ms are at war and it
does not seem that peace will ever come."

But though there was no hope of marrying her the King could not help
but think of the Princess of the Golden Horde, and thought and thought
till he became quite pale and sick with love for her. Now he had a
faithful servant, the son of his own nurse, and thus his
foster-brother, and he was so devoted to the King that everybody
called him John the True.

When John the True saw his foster-brother pining away he went to him
and said:

"What ails thee, Oh sire?" for he alone had the right of calling the
King "thou."

Then said the King to John the True:

"Come and I will show thee, John." And he took him to the closed
chamber and showed him the portrait and told him how he felt towards
the Princess of the Golden Horde.

"Be of good cheer," said John the True; "I will go and fetch her for
thee."

"How can that be?" said the King; "we are at war with the Golden
Horde, and they would never give her to be my bride."

"Leave that to me," said John the True; "give me only a ship full of
merchandise and put in it a complete set of furniture made all of
gold, and see if I do not bring the Princess back to thee."

So the King did all that John the True demanded. And he sailed away
with the ship and its merchandise to the country of the Golden Horde.
And when he came there to the chief port he did not declare from what
country he was but sent up, as tribute to the King of the Golden
Horde, a beautiful chair all made of gold.

Now when the King saw this he became curious about this merchant and
his wares, and came down with his Queen and the Princess to view the
rarities. And when he saw the set of furniture all made of gold he
asked John the True what its price was.

But John said it was not for sale, but that he kept it to make gifts
of tribute to the kings whose realm he was visiting.

But the Princess had set her heart upon one dressing-table all of
gold, with crystal mirrors and lovely fittings, and asked John if he
could not sell it to her.

But John said, "No, that is kept for a special purpose, which I am not
allowed to tell."

This aroused the curiosity of the Princess, and later on towards the
evening she came down with only one maid to see if she could not
persuade John to let her have the dressing-table.

When she came on board John went to the captain and told him to set
sail as soon as the Princess went down into the cabin. And when she