When he approached the bed the King spake to him : `` Most trusty John , I feel my end is drawing near , and I could face it without a care were it not for my son . He is still too young to decide everything for himself , and unless you promise me to instruct him in all he should know , and to be to him as a father , I shall not close my eyes in peace . '' Then Trusty John answered : `` I will never desert him , and will serve him faithfully , even though it should cost me my life . '' Then the old King said : `` Now I die comforted and in peace '' ; and then he went on : `` After my death you must show him the whole castle , all the rooms and apartments and vaults , and all the treasures that lie in them ; but you must not show him the last room in the long passage , where the picture of the Princess of the Golden Roof is hidden . When he beholds that picture he will fall violently in love with it and go off into a dead faint , and for her sake he will encounter many dangers ; you must guard him from this . '' And when Trusty John had again given the King his hand upon it the old man became silent , laid his head on the pillow , and died . When the old King had been carried to his grave Trusty John told the young King what he had promised his father on his death-bed , and added : `` And I shall assuredly keep my word , and shall be faithful to you as I have been to him , even though it should cost me my life . '' Now when the time of mourning was over , Trusty John said to him : `` It is time you should see your inheritance . I will show you your ancestral castle . '' So he took him over everything , and let him see all the riches and splendid apartments , only the one room where the picture was he did not open . But the picture was placed so that if the door opened you gazed straight upon it , and it was so beautifully painted that you imagined it lived and moved , and that it was the most lovable and beautiful thing in the whole world . But the young King noticed that Trusty John always missed one door , and said : `` Why do you never open this one for me ? '' `` There is something inside that would appall you , '' he answered . But the King replied : `` I have seen the whole castle , and shall find out what is in there '' ; and with these words he approached the door and wanted to force it open . But Trusty John held him back , and said : `` I promised your father before his death that you should n't see what that room contains . It might bring both you and me to great grief . '' `` Ah ! no , '' answered the young King ; `` if I do n't get in , it will be my certain destruction ; I should have no peace night or day till I had seen what was in the room with my own eyes . Now I do n't budge from the spot till you have opened the door . '' Then Trusty John saw there was no way out of it , so with a heavy heart and many sighs he took the key from the big bunch .
When he had opened the door he stepped in first , and thought XXXXX cover the likeness so that the King might not perceive it ; but it was hopeless : the King stood on tiptoe and looked over his shoulder .
After as from if on over though to upon without