The Golden Key

One winter when a deep snow lay upon the ground, a poor boy had to go out to fetch wood with his sled. Once he'd gathered the wood and loaded it up, he was so frozen with cold that he decided to make a fire to warm himself a little before going home. He began to scrape away the snow, and as he cleared a patch of earth he found a little golden key. He thought for a moment, and figured that where there's a key, there must also be a lock. So he dug around in the hard soil until he found a little iron box. "If only the key fits!" he thought. "There are sure to be precious treasures inside the box." He looked and looked, but couldn't find a keyhole. At last he found one so small he could hardly see it. He tried the key, and luckily it fit. He began turning it in the keyhole. And now we'll just have to wait until he has unlocked it all the way and raised the lid. Then we'll discover what wonderful things are tucked away inside.

Note: The Brothers Grimm added this story to their second collection of fairy tales and it remained the final story in every subsequent addition. Just as this story leaves the ending for us to imagine, every fairy tale (both words and pictures) changes with each retelling. Fairy tales are interactive with readers and true to the current culture.