A Lost Paradise

A long time ago, in the middle of a great forest, lived a charcoal-burner and his wife. They were both young and handsome and strong, and when they got married, they thought work would never fail them. But bad times came, and they grew poorer and poorer. More and more often, they went to bed hungry.

One evening, the king of that country was hunting near the charcoal-burner's hut. As he passed the door, he heard sobbing. He was a good-natured man, so he stopped to listen, thinking he might be able to help.

'Were there ever two people so unhappy!' said a woman's voice. 'Here we are, ready to work like slaves the whole day long, and no work can we get. And it is all because of the curiosity of old mother Eve! If she had only been like me, who never want to know anything, we should all have been as happy as kings today, with plenty to eat and warm clothes to wear. Why—' but at that moment a loud knock interrupted her.

'Who is there?' she asked.

'I!' replied someone.

'And who is “I”?'

'The king. Let me in.'

Full of surprise, the woman jumped up and pulled the bar away from the door. As the king entered, he noticed there was no furniture in the room at all—not even a chair. So he pretended to be in too much of a hurry to see anything and only said, 'You must not let me disturb you. I have no time to stay, but you seemed to be in trouble. Tell me: are you very unhappy?'

'Oh, my lord, we can find no work and have eaten nothing for two days!' she answered. 'Nothing remains for us but to die of hunger.'

'No, no, you shan't do that,' cried the king, 'or if you do, it will be your own fault. You shall come with me to my palace, and you will feel as if you were in Paradise, I promise you. In return, I ask only one thing: that you obey my orders exactly.'

The charcoal-burner and his wife stared at him for a moment, as if they could hardly believe their ears. And indeed, it was not surprising! Then they found their voices and exclaimed together:

'Oh, yes, yes, my lord! We will do everything you tell us. How could we be so ungrateful as to disobey you, when you are so kind?'

The king smiled, and his eyes twinkled.

'Well, let us start at once,' he said. 'Lock your door and put the key in your pocket.'

The woman looked as if she thought this was unnecessary, seeing it was quite certain they would never come back. But she dared not say so and did as the king told her.

After walking through the forest for a couple of miles, they reached the palace. By the king's orders, servants led the charcoal-burner and his wife into rooms filled with beautiful things such as they had never even dreamed of. First, they bathed in green marble baths where the water looked like the sea. Then they put on silken clothes that felt soft and pleasant. When they were ready, one of the king's special servants entered and took them into a small hall where dinner was laid. This pleased them more than anything else.

They were about to sit down when the king walked in.

'I hope you have been taken care of properly,' he said, 'and that you will enjoy your dinner. My steward will see that you have everything you want, and I want you to do exactly as you please. Oh, by the way, there is one thing! You see that soup tureen in the middle of the table? Well, be careful on no account to lift the lid. If you take off the cover, that is the end of your good fortune.' Then, bowing to his guests, he left the room.

'Did you hear what he said?' asked the charcoal-burner in an awestruck voice. 'We are to have what we want and do what we please. Only we must not touch the soup tureen.'

'No, of course we won't,' answered the wife. 'Why should we wish to? But all the same, it is rather odd, and one can't help wondering what is inside.'

For many days, life went on like a beautiful dream for the charcoal-burner and his wife. Their beds were so comfortable they could hardly get up. Their clothes were so lovely they could hardly bring themselves to take them off.

Their dinners were so good they found it very difficult to stop eating. Outside the palace were gardens filled with rare flowers and fruits and singing birds. If they wanted to go further, a golden coach painted with wreaths of forget-me-nots and lined with blue satin awaited their orders.

Sometimes the king came to see them, and he smiled as he looked at the man, who was getting rosier and plumper each day. But when his eyes rested on the woman, they took on a look that seemed to say 'I knew it,' though neither the charcoal-burner nor his wife ever noticed.

'Why are you so silent?' asked the man one morning, when dinner had passed without his wife saying a single word. 'A little while ago you used to chatter all day long, and now I have almost forgotten the sound of your voice.'

'Oh, nothing; I did not feel like talking, that's all.' She stopped and added carelessly after a pause, 'Don't you ever wonder what is in that soup tureen?'

'No, never,' replied the man. 'It is none of our business.' The conversation dropped once more, but as time went on, the woman spoke less and less and seemed so unhappy that her husband grew quite frightened. As for her food, she refused one thing after another.

'My dear wife,' the man said at last, 'you really must eat something. What in the world is the matter with you? If you go on like this, you will die.'

'I would rather die than not know what is in that tureen,' she burst out, so violently that the husband was quite startled.

'Is that it?' he cried. 'Are you making yourself miserable because of that? Why, you know we would be turned out of the palace and sent away to starve.'

'Oh no, we wouldn't. The king is too good-natured. Of course, he didn't mean a little thing like this! Besides, there is no need to take the lid off completely. Just raise one corner so that I can peep. We are quite alone. Nobody will ever know.'

The man hesitated. It did seem a 'little thing,' and if it would make his wife content and happy, it was well worth the risk. So he took hold of the handle of the cover and raised it very slowly and carefully, while the woman stooped down to peep.

Suddenly she sprang back with a scream, for a small mouse had sprung from inside the tureen and had nearly hit her in the eye. Round and round the room it ran. Round and round they both ran after it, knocking down chairs and vases in their efforts to catch the mouse and put it back in the tureen.

In the middle of all the noise, the door opened, and the mouse ran out between the feet of the king. In an instant, both the man and his wife were hiding under the table, and to all appearances, the room was empty.

'You may as well come out,' said the king, 'and hear what I have to say.'

'I know what it is,' answered the charcoal-burner, hanging his head. 'The mouse has escaped.'

'A guard of soldiers will take you back to your hut,' said the king. 'Your wife has the key.'

'Weren't they silly?' cried the grandchildren of the charcoal-burners when they heard the story. 'How we wish that we had had the chance! WE would never have wanted to know what was in the soup tureen!'