The Golden Key
황금 열쇠
Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm (1785–1863, 1786–1859)
The Story
Tap a word to translate it. Select text to highlight it or add it to your study plan.
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.
Full translationTry the story first — open this only to check your understanding.
한겨울이었고, 온 세상에 눈이 두껍게 쌓여 있었어요. 가난한 소년이 썰매를 끌고 나가 땔나무를 해 와야 했어요. 나무를 모아 썰매에 잔뜩 실었을 때, 소년은 너무 추워서 곧장 집에 가고 싶지 않았어요.
그는 먼저 불을 피워 몸을 조금 녹여야겠다고 생각했어요. 그래서 눈을 긁어내기 시작했고, 드러난 맨땅 위에서 작은 황금 열쇠를 발견했어요. "열쇠가 있는 곳에는," 하고 생각했어요. "틀림없이 자물쇠도 있을 거야."
땅을 파 내려갔고, 작은 쇠 상자를 찾아냈어요. "이 열쇠가 맞기만 하다면!" 하고 말했어요. "이런 상자라면 분명 귀한 것이 들어 있을 거야." 상자를 구석구석 살폈지만, 처음에는 열쇠 구멍을 도무지 찾을 수 없었어요.
마침내 하나를 찾았는데, 너무 작아서 거의 보이지 않을 정도였어요. 열쇠를 넣어 보니, 구멍에 꼭 맞았어요. 그러고 나서 열쇠를 한 바퀴 돌렸어요.
그리고 이제 우리는 그가 열쇠를 한 번 더 돌려 뚜껑을 들어 올릴 때까지 기다려야 해요. 그때가 되어야 우리는 그 상자 안에 어떤 놀라운 것들이 들어 있는지 알게 될 거예요.
Original text
Now read the original
You just read an easy retelling. Here is the same passage exactly as the author wrote it — unabridged, split into short readings.
The complete story · 184 words · 1 short readings
Read the originalComprehension 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 #5314). This simplified retelling and its Korean translation are original text written for SeoJae Story; the tale's famous open ending is kept.
Read this with your book club
Share this chapter with your book club and discuss it together.