I am one of three cauldrons hidden in the house of a giant. We contain copper, silver and gold, and our metal boils without a fire beneath. Imagine how much heat we hold.

One day a young prince came into my room. He knew he wasn’t supposed to enter, but he was too full of wonder. He walked around me where I hung from the walls. He saw that there was no fire below me.  “I wonder what is inside,” he said.

He peered into my molten depths, and a lock of his hair fell in. It made my metal impure. In turn, my metal gilded his hair copper.

“That’s a nice kind of soup,” he said. “If anyone were to taste it, their throat would be gilded.” Off he went, whistling, into the next chamber.

I must say that my reaction to him on his departure was as strong as his reaction had been to me upon his arrival!

The Cauldron in The Mastermaid, Blue Fairy Book. Picture by Jean Delville.