The Flying Trunk by Hans Christian Andersen. Short summary

5 seconds

A young man has squandered his father’s wealth and is left penniless, but is given a magic chest. With its help he gets to the Turkish princess. But the wedding is disrupted by a fire, as the chest burns down.

1 minute

There was a rich merchant who lived. He died, leaving his son a lot of money. But he was wasteful, and within a year he had squandered all his father’s wealth. A kind acquaintance sent him a chest.

It turned out to be a magic chest. The young man rode on it and the chest lifted him up into the sky. And so the young man was in Turkey. In the city, he heard that a princess was imprisoned in a tower, and he decided to go and see her. He saddled up the trunk and found himself in the tower.

The young man told the girl a beautiful tale. He also declared that he was a deity. The princess believed and agreed to give him her hand and heart, but offered to meet her father and mother.

The young man told the princess’s parents another tale that won their hearts. The parents agreed to the wedding. The young man was so excited that he began to set off many fireworks.

When the young man wanted to talk to the princess and went to get the trunk, he saw that it was burnt by the fireworks. The young man was ashamed that he could not impersonate a deity and left the country. And the princess never waited for her deity.