" And when Faithful John had once more given his promise
to the old King about this, the King said no more, but laid his head on
his pillow, and died.
When the old King had been carried to his grave, Faithful John told
the young King all that he had promised his father on his deathbed,
and said, "This will I assuredly perform, and will be faithful to thee
as I have been faithful to him, even if it should cost me my life." When
the mourning was over, Faithful John said to him, "It is now time that
thou shouldst see thine inheritance. I will show thee thy father's
palace." Then he took him about everywhere, up and down, and let him
see all the riches, and the magnificent apartments, only there was one
room which he did not open, that in which hung the dangerous picture. The
picture was, however, so placed that when the door was opened you looked
straight on it, and it was so admirably painted that it seemed to breathe
and live, and there was nothing more charming or more beautiful in the
whole world. The young King, however, plainly remarked that Faithful
John always walked past this one door, and said, "Why dost thou never
open this one for me?" "There is something within it," he replied, "which
would terrify thee.
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