The Brothers Grimm gathered together stories from many times and places, and the influence of their work is still felt today (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, and so on). In the first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, published in 1815, a fable entitled The Golden Key was placed last. Here it is:
Once in the wintertime when the snow was very deep, a poor boy had to go out and fetch wood on a sled. After he had gathered it together and loaded it, he did not want to go straight home, because he was so frozen, but instead decided to make a fire and warm himself a little first. So he scraped the snow away, and while he was clearing the ground he found a small golden key. Now he believed that where there was a key, there must also be a lock, so he dug in the ground and found a little iron chest. “If only the key fits!” he thought. “Certainly there are valuable things in the chest.” He looked, but there was no keyhole. Finally he found one, but so small that it could scarcely be seen. He tried the key, and fortunately it fitted. Then he turned the lock once, the lid popped open, and in the chest the boy saw…
What did he see? That’s your task this week. Finish this fable.
When you are done, make some notes (as usual, so that you can use them in your self-awareness assignment). If it would help me to understand you – your process of self-awareness, your creativity – you are welcome to submit your finished fable with the self-awareness project. But this is not required.
