In a big beautiful Kingdom of Enamo, there was a king who ruled for very many years.One day, the king fell very ill. As a normal tradition, the king had many servants. However, among all the servants, there was onefaithfuland trusted servant called Nick. Due to his loyalty and good behavior, Nick was the most favored servant by the king. As the king was lying on his couch, he felt as if he was dying and called out, “tell my faithful servant Nick to come here.”
When he came close to the king, the king told the faithful servant, “it seems like my last day is fast approaching, but what is worrying me is my son who is very young. One thing I’ am requesting you to do is to promise me you will take care of my son, the prince when I die and guide his steps until he becomes a mature man.” The King reiterated that he will die a happy man if Nick vowed to that pledge.Nick went ahead a vowed to the ailing king that he would never leave his son. “As I have been a faithful servant to you and all the favors you have granted me; I will do the same to your son.” Nick replied the king.
The king was pleased with the faithful servant and said, “Now I can rest my soul in peace. Immediately after my death, make sure you show my son all my wealth and treasures. However, the king barred Nick not ever show his son one of the last rooms located in the main house corridor. The reason behind this was because the room had a portrait image of the most beautiful girl and the daughter of the king of the golden palace. If the son sees the image, it would tempt him to fall in love with her, which will ring many troubles for him. The king insisted that the prince must not see the portrait at all. As a sign of agreement, the servant nodded his head while bending down his head to what the king was instructing him. After that, the king laid on his crouch and breathed his last.
After several days of mourning and the king’s funeral, the prince, became the king of Enamo kingdom. As the tradition of the land, the new king maintained all his father’s servants and the faithful Nick maintained his position as the trusted servant. After sometime, Nick approached the king and told him it was the correct moment to show him all the inheritance left to him by his father. The faithful servant walked the new king around the palace and showed him all the wealth and treasures in it. However, he did not get him inside the room that contained the image of the beautiful princess. The king asked, “why have you not opened the room?” In response, the faithful servant replied, ” the room contains something dangerous that you are not supposed to see until the right time.”However, the young king insisted that he has to see what is it since he has seen everything that has been left behind by his father. When the servant insisted that the king would not open the door, the king tried to force his way into the room but was forced back by Nick. “I made a vow to your father that I will not allow you into the room before he passed on. I break the covenant; it will bring a great tribulation to both our lives.”
The king on the other side insisted that until he sees what in the room, he will not have peace for the rest of his life. After the servant realized that the king would not give up, he hesitantly took the key and opened the room for the king. After Nick had opened the door, he made his way inside the room hoping that he would cover the portrait of the beautiful daughter for the king not to see it. That was of no use since the king had quickly followed Nick and upon seeing the image of the beautiful maiden, he fell in shock. The faithful servant then carried the king away to his bed in great pain awaiting great tribulation that was to follow. He gave the king a glass of water and the kings first words were, “who is the beautiful lady in the portrait representation?” Then Nick replied to the king and said, “She is the daughter of the king of the Golden Palace.” Then the king nodded with approval and told Nick that his love for the lady is immense and admitted that he cannot live without her. The king told the servant that he has no option but to immediately start looking for her. “You are going to come along with me.” The king told Nick.
After pondering on the best way to approach the golden princess, since it was difficult, the servant told the king that everything around the beautiful lady is gold. Therefore, he managed to convince the king that they need to carry along golden gifts to the queen’s palace. The king agreed with the servant’s suggestion and summoned all goldsmiths in the kingdom to work for two full days before they departed to the golden queen’s palace. On the travel day, they carried everything they needed and boarded a ship to unknown destination to a far reaching town where the golden princess lived. Upon reaching the golden king’s palace,the faithful asked the king to remain in the ship as he went to bring the princes with him.He reminded the king to ensure that everything in the ship remains orderly.
