La llave mágica (The magic key): free A2 Spanish story
Level A2 (Elementary) · Fantasy · about 3 minutes
A cheap old key opens one door, once, to the place you most want to be.
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The story in Spanish
Inés encontró la llave un domingo, en un mercado de cosas viejas. Era pequeña, de metal dorado, y tenía una estrella en el centro. —Esta llave es especial —le dijo el vendedor, un señor con barba blanca—. Abre una puerta al lugar donde más quieres estar. Pero solo funciona una vez. Inés se rio, pero la compró por muy poco dinero.
Durante meses, la llave estuvo en su bolsa. A veces pensaba en usarla: una playa tropical, una ciudad famosa, una montaña con nieve. Una vez, en el aeropuerto, casi la usó, pero al final la guardó otra vez. Nunca estaba segura.
Un lunes, todo salió mal. Perdió el autobús, su jefe le gritó y su computadora dejó de funcionar. A las seis de la tarde, Inés estaba cansada y muy triste. Sacó la llave y la puso en la puerta de un armario de la oficina. «Quiero estar en un lugar feliz», pensó.
La puerta se abrió, y Inés sintió un olor a chocolate caliente. Delante de ella estaba la cocina de su abuela, exactamente como era hacía veinte años. Y allí, al lado de la ventana, estaba su abuela, que murió cuando Inés tenía doce años. —Llegas tarde, cariño —dijo la abuela—. El chocolate se va a enfriar.
Inés no podía hablar. Se sentó y bebió el chocolate, como cuando era niña. Después, le contó a su abuela todos sus problemas. La abuela la escuchó con paciencia y le tomó la mano. —Tú eres fuerte, Inés —le dijo—. Pero no puedes quedarte aquí. Tu vida está al otro lado de esa puerta.
Inés le dio un beso y volvió a la oficina. La puerta del armario se cerró detrás de ella, y la llave desapareció de su mano. Esa noche, Inés llamó a su madre. —Mamá, ¿todavía tienes la receta del chocolate de la abuela? —preguntó. Una hora después, su casa también olía a chocolate.
English translation
Inés found the key one Sunday, in a market for old things. It was small, made of golden metal, and it had a star in the middle. “This key is special,” the seller, a man with a white beard, told her. “It opens a door to the place where you most want to be. But it only works once.” Inés laughed, but she bought it for very little money.
For months, the key stayed in her purse. Sometimes she thought about using it: a tropical beach, a famous city, a snowy mountain. Once, at the airport, she almost used it, but in the end she put it away again. She was never sure.
One Monday, everything went wrong. She missed the bus, her boss shouted at her and her computer stopped working. At six in the evening, Inés was tired and very sad. She took out the key and put it in the door of a cabinet in the office. “I want to be in a happy place,” she thought.
The door opened, and Inés smelled hot chocolate. In front of her was her grandmother’s kitchen, exactly as it had been twenty years before. And there, next to the window, was her grandmother, who had died when Inés was twelve. “You’re late, sweetheart,” said her grandmother. “The chocolate is going to get cold.”
Inés couldn’t speak. She sat down and drank the chocolate, like when she was a child. Afterward, she told her grandmother all her problems. Her grandmother listened to her patiently and took her hand. “You are strong, Inés,” she told her. “But you can’t stay here. Your life is on the other side of that door.”
Inés gave her a kiss and went back to the office. The cabinet door closed behind her, and the key disappeared from her hand. That night, Inés called her mother. “Mom, do you still have Grandma’s chocolate recipe?” she asked. An hour later, her home smelled of chocolate too.
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