The Spellbook in the Forbidden Room

But it wasn't long before the notion grew on her, too, that she would like a glimpse of the forbidden room. Soon she couldn't even keep the beat to the music since thoughts about the room pushed everything else away. "My goodness, I might as well get it over with and take a look in that room or I'll never have a moment's peace."

But alas! like her sister, the moment she opened the door the smallest crack, it flew wide open and powerfully drew her inside. Then the door slammed shut, sealing her in.

When the enchanter returned, he knew at once where the middle sister had been. He charged into the forbidden room, shouting, "You are just like your sister! You will share her fate!" The next moment she, too, was transformed into a yellow songbird inside a gilded cage.

Back home at the village, a long time had passed with no letter or message from either sister. The youngest daughter was beginning to worry. When the enchanter appeared at the village, she was very relieved and plied him with anxious questions. "Oh, they are very happy," he assured her. "So busy they don't even have time to write a note. But they both asked me to come here and tell you they'd like it very much if you came for a visit." The youngest sister agreed, though she thought it strange that neither sister had accompanied him.

The youngest sister was also very impressed with the enchanter's castle, and the stacks of books in nearly every room. Because as I'm sure you have guessed by now, the evil enchanter could determine whatever was dearest to a young woman's heart and fill the castle with those very objects.

The enchanter urged the daughter to make herself comfortable, saying that both her sisters would surely return soon, warning her not to go into the room at the end of the corridor, which was forbidden, and letting her know what to do when she got hungry.

The youngest daughter would have been content for days waiting for her two sisters, with all the lovely illustrated books for her to pore through, but thoughts of that room at the end of the corridor simply grew and grew, until she couldn't focus on a page another moment.