"Trusty John", "Faithful John", "Faithful Johannes", or "John the True" (german: Der treue Johannes) is a German

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

and published in ''

Grimm's Fairy Tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publis ...

'' in 1819 (KHM 6).

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

included it in ''

The Blue Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

''. It is Aarne-Thompson type 516. Others of this type are ''

Father Roquelaure Father Roquelaure is a French fairy tale collected by Achille Millien. It is a type 516 tale in the Aarne-Thompson classification system.Paul Delarue, ''The Borzoi Book of French Folk-Tales'', p 365, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1956 Others ...

'' and ''

The Raven "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a myste ...

''.

Antti Aarne Antti Amatus Aarne (December 5, 1867 in Pori – February 2, 1925 in Helsinki) was a Finnish folklorist. Background Antti was a student of Kaarle Krohn, the son of the folklorist Julius Krohn. He further developed their historic-geographic m ...

and

Stith Thompson Stith Thompson (March 7, 1885 – January 10, 1976) was an American folklorist: he has been described as "America's most important folklorist". He is the "Thompson" of the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which indexes folktales by type, and the ...

catalogued about 500 tales under this type, of which over 200 were Irish, and the remainder, from the rest of Europe and European colonies in America. Such tales include ''

In Love with a Statue In Love with a Statue is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in his 1885 book ''Italian Popular Tales''. Synopsis A king had two sons. The younger one fell in love with a statue. His older brother set out to see if he c ...

'', ''

How to find out a True Friend How to find out a True Friend is an Italian fairy tale collected by Laura Gonzenbach in ''Sicilianische Märchen''. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Crimson Fairy Book''.Andrew Lang, ''The Crimson Fairy Book''"How to find out a True Friend"/ref> ...

'', ''

The Man of Stone The Man of Stone (''Omul de piatră'') is a Romanian fairy tale collected by Petre Ispirescu in ''Legende sau basmele românilor''.Julia Collier Harris, Rea Ipcar, ''The Foundling Prince & Other Tales: Translated from the Roumanian of Petre Isp ...

'', and ''

Amis et Amiles ''Amis et Amiles'' is an old French romance based on a widespread legend of friendship and sacrifice. In its earlier and simpler form it is the story of two friends, one of whom, Amis, was sick with leprosy because he had committed perjury to sav ...

''.

Origin

The tale was published by the

in the second edition of ''

Kinder- und Hausmärchen ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publi ...

'' in 1819. Their source was the German storyteller

Dorothea Viehmann Dorothea Viehmann (November 8, 1755 – November 17, 1816) was a German storyteller. Her stories were an important source for the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. Most of Dorothea Viehmann's tales were published in the second vol ...

, from the village of

Niederzwehren Niederzwehren is a small town in Germany, part of the city of Kassel, Hesse. It is notable for its First World War prisoner-of-war camp and a consequent sizable war cemetery for the British prisoners who died in captivity. Town The town lies be ...

near

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

Synopsis

In some variants, a king on his deathbed orders his servant, Trusty John, not to let his son see a certain room, which holds a portrait of a princess. In all variants, when the new king comes to power, he forces his way into the room. Instantly, he falls in love with the princess. In Joseph Jacobs's version, her country had been at war with his, and the portrait stems from betrothal negotiations that had fallen through; but in all versions, the king does not know how to win her. Trusty John tells him to prepare a ship with all manner of rich treasure, and then either sails with it himself, or has the king sail with him, to her country. The princess is lured aboard by the goods, and the ship sets sail, carrying her off. While they travel, John hears three ravens. One says that as soon as they reach shore, a horse will come; if the king mounts it, it will fly into the air with him, and neither will be seen again. The solution is for someone to kill the horse, but anyone who reveals this by stating it out loud would have his legs turn to stone up to the knees. The second raven says (with variations in different tellings) that the king would be killed by wine at the wedding feast if it were not dashed to the ground, or that he would be incinerated by a wedding shirt if it was not destroyed by a glove-wearing person, etc.; in all variants, whoever says so would turn to stone to his waist. The third raven says, again in different variants, that the princess would faint and die unless someone draws three drops of blood from her right breast; or a dragon would attack their bridal chamber and unless driven off, kill them. True to form, whoever states this would turn entirely to stone. Illustration at page 179 in Europa's Fairy Book

Illustration at page 179 in Europa's Fairy Book

John prevents all

three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

fates. For the first two, the king trusts that John has acted in his service; but for the third, the king decides to execute him. At the place of execution, John tells the story of the ravens and turns progressively to stone. In time, the queen bears twin sons. The king learns that if he kills the boys and rub John's statue with their blood, he would come to life again. The king does this, and upon John's resurrection, he does the same to the boys and resurrects them. Later, John and the twins hide in a closet as the king explains what would need to be done to bring John back to test her loyalty. When the queen agrees to the sacrifice, John and the twins emerge from the door and embrace everyone. The king and queen live happily until their deaths.

