The Girl in the Chest

The Girl in the Chest

Once upon a time, on the outskirts of a small town, there lived a poor woman with three daughters. The girls were hardworking, friendly, and used to sharing everything among themselves: bread, housework, hair ribbons, and even secrets.

One day, a stranger came to their home. He was polite, well-dressed, and spoke so sweetly that every word he said seemed polished.

“I live far from here,” he told the mother. “I have a house and a farm. I would like to marry your eldest daughter. No dowry is needed. Let her bring only the things she holds dear.”

The mother hesitated. But the stranger seemed respectable, and the eldest daughter finally agreed to go and see his house.

They walked for a long time. Towards evening, the road turned into a dense forest, then disappeared among the rocks. The stranger pushed aside an ivy-covered boulder, revealing an underground passage.

“We are almost there,” he said.

But as soon as they were in the cave, his politeness disappeared.

He was a sorcerer of the night, able to change his appearance. He locked the girl in a room and ordered her to drink a bitter magic potion.

“No,” she said firmly. “I will not drink something when I do not know what it is.”

The sorcerer grew angry and secured her door with another lock.

A few days later, he returned to the girls’ mother.

“Your eldest daughter is sick,” he lied. “She asks for her sister to come to her.”

That was how the middle daughter came to be in the cave as well. She too refused the strange potion, and the sorcerer locked her in the next room.

A third time he came for the youngest.

But this girl noticed something strange on the way. On the stranger’s sleeve was a thread from her sister’s blue scarf. And when they entered the dungeon, she heard a soft knock from behind one of the doors.

Knock-knock. Pause. Knock-knock-knock.

That’s how the sisters had called to each other through the wall since they were little.

“They’re here,” the girl thought.

She showed no fear.

“I’m tired from the journey,” she said to the sorcerer. “Let me rest.”

When he left, the girl began to look around the cave. She had noticed a bunch of keys on the sorcerer’s belt earlier, but one small key was lying under the bench. It must have fallen out.

The girl tried it in one lock, in another, in a third. Finally the door opened.

Her eldest sister was behind it.

“Quiet!” the youngest whispered. “Where is our other sister?”

Soon all three were together.

Behind the forbidden door they found several underground passages. One led up into the forest.

“You two go,” said the youngest. “Keep to the right-hand wall. I’ll take another passage and leave a trail for the sorcerer to follow.”

“No!” protested the sisters.

“That way we have a better chance. And when you get to the first village, ask the people to come back here for me.”

She took a handful of shiny stones from the shelf and ran down the left tunnel, occasionally throwing a stone on the ground.

When the sorcerer returned and saw the open doors, he rushed after the glittering trail. That was exactly what the girl had hoped he would do.

The tunnel had many branches. At the right spot, she scattered several stones in different directions, then slipped through a narrow gap and emerged far from the cave.

But the forest was large, and she did not reach the village before dark.

“I need a place where I can safely spend the night,” she whispered.

Something gleamed behind the bushes. A sturdy wooden chest stood there, with a smooth lid and a little latch that could easily be fastened from inside.

The girl settled into the chest and fell asleep.

She lived in the forest like this for several days. By day, she gathered berries and nuts and searched for a way out. At night, she sheltered in her strange little house.

One morning, the king’s son rode through the forest. He spotted the girl near the bushes, but when she heard the horses, she took fright and hid.

The prince’s men found only the chest.

“Don’t break it,” the prince ordered. “It belongs to someone, and we have no right to damage it. Let’s take it to the palace and look for its owner.”

The chest was placed in the guest room. When everyone had left, the girl cautiously peeked out. There was dinner on the table.

She was very hungry and ate a little bread, an apple, and a bowl of soup, and then hid again.

The next day the same thing happened.

“How strange,” the prince said to a servant. “The chest is locked, and so is the room, yet the supper keeps disappearing.”

On the third evening he remained behind the screen and waited.

