Once there was an evil
wizard who, dressed as a beggar, would go from house to house asking for alms and would steal the prettiest girls he could find. None of them could ever return home.
One day he knocked on the door of a house where lived a man with 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 situated in the midst of the 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 should enter that room she would surely die. Also, he gave her an egg and asked her to take good care of it.
As soon as the
wizard was out of sight, the girl looked into every room and found beautiful things that
delighted her. At last she approached the prohibited
chamber and after a moment's indecision, 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.
In her haste she dropped the egg that she carried in her hand, but it did not break. When she picked it up she noticed that the egg had turned red, and althought she tried to clean it, the egg stayed red.
After some time the
wizard came back. He noticed what had happened to the egg, struck the girl, and dragged her into the prohibited
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 wise. When the
wizard gave her the keys and the egg, she took the egg and deposited it in the
cupboard. Then she took the keys and went into the prohibited
chamber. She was amazed at
seeing so many girls lying as if in a
profound sleep. Amongst them she recognized her two sisters.
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