The Golden Key
황금 열쇠
Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm (1785–1863, 1786–1859)
The Story
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It was deep winter, and the snow lay thick over everything.A poor boy had to go out on his sledge to fetch wood.When he had gathered the wood and piled it on, he was so cold that he did not want to go straight home.
He thought he would make a fire first and warm himself a little.So he began to scrape away the snow, and there on the bare ground he found a small golden key."Where there is a key," he thought, "there must be a lock as well."
He dug down into the earth, and he found a little iron box."If only the key fits!" he said. "A box like this must hold something precious."He looked all over it, but at first he could not find any keyhole at all.
At last he found one, but it was so small he could hardly see it.He tried the key, and it fitted the hole exactly.Then he turned it once, all the way around.
And now we must wait until he has turned it again and lifted the lid.Only then will we know what wonderful things are lying inside that box.
Comprehension Check
1. Why did the boy not go straight home with the wood?
2. What did the boy find when he cleared the snow and dug into the ground?
3. Why doesn't the story tell us what was inside the box?
Vocabulary
verb
fetch
가서 가져오다
He went out on his sledge to fetch wood.
소년은 썰매를 끌고 나가 땔나무를 해 왔어요.
Your Summary
In 1–2 sentences, say what the boy found under the snow, and explain why the story does not tell us what was inside the box.
Source: Adapted from "The Golden Key" ("Der goldene Schlüssel"), the short closing tale of the Brothers Grimm's collection (1812; long in the public domain, Project Gutenberg #2591). This simplified retelling and its Korean translation are original text written for SeoJae Story; the tale's famous open ending is kept.