We last left our story with Esteban y Marta leaving Madrid with a caravan of metalworkers bound for Toledo. The journey passed en paz, y cuando they arrived in Toledo, the metalworkers invitaron a Marta y Esteban to come with them to their workshops, donde ellos trabajaban. Esteban y Marta weren’t seguros yet what they were supposed to do in Toledo, so they gladly accepted the offer.

The workshops turned out to be a series of low buildings made of piedras, so old that las piedras were worn and cracked. Inside these buildings, Esteban y Marta watched the metalworkers craft everything from pots and ollas for uso diario, to fine tempered steel swords, to delicate silver jewelry. Inside the last building, though, Marta noticed algo muy extraño on one of the walls. It looked like a keyhole.

Marta asked one of the metalworkers qué it was for. He didn’t know. No one knew, but the keyhole had been there for as long as anyone could recordar. Esteban pulled from his pocket la llave that he and Marta had found in Madrid. He held it up to the keyhole—it looked about the same size, el mismo tamaño, and the same age. He put the key in the keyhole and turned. Something clicked, and the front of stone in the wall opened to reveal a small cavity, in which rested a very tarnished silver box, held closed with a tiny lock. Esteban pulled it out of the stone cavity and presented it to the metalworkers. Uno de ellos cleaned it off y commented on the muy fine workmanship. He then returned it to Esteban y Marta. “Ustedes found it,” he said. “Ustedes had the key to open it, y por eso ustedes should keep it.” Marta y Esteban protested—the box was clearly valuable, pero the metalworkers wouldn’t listen. Finalmente, with many thanks, Esteban y Marta bid the metalworkers adios and went on their way.

¿A dónde will they go, though, y qué can they do with this box? Tune in next time to find out.

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