No one knew exactly when it arrived. It wasn’t in the center of the forest, but it wasn’t exactly at the edge either. The first everyone heard about it was when a poor woodcutter came into town speaking of a ‘witch’s hut’ in the forest. No-one believed him, and eventually he went his way, muttering under his breath. It was only a week later, when several boys came running into town with the same story that a delegation of prominent citizens went to investigate.
It was perfectly round, with a conical roof, and made of a shiny metal. It was only about 12 feet in diameter, a size for an adequate if not overly large peasants hut. But the most startling feature was the voice that seemed to emerge in mid-air.
“Are you looking for fame, honor, and power? Are you intelligent, wise, and obedient? Are you a young, unmarried man? Then just enter the doorway and be tested for knighthood!”
The men stared at the doorway, ominously open and dark, listened to several more repetitions and then turned to return to the town, delivering their report.
The town fathers, such as they were, spent considerable time debating the phenomenon. However, as after repeated observations nothing particularly changed or was particularly threatening with the ‘steel hut’; their decision was, basically, to ignore it. Similarly, they did not bother to forbid the area to the towns youth, under the (unstated) assumption that anyone who was foolish enough to enter that dark doorway was no particular loss.
