Stories for Language Learners/Intermediate-Advanced English/The Forbidden Chamber

The Forbidden Chamber

Once upon a time there was an evil wizard who would dress as a beggar and go from house to house asking for food. His real plan, however, was to steal the prettiest girls he could find. He did this again and again and none of them could ever return home.

One day he knocked on the door of a house where a man lived with his three beautiful daughters. The eldest opened the door and gave him a piece of bread.

When she gave it to him he touched her arm and hypnotized her. Then he made her enter the basket that he always carried on his back and took her to his house, which was located in the middle of some woods. Everything there was magnificent, and she had everything she could wish for.

After a few days the wizard told her that he had to go on a journey, that he would leave her the keys to all the house, and that she could enter every room except one. If she entered that forbidden chamber she would die. Also, he gave her an egg and asked her to take good care of it.

As soon as the wizard had gone, the girl looked into every room and found beautiful things that delighted her. Finally, she approached the forbidden chamber. “Should I go in?” she wondered. For a few seconds, she couldn’t decide, but eventually her curiosity won and she entered the room.

What she saw made her tremble. There were hundreds of girls that had been kidnapped and all looked as if they had fallen asleep. The girl, frightened at the sight, went running out of the room as fast as she could. As she ran she dropped the egg that she was carrying in her hand, but it did not break. When she picked it up she noticed that the egg had turned red, and although she tried to clean it, the egg stayed red.

After some time the wizard came back. He noticed what had happened to the egg, hit the girl, and dragged her into the forbidden chamber, where he left her with the others.

The wizard then went back to the same house and stole the second sister and the same thing happened to her.

He went back a third time and kidnapped the younger sister, but this sister was very clever. When the wizard gave her the keys and the egg, she took the egg and put it in the cupboard. Then she took the keys and went into the forbidden chamber. She was amazed to see so many girls lying in a deep sleep. Amongst them she recognized her two sisters.

She left the room and closed the door. When she heard the wizard returning, she took the egg and the keys and went to meet him.

“You will be my wife because you have resisted curiosity,” he said, happily.

However, the girl had broken the spell, and the wizard had lost his power. She could make him do whatever she wanted. She told him to go to the kitchen and stay there. Then she went to the forbidden chamber and awoke all the girls. Next she went to the wizard to tell him something important.

“Before I marry you, you must go and take a basket full of gold to my parents. Then you must go into town and buy me a ring. Come back this evening at 7pm.”

She took a great big basket and in it she hid her two sisters, covering them with pieces of gold. Then she told the wizard to take the basket but not to stop on the road because she would be watching him from the window. The man took the basket and started walking but he was soon exhausted. He sat down to rest, but immediately heard a voice which said “I am watching you from my window.” Thinking it was the voice of his future wife, he got up and walked a while longer. Every time he tried to rest, the same thing happened, until finally he reached the house where his fiancée’s parents lived. There he left the basket, and started to walk into town to buy an engagement ring for his fiancée.

In the meantime, the clever daughter took a piece of cardboard and drew a head on it. She then placed it on the window sill of the second floor, making it look as if someone was watching from the window. Then she went and let out the other victims and invited them all to her wedding, which would take place that evening. Finally, she covered her whole body with feathers, disguising herself as a rare bird so that no one could recognize her, and left the house. Soon she met some of the guests that she had invited to the wedding and they asked her:

“From where do you come beautiful bird?”

“From the house where the wizard is getting married.”

“And please tell, what is the beautiful bride doing?”

“After being all dressed up in her beautiful wedding dress, she is leaning out of the window looking down.”

When the wizard returned home at 7pm, the window of the second floor was open. He looked towards it and saw the head there. He thought it was his future wife and he ran excitedly into the house, but when he entered the front door he met all the family and sisters of the girl, who dragged him into the chamber, locked the door and set fire to the house.

And that was the end of the wizard and his forbidden chamber.

Once upon a time, a poor servant girl was travelling through a great forest with her master and mistress. When they were in the middle of it, robbers came out of the woods, and murdered everyone they found. Everyone was killed except the girl, who had jumped out of the carriage when she saw the frightening robbers and hidden herself behind a tree. After the robbers had taken all the money and valuable things they could find and left, she came out from behind the tree and saw the horrible disaster.

She began to weep bitterly, and said, “What can a poor girl like me do now? I do not know the way out of the woods. No human being lives here, so I’ll most certainly starve to death.” She walked about looking for a path, but could not find one. When evening fell she sat down beneath a tree, prayed to God, and decided to remain seated there and not go away, whatever might happen. After she had sat there a while, a little white dove flew up to her with a little golden key in its beak. It put the little key in her hand, saying, “Do you see that large tree over there? A little lock is on it. Open it with this little key, and you will find enough food for dinner.”

Then she went to the tree and unlocked it, and found milk in a little bowl, and white bread to break into it, and she was so happy to eat it. When she was satisfied, she said, “It is now getting dark. I am so tired that I would like to lie down in my bed as well.”

Then the little dove flew to her again, bringing another little golden key in its beak. It said, “Open that tree over there, and you will find a bed.”

She opened it, and found a beautiful white bed. Then she prayed to God for protection during the night, lay down, and fell asleep.

In the morning the little dove came for the third time, again bringing a little key. It said, “Open that tree over there, and you will find clothes.”

Upon opening it she found garments trimmed with gold and with jewels, more gorgeous than those of any princess. Thus she lived there for some time. The little dove came every day, providing her with everything that she needed. It was a peaceful, pleasant life.

Then one day the little dove came and asked, “Will you do me a favor?”

“Gladly, with all my heart,” said the girl.

Then the little dove said, “I will lead you to a little house. Go inside, where an old woman will be sitting by the fireplace. She will say, ‘Good day.’ But on your life do not answer her, in spite of whatever she might do. Pass by her on her right-hand side where there is a door. Open it and you will enter into a room where there are all kinds of rings lying on a table. Some of these are beautiful ones with glistening stones. Leave them where they are and seek out a simple one which must be among them, then bring it here to me as quickly as you can.”

The girl went to the little house, and entered through the front door. An old woman was sitting there. When she saw the girl she glared at her and said, “Good day, my child.”

The girl did not answer, but approached the door on the right side.

“Where are you going?” cried the old woman, and grabbed her skirt, trying to stop her moving. She said, “This is my house, and no one can go in there if I do not want them to.”

But the girl said nothing, pulled away from her, and went directly into the room. On the table there was an enormous quantity of rings, which glistened and glittered before her eyes. She searched through them, looking for the simple one, but she could not find it. While she was seeking it, she saw the old woman sneak by, trying to leave the room with a bird cage which she had in her hand. The girl went up to her and took the cage out of her hand. Lifting it up and looking inside it, she saw a bird with the simple ring in its beak.

She took the ring, and happily ran out of the house with it. She thought that the little white dove would come and get the ring, but it did not. Then she leaned against a tree, determined to wait for the dove. As she stood there, it seemed that the tree was becoming soft and flexible, and was letting its branches down.

Suddenly the branches wrapped themselves around her, and had become two arms. Looking around, she saw that the tree had turned into a handsome man, who embraced her and kissed her tenderly.

He said, “You have released me from the power of the old woman, who is a wicked witch. She had turned me into a tree, and for a few hours every day I was a white dove. As long as she possessed the ring I could not regain my human form.”

Then his servants and his horses, which had also been changed into trees, were freed from the magic spell and were standing there beside him. Then they travelled to his kingdom, for he was a prince, and they married, and lived happily ever after.

The End