Analysis

Possible point of origin

British translator Edgar Taylor, in his original notes to the Grimm Brothers' tale, remarked that the story "contain dso much of Orientalism", which would lead one to imagine oneself in '' The Arabian Nights' Entertainments''. Australian folklorist

Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Jacob ...

pointed out, in his commentaries on his own reconstruction (''John The True''), in his work ''Europa's Fairy Book'', that the story showed striking parallels with tales of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

literary history and suggested them as a possible point of origin, due to the antiquity of the sources, such as

Panchatantra The ''Panchatantra'' (IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, sa, पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

and

Somadeva Somadeva Bhatta was an 11th century writer from Kashmir, and author of the '' Kathasaritsagara''. Not much is known about him except that his father's name was Rama and he composed his work (probably during the years 1063–1081 CE) for the ente ...

's ''The Ocean of Stories''. Folklorist

seemed to concur with Jacobs's analysis and cited the works of Erich Rösch and Kaarle Krohn, who each have posited that, respectively, the material to form the tale came from India, or the tale, in complete form, travelled westward from India.

Motifs

According to scholar

A. K. Ramanujan Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature and Linguistics. Ramanujan was also a professor of Linguistics at University of Chicago. Ramanujan was a poet, scholar, ...

, the tale type shows a "motif cluster": the three perils that menace the couple and the faithful servant that overhears the birds' talk.

Variants

Graham Seal pointed out that ''Faithful John'' is a "figure of European and Asian folktales" who demonstrates the virtues of loyalty and trust. Indeed, variants of the tale have been collected from "all over Europe", as well as from India, Turkey, Middle East, South America and the West Indies. In a German variant, the three speaking ravens are actually three witches in disguise that converse among themselves the plan to kill the royal couple.

Parallels

Croatian folklorist

Maja Bošković-Stulli Maja Bošković-Stulli (9 November 1922 – 14 August 2012) was a Croatian slavicist and folklorist, literary historian, writer, publisher and an academic, noted for her extensive research of Croatian oral literature. Early life Bošković-Stul ...

noted that the theme was explored as the subject matter of a Serbo-Croatian epic song: Pero Vitkovic offers to bring the Banica of Misir (the

margravine Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...

of Egypt) as bride to Viennese Prince Karlo, despite his mother's objections. On the way there, Pero overhears a carrier pigeon describing the three perils Karlo and the margravine will have to face until their wedding, and notices that the carrier pigeon belongs to Karlo's mother, the Empress. Pero Vitkovic rescues the prince and the margravine from the perils and becomes stone, due to the bird's omens. She also reported versions of the song that contain the motif of the false merchant expedition as the protagonist's disguise to kidnap the foreign princess.Bošković-Stulli, Maja. "Folktale Themes in Serbo-Croatian Epic Folk Literature". In: Dégh, Linda. ''Studies In East European Folk Narrative''. American Folklore Society, 1978. pp. 66-72.

Adaptations

Comics

Trusty John is a supporting character in the long-running comic book series ''

Fables Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...

''.

References

Bibliography

* Baughman, Ernest Warren. ''Type and Motif-index of the Folktales of England and North America''. Indiana University Folklore Series No. 20. The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton & Co 1966. p. 13. * Bolte, Johannes; Polívka, Jiri. ''Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- u. hausmärchen der brüder Grimm''. Erster Band (NR. 1-60). Germany, Leipzig: Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. 1913. pp. 42-57. * Thompson, Stith. ''The Folktale''. University of California Press. 1977. pp. 110-112.

External links

* * *
''Faithful Johannes''
{{Brothers Grimm German fairy tales Grimms' Fairy Tales Fictional servants Fictional German people Fiction about shapeshifting Fictional ravens ATU 500-559 cs:Mahuliena, zlatá panna it:Il fedele Giovanni sk:Mahuliena, zlatá panna