trusted servant, Faithful John.”I have

no anxiety left”, he said, “except about my son. He is still young

and cannot always know how to conduct himself.”

And he made Faithful John promise to teach him everything

he should know

and be a father to him. He should show him the whole castle, all the

rooms and all the treasures,



but not the last chamber in the long gallery

for to see what was in that room would place him in grave danger.

Faithful John pledged himself to carry out the kings wishes, .

even if it should cost him .his life.

When the king was dead and buried, and the period of

mourning was over,

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Faithful John told the young prince, who was now king, of

what he had promised his father on his deathbed.

“Now is the time for you to see your inheritance” he said.

He took the young king all over the castle, up and down,

round and about, and opened all the rich and splendid rooms

except one. The young king wanted to



know why Faithful John passed this room by, and he was told,

“The king forbids it, because there is something in that room of

great danger to you.” The youth was not

satisfi ed with this, and tried to open the door himself.

Faithful John held him back, saying that he must keep his

promise to the old king even if it should cost him his life.

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But the young king insisted that the room could not harm him,

and that he would have no peace day or night until he had seen it

with his own eyes.

Indeed, he refused to go away from the place until the door was

unlocked.

Faithful John, knowing what the room contained, sought out

the key with a heavy and foreboding heart.

Opening the door, he stepped in fi rst,

hoping to block the young man’s view,



but the king stood on tiptoe

and saw immediately, placedin full sight,

the portrait of the Princess of the Golden Dawn. The picture shone

with gold and precious jewels, and even the face was so beautiful

that anyone who saw it fell utterly in love.

The young king was dazzled and sank to the ground in a

dead faint.

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Faithful John took him up,carried him to his bed

and sorrowfully murmured, “The misfortune is now upon us; what

will become of me?”

He strengthened the young king with wine, and the fi rst words

he spoke he spoke with a deep sigh

“Who is she?” When Faithful John had explained whose

portrait it was, he said:



My love for her is so great that if all the leaves on the trees were tongues, they could not declare it.” He said he would stake his

life on winning her, and that Faithful John must help him.”

Now Faithful John knew it was well nigh impossible to gain access to the Princess of the

Golden Dawn

But he also knew that she loved to surround herself with objects

made of gold.

All her tables, chairs, bowls goblets and other household

furnishings were made of gold.

“In your treasury are fi ve tons of gold,” he told the young king.

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“Let the goldsmiths fashion it into all manner of vessels and

utensils, into all kinds of birds and

strange animals, such as may please the Princess, and we will

go to her with them and try our luck.”

The goldsmiths worked night and day,

the ship was made ready,

Faithful John and the king disguised themselves as merchants



and they set out on the voyage to the

Kingdom of the Golden Dawn.

When they fi nally arrived, John gathered a sample of the golden

treasure, bade the king to prepare the ship and treasure for display

to the princess and went up to the castle.

In the courtyard he saw a servant girl drawing water from the well. As he expected the buckets in her

hands were made of gold.

He showed her samples of the gold objects they had brought,

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and she took him immediately to her mistress.

When the king’s daughter saw the wares, she was delighted and said; “They are so beautifully worked,

I will buy them all from you.”

“Ah,” said Faithful John,” what I have here is nothing compared

with what my master has on board ship.

They are the most artistic and valuable things ever created in

gold.” When she wanted to have them brought up to her, he said

that it would take many a day to do that,

and really her house was not big enough for everything.



Then her curiosity and longing were so excited she agreed to go and see such things for herself.

As the Princess approached the ship, the king could hardly

greet her, for she was even more beautiful than her portrait.

Gaining his composure, he ushered her below and began

showing her the lovely golden objects. She was delighted with

everything.

Meanwhile, Faithful John had stayed on deck, ordering the ship to be put out to sea. .Quietly he told the helmsman: “Set all sail,

till it fl y like a bird.”

The ship was far from land by the time the king had gotten through all of the wild beasts and strange

animals that so fascinated the Princes that she did not notice

the motion of the ship until she tired and wanted to go home.

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“I am betrayed,” she cried out in alarm. I have fallen into the power of a merchant - I would

rather die.”

The king, removing his merchant’s disguise, quickly took

her hand, and told her that

he was not a merchant, that he was a king as well-born as herself. “If I have carried you away by guile,” he said, “it is

because of your portrait and my overpowering love for you.”

He told her everything that was in his heart,

and she was so drawn to him that she willingly consented

to be his wife.



It so happened that as John sat on deck, three ravens landed on

board the ship, and

Faithful John understood what they were saying to each other.

