The king had all the goldsmiths in his realm called to the palace and commanded them to work day and night until finally they had completed all the lovely things. Once everything was loaded onto a ship, Faithful Johannes dressed up as a merchant and bid the king do the same, so as to travel incognito. Then they shoved off across the sea and sailed a long way until they came to the city in which the Princess of the Golden Roof lived.
Faithful Johannes told the king to remain on the ship and wait for him. “Maybe,” he said, “I’ll bring the princess back with me. Make sure everything is in order, and have the gold receptacles brought up to the deck and decorate the entire ship.” Thereupon he gathered all sorts of golden objects and stuffed them into the pockets of his smock, disembarked, and went straight to the royal palace. When he came to the palace courtyard, there before a well stood a beautiful girl with two golden buckets in hand with which she drew water. And when she turned around to carry off the sparkling water she saw the stranger and asked him who he was.
To which he replied, “I am a merchant,” and he loosened the pockets of his smock and let her look in.
Whereupon she cried out, “Oh what lovely gold things!,” put down the buckets, and examined them one by one. Then the girl said, “The princess must see this. She loves golden objects so much she will buy all of your wares.” So she took him by the hand and led him up to see the princess, for the girl was her handmaiden. When the princess saw all the wares Faithful Johannes carried with him, she was delighted and said, “It is so finely fashioned that I will buy it all.”
But Faithful Johannes replied, “I am only the servant of a wealthy merchant. What you see here is nothing compared to what my master has on his ship – the most artful and precious objects ever fashioned out of gold.” She immediately wanted to have everything brought to her, but he said, “That would take many days, so great are they in number, and they would fill so many chambers that your castle would not suffice.”
The princess’s curiosity and yearning were stirred to such a degree that she finally said, “Take me to the ship. I will go myself to see your master’s treasures.”
So Faithful Johannes led her to the ship, overjoyed that his plan had worked, and as soon as the king set eyes on her, he saw that her beauty in person surpassed that of her portrait and felt like his heart would burst in his breast. Then she boarded the ship, and the king led her into the hold. But Faithful Johannes stayed behind with the helmsman and bid him shove off. “Unfurl your sails that we may fly like a bird in the sky.”
Meanwhile the king showed her all the golden pots, one by one; the bowls, goblets, and pans; the golden birds and wild game and all the wondrously fashioned golden animals. Examining it all took many hours, and in her joy she did not notice that the ship had set sail. After she had admired the last golden object, she thanked the merchant and wanted to go home, but when she got to the bow she saw that the ship was advancing full sail at high sea far from land.
“Heaven help me,” she cried out in terror, “I’ve been deceived, kidnapped, and am at the mercy of a merchant. I would rather die!”
The king promptly grabbed her by the hand and said, “A merchant I am not but a king, no lesser by birth than you – yet if I resorted to a ruse to carry you off, my overwhelming love for you is to blame. The first time I saw your portrait I swooned with love.” When the Princess of the Golden Roof heard this she felt comforted, and her heart went out to him, so that she gladly agreed to become his wife.
But it so happened while they were sailing the high seas that Faithful Johannes, who was seated at the fore playing music, spied three ravens flying overhead. So he stopped playing and listened to their conversation, for he understood their language.
The one cried out, “Hey, he’s taking the Princess of the Golden Roof home.”
“Right,” replied the second, “but he hasn’t got her yet.”
To which the third countered, “Sure, he’s got her, she’s seated beside him on the ship.”
Then the first started squawking again and cried, “A lot of good it’ll do him! As soon as they land, a reddish brown horse will come leaping toward him, and he will try to swing himself into the saddle and never see his ladylove again.”
Said the second, “Is there no way to save him?”
“Oh, yes,” said the first, “if another man mounts first, removes the musket from the halter, and with it shoots the horse dead, then the young king will be saved. But who knows that? And whoever knows it and says it, he will be turned to stone from his toes to his knees.”