The Golden Key (Grimm's Fairy Tales) facts for kids
The Golden Key (in German, Der goldene Schlüssel) is a short fairy tale. It is the 200th story in the famous collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales.
What Happens in the Story?
The story is very short! It tells about a poor boy who is out in the winter gathering wood. He uses a sleigh to carry the wood. The boy feels cold and wants to make a fire to warm himself up.
While looking for wood, he finds a small, shiny golden key hidden under the snow. As he digs around, he then finds a small iron box buried in the ground. The story ends right there! It says that you, the reader, now have to wait until the boy has opened the box. We never find out what is inside.
Where Did the Story Come From?
The Golden Key has always been the very last story in the collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales. It first appeared in the second part of the first edition, which came out in 1815. By 1850, it was officially placed as story number 200.
The Brothers Grimm, who collected these tales, wrote in their notes that they got this story from the region of Hesse in Germany. They likely heard it from a woman named Marie Hassenpflug.
They also mentioned another similar story. In a book called Deutsches Sprachbuch von Adolf Gutbier, there was a tale about two chickens. These chickens found a tiny key and a small box in some dirt. Inside that box was a small piece of red silk fur. The story joked that if the fur had been longer, the fairy tale would have been longer too! This shows how simple and short the original ideas for these tales could be.