“He hasn’t got her yet” said the fi rst raven.

“Oh yes he has” said the second raven “she is sitting there with

him in the ship.”

“What good will that do him?” said the third.

“When they reach land

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a red horse will leap forward to meet him, and the Prince will want to mount, but if he does

the horse will fl y away with him into the air.” “Is there no

remedy?” asked the second raven.

“Oh yes,” chimed in the fi rst, “if someone else jumps on the horse

and slays it

the young king will be saved.” “But,” said the third raven, “nobody knows to do that

and if they did, the king will still not gain his bride



because when they go into the castle his wedding shirt will be

laid out looking as though made of gold, but

it is really pitch, and when the king puts it on

it will burn him to the bone.” when the second raven asked if

anything could be done about that

the fi rst raven said that if someone wearing gloves threw

the shirt in the fi re, the young king would be saved.”But what’s the good of that,” said the third,

“If after the wedding

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the young queen turns pale during the dancing and falls down dead “But if someone

immediately picks her up

and draws three drops of blood from her right breast,

she will come to life again,” said the fi rst raven.

“What good is that?” replied the third raven. “Whoever does that, and tries to tell the young

king, will become stone from the crown of his head to the sole of

his foot.”

Having said all this, the ravens fl ew on, leaving John very pensive

and sad. At length, however, he said to himself:

I will save my master, even if it bring destruction on myself.



So that when they arrived on shore - the red horse sprang

forward,

Faithful John pushed the kingaside and mounted

the horse and killed it.

All of the court said “it was shameful to kill the beautiful

horse that was to have carried the king to his palace,

but the king sided with John.

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When they reached the castle there was the wedding shirt

as the ravens foretold, looking bright and attractive

but Faithful John seized it with gloves on

and threw it in the fi re, where it burned like pitch.

Again, the attendants complained, but



the king defended Faithful John.

And now the wedding was solemnized and the

dancing began.

Faithful John watched the Princess all the time

and when she suddenly turned white and fell to the ground

he picked her up, carried her to the bedchamber,

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knelt beside her, and sucked three drops of blood from

her right breast

and immediately she breathed again.

The young king, ignorant of why Faithful John had done

such a thing,

had him thrown into prison. Next morning he was condemned

and led to the gallows.

When he stood on high and was about to be hanged - he decided to explain his actions no matter

what the consequences.



“I am unjustly condemned,” he cried out to the king, “I have

always been true to you.”

Then he told what the ravens had said and why he had been obliged

to do what he did.

The king was instantly convinced of the truth of what Faithful John

said, and ordered him released.

But with the last words of his explanation

Faithful John had toppled over, a stone.

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There followed many years of anguish for the king and queen.

The king had the stone broughtto his own room,

and whenever he looked at it he wept.

The queen gave birth to twin sons, who grew and gave their

parents much joy, but their happiness was not complete.

One day while the queen was away at prayer and the children were playing beside their father, the king turned to the statue as

he often did, and sighed: “If only I could bring you to life again,

Faithful John.”



And then amazingly the stone spoke to him. “You can bring me

to life again if you use for that purpose what is dearest to you.”

The king jumped up and cried that he would give anything in

the world. “Then said the stone “if you cut off the heads of your

two sons with your own hand and sprinkle me with their blood,

I shall be restored to life.”

The king was terrifi ed at this thought, but trusting in Faithful

John, who had died for him

he drew his sword and with his own

hand cut off the children’s heads.

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And when he had smeared the stone with their blood, life

returned to it

Faithful John stood once more safe and sound before him. “Your

trust shall not go unrewarded,” he said,

and he took the children’s heads and attached them again to their

bodies. He rubbed the wounds with their blood, and they

became whole, and went on playing as though nothing had

happened.

Then the king was full of joy, and when he saw the queen coming

he hid Faithful John and the children in a big cupboard,



and asked her casually if she had been at prayer. “Yes,” she said, “I

have been praying that Faithful John might be restored to us.”

‘Dear wife,” said the

king, “that can be accomplished, but it will cost us our little sons,

whom we must sacrifi ce.” The queen turned pale, and her heart

was full of terror, but she said:

“We owe this to him, for his great fi delity.” Then the king rejoiced

that she thought as he had,

and opened the cupboard and brought forth Faithful John.

“God be praised, he is delivered, and we have our little sons also,”

and the king told how everything had occurred.

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And they lived together happily for the rest of their lives.


S t o n e S h a d o w

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Faithful john

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