The lid of the chest was lifted. The girl climbed out, went to the table, and had just reached out for the bread when she heard a voice:

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t come any closer unless you want me to.”

She turned sharply around.

“Did you bring the chest?”

“I did. And now I see that I brought a guest along with it. You may stay here as long as you need. But please tell me whether you need help.”

For a long time, the girl said nothing. Then she told him about her sisters, the cave, and the sorcerer.

The prince asked no needless questions. The next morning, the king’s men set out, following her directions. They found her sisters in the nearest village. The two had reached it safely and were already gathering people to help with the search.

The men found the cave and opened the locked rooms, making sure no one else could fall into the night sorcerer’s trap. When he saw them approach, he fled to the distant mountains and never returned to that region.

Time passed. The girl remained at court while her mother and sisters recovered from the adventure. She often talked to the prince, walked in the garden and laughed at the fact that their acquaintance began with an empty plate.

Later, the prince asked:

“Would you like to become my wife one day? Not because I am a prince, or because you owe me anything. Simply because I am happy when I am with you.”

The girl smiled.

“So am I. But let’s not hurry.”

They agreed to wait a few months before announcing their engagement.

Not everyone at court was pleased. The old palace steward had long hoped that the prince would marry his daughter. He decided to get rid of the girl who stood in her way and hired a man to take her secretly out of the palace.

One night, the man wrapped her in a large cloak and carried her through the servants’ gate. Once outside the city, however, he grew frightened by what he had agreed to do.

“I won’t harm you,” he said. “But I’m afraid to take you back to the palace. The steward would take revenge. Go towards those lights. People live there.”

So the girl ended up near a small hut where a lonely old woman lived. Seeing the tired traveler, she let her in without asking any questions.

“Stay as long as you need,” the old woman said. “Tea is more fun with company.”

Meanwhile, everyone at the palace searched for the missing bride-to-be. The prince scarcely slept and ate very little.

At the market, the old woman heard that the king had promised a reward to anyone who could make a dish that would bring back even a little of the prince’s appetite.

“I know what to make,” said the girl.

She prepared a simple dish of beans with herbs and placed a thin golden lock of her hair at the edge of the plate.

The prince noticed it at once.

The next day, another dish came from the same old woman. And another small sign.

On the third day, the prince asked the old woman:

“Does someone live with you?”

The old woman was not a good liar and answered:

“There is a girl staying with me. She is very kind, and she cooks beans better than I do.”

The prince agreed to come on Sunday.

When the girl heard about this, she was suddenly frightened.

“I’ll hide. If he is truly looking for me, let him first show that he has come for more than a pretty mystery.”

She climbed into a large wooden kneading tub, and the old woman covered it with a cloth.

The prince came, looked around and asked:

“Where is your assistant?”

“She has gone out.”

“Then I’ll wait.”

He sat down. A minute, two, three.

Suddenly, the cloth over the tub stirred.

“Your dough seems rather restless today,” said the prince.

The old woman blushed.

“Well, this dough… has a mind of its own.”

A muffled laugh was heard from under the cloth.

The prince came closer.

“I won’t lift the cloth without permission. But if the person I am looking for is underneath it, she can decide for herself whether she wants to come out.”

The cloth rose.

“I do,” said the girl.

She told him about the kidnapping and who had arranged it. The prince grew angry, but the girl stopped him:

“There is no need for revenge. Let there be an investigation and a fair trial.”

And that was what happened. The hired man confessed, and the steward was removed from his post and ordered to leave the court. His daughter was not punished; she had taken no part in her father’s scheme.

Soon the girl returned to her mother and sisters, and only then, when she herself was ready, did she celebrate her wedding with the prince.

The same chest was kept in the palace for a long time. But now it stood open.

Because the girl, who had once hidden in it from the whole world, no longer needed a hiding place.

She knew that courage did not always mean walking towards danger. Sometimes it meant finding a way out, asking for help, telling the truth, and deciding for yourself whom to let in.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