Immediately, Nick managed to step on the land and headed straight to the king’s palace. After reaching the castle-yard, a good-looking maid appearedahead of him holding a golden pail in her hand. She was drawing water and immediately she filled the pail and turned around, she spotted a strange person and asked who he was.Then the faithful servant responded, “I am a trader”, and opening his bag, he displayedto the maidservant the contents in it. Then she yelled, “Oh! what lovely beautiful golden materials!” She looked at all that Nick was carrying and insisted “The king’s daughter mustbe shown all these. She is very possessed with anything made out of gold and will buy them all.”The maid servant then proceeded to take Nick to the king’s daughter since she was the main lady’s maid.
After the king’s beautiful daughter saw the goldenitems, she fell in love with them and said “They are outstandingly made. I will buy all of them. ” Nonetheless, the faithful servantresponded, “I am only but a servant of a rich trader; “All that is here with me is very small as compared to what is in our ship, which is made of gold.” The king’s daughter then said she would have them all but the servant said they would not fit the space and halls in the king’s palace and around her. The king’s daughter curiosity could no longer keep her down and requested to be led to the servant’s master ship so that she can witness all that was being spoken about by Nick.
Nick then went with the princess straight to the ship where the king was witing. When the king saw the two arriving and spotted the beautiful golden princess, he saw greater beauty than was represented in the portrait. He felt like melting with love all around his body. When the king stepped up to receive the princess, he displayed all the loving golden items. The king continued to show the princess the golden treasures that were countless. After several hours, the princess was so excited looking at everything golden item in the ship and did not realize that the ship had sailed to a far distance. After she had looked at the last golden item, the princess said she has been pleased and requested to be take back to the palace. To her astonishment, she realized they had reached a far reaching place, which made her get frightened and yelled with fear.
However, the king took her hand and explained to her that he was not a servant but a king.The king explained to the princess that he has carried her away not because of any ill motive but because of the love he has for her. The king explained to the princess, “when I first saw your portrait in one of my father’s rooms, I fell down in a pass out before it.” After the princess listened keenly to the lovely words from the king, she fell in love and immediately became his bride.
In the ship the princess and the king were busy exchanging love words. However, Nick managed to detect some two flying birds that had been sent by the spirits of the princess land to search for the missing princess. The princess was darling to his father and would do anything to save her. The two birds then transformed to images of two men with wings. They kept on talking to each other as the faithful servant listened. “The princess is with the king; we cannot stop them unless we kill all of them. The second man told the first one that it is too late. We cannot attack them in the unknown land.” After that, they struck a deal. The first man would transform into a bird and sting the princess with blood in his right arm. “During their wedding ceremony dance, the princess hand will then turn pale and fall down. As the king will hold the hand to raise her up, he would fall down and die.” However, is someone will realize and squeeze the blood out of the arm, no one will be hurt or die but he himself will face the wrath of the spirits after being condemned by the masses and the king himself. The faithful servant listened to all the communication between the two creatures until they disappeared in the air after stinging the princess.
All this time, the faithful servant was disturbed. The ship docked and the second day the king arranged for a big wedding party to celebrate their union. The party began very early with a lot of dances and visitors across the whole kingdom and other neighboring kingdoms. After exchanging vows, it was time for the two to dance to the stage. The faithful Nickwas very attentive andpersistently watched his countenance. As the new crowned queen rose to dance, her right hand grew pale and she fell on the ground. Before the king would get to assist her, the faithful Nick knelt beside her with a spear and drew drops of blood out of her right arm. The princess then breathed again but before anything, the king ordered the faithful servant to be thrown into prison and await judgement.
After the celebrations, the faithful servant was taken to trial and be executed.
Everyone condemned him and called for his execution. The King replied to the crowds and said, “Your wish will be granted.” As the masses started stoning the faithful servant, he tried to rise but could not be heard.He however managed to cry out and said, “You are unfairly judging me. I did all this to save the king and his wife as he had heard on the ship. The servant narrated to the king how the two strange men on the ship had plotted to kill the king and take away his wife.”
After the king heard the faithful servant story, he cried with a loud voice, “Oh, my most confidentialNick, forgive me! Forgive me! take him away!” Nonetheless, the trusted servantwas down and could not wake up again. After this occurrence, both the king and the queen grieved in pain and the king thought of how wicked he has been to the servant after all the years he had served his father and him.