The sun in the treasure chest

 

The village Bondo, situated at the foot of very high mountains in the Bergell valley, has old houses and narrow streets. In summer, when the sun penetrates all the smallest corners, Bondo shows its most beautiful and cheerful side. On winter days, without the sun, everything seems grey and dreary. It’s reported that in the past people of Bondo wanted to remedy this lack of light and warmth by stealing a little sun from those who had plenty of it.

Situated about 300 meters higher than Bondo, the village of Soglio, on the opposite side of the Maira River has sunshine all year round. So, one day the most important and respected men of Bondo met for a discussion and decided to build a fine and spacious chest where they could catch the sun. The chest was ready in a short time and the Bondarins carried it with great effort to Ganda, on Soglio's territory. They put it on the warm, stony ground, opened it and left it there in the sun until evening. Then they closed it very carefully, with three key turns, and after the mayor had put the key in his pocket, they started the bumpy descent. The chest seemed even heavier, no wonder, with the great amount of sun that was inside!

When they got back to Bondo, they kept the chest locked all night and waited until the next day. Early in the morning, the people gathered in groups, looking forward to the certainty that now also Bondo would finally have its winter sun. The surprise was great, when they stood in front of the open chest and realized that it was just as empty and dark as before the ascent. Not a single ray of sunshine had they been able to steal. An elderly woman, who had pushed her way to the front, suddenly said, "I can imagine that the sun was able to escape - you had to plug the keyhole!"

The bystanders looked up in the direction of Soglio, where the sun was shining brighter and more brilliantly than ever before.