Plain Brown Box

Once there was a rich, handsome man who married a poor, common girl. Everyone thought this arrangement was strange because the man could have had his pick of any woman in the world, because he was so rich and handsome. The girl herself asked no questions, because she knew that finding such a husband would be impossible for her and the fact that she did find such a man was totally beyond her belief. People thought it was so obvious why the woman married him, but people asked why he had even thought of marrying her. The handsome man simply smiled and said, "She is a good woman," and people left him alone, saying "if that's what he wants, that's what he wants…"

When they were alone on their honeymoon, the husband gave his wife three boxes: A box wrapped in gold leaf, a box with striped decorations, and a plain brown box. The husband told his wife, "You may open two of these boxes and they will be my gifts to you, my bride. Then you must keep the third box with you but never open it under any circumstances."

The wife was so excited that she agreed to this. She first opened the box with the gold leaf wrapping. Inside, there was a ruby necklace that went beautifully around her neck. The ruby necklace made even the most homeliest of faces into a face to be adored by all.

The wife was so happy with the ruby necklace that she quickly turned to her next choice, a box with striped decor. She quickly opened it up and found a couple of large diamond earrings shaped like tears, so large that her ears weigh down. The wife left the last box unopened, as she promised her husband. The plain, brown box did not attract her attention anyway, so she thought it would be easy to leave the box alone, even if the box happened to be larger than the first two boxes that she opened.

For the next few weeks, avoiding the temptation to open the plain, brown box was quite easy. She was so in love with him and he made her so happy, there was no need to mind the box at all. When she moved the box from place to place, it did seem heavier than the other boxes. Put she had to put that out of her mind. If she did not, then she would want to open the box and she did not want to succumb to that temptation, so she put it in the closet where she would not have to deal with it anymore.

A month later, whenever she went into the closet, the plain, brown box was within her sight but she did not mind it until it emitted an awful stench which made her sick. She wanted to ask her husband what was inside the box that made it smell so bad, but she did not have the nerve, for fear of offending him. When the husband was away, the wife took the plain, brown box and buried it in the center of a bed of flowers in her garden.

Three months later, the husband needed to go away for a week on a business trip and left the wife on her own for that whole time. During the three months after she had buried the box, she kept thinking about it every time she went into the garden. She loved the garden so much and yet she still kept thinking about that box. She sometimes had dreams about it, wondering what treasure was inside. She wondered if it was something better than her ruby necklace or her diamond earrings. One late afternoon, she dismissed all her servants early from work so that she could be alone. She wanted no one else in the large house and she denied that she knew why she had let them go so early.

The wife vacillated within her curiosity until late into the night when she decided that as long as her husband thinks she buried the box in the garden, there would be no way that he would know that she ever looked inside the box.

So the wife took a flashlight with her as she went into the garden, quickly finding her way into the center of the flower bed. So filled with curiosity, she dug out the dirt with her bare hands as a dog would eagerly dig out a bone. The flower bed was a mess when she was done. But at last, the plain, brown box was in her hands. Burying it had done nothing to bury the smell but she did not care. She wanted to know all the contents of that plain, brown box.

She single handedly opened the box while she held the turned on flashlight with he other hand. She prided herself in being so dexterous enough to do both of these things. She ripped open the top of the box with one hand and a whiff of the contents their her nose caused her to drop the box like a stone. It was dark but she heard no crash, so it could not have been fragile. The wife looked inside the box. There was nothing there.

But something had rolled out of the box. The wife was sure it must have come from the box because the smell became stronger as he approached it. She quickly took her flashlight and shined at the object. And after a brief glimpse, she dropped it.

She did not believe what she saw at first. Then, she picked up the flashlight and forced herself to look at it again. And when she saw it again for the second time, she screamed into the night like a howling wolf. She picked up the contents of the box and tried to close the box as if it never had been opened. But the box would not close; the lid would always pop off. The wife forced the lid of the box to close and buried the plain, brown box in the center of the flower bed with the mounds of dirt that she dug just to get the box out.

She washed her hands under scalding hot water for an entire hour and used enough soap for ten dishwashers. And even was clean as they were, she wore gloves in her sleep, but she could not get to sleep. All she could do was think of her husband, who was coming home the next day.

Her husband arrived home in the late afternoon and she first saw him, she froze. He ran to greet her, but she was as cold as a fish. She had very little to say to him and she was very nervous. She never removes her gloves, even if her hands were in pain for being burned. She wanted to say that she missed him, but when she looked at him with fear in her eyes, the husband stepped back.

"You looked into the third box, didn't you?" the husband accused. The wife was so dumbstruck with fear she could say absolutely nothing.

He looked at her with a mean intent. "I'm sorry," he said. "I cannot afford to have a faithless wife." Before the wife could think another thought, before the husband could think of another thought, he cut off his wife's head. Then he put it in a plain, brown box. Then he went to search for another wife.