Snatching Door

"Now listen here young man! Do you want to be taken away by the door? Because that's exactly what will happen if you keep snooping around in my larder."

"But I was just looking for some bread, ma'am."

"That's none of my concern. Your mother should feed you if you're hungry."

"But–"

"I said get out of there, before I call the constable on you!"

Summary

The story goes that when children misbehave and wander into places they're not suppose to be, they will stumble across an ordinary wooden door. It is ordinary in every except for the fact that it is rarely where one would expect a door to be – one the side of a mountain, inside of a tree, or standing in the middle of a farmer's field for instance. Where the door leads depends on who tells the story. The most popular version is that it is simply a horrible monster waiting to gobble up unruly children. Others that if you step through it you will be whisked to the heavens to live out your life on Lor and Evolere, or be banished to the Nine Hells.

Historical Basis

The only people who believe these stories are easily scared children and the woefully naive. No evidence has ever been found to support the existance of such a door, and little effort has been put into finding any.

"A door that just happens to appear before misbaving children and whisk them away? Why, I've never heard of anything so preposterous!"

In Literature

In the short story titled The Ocean and the Door found in Tales From the Inn of a Thousand Hearths: Volume 4, the protagonist finds himself adrift at sea after a terrible storm throwns him overboard. He is startled when the barrel he had been desparately clinging to for several days knock against something wooden. A wooden door is before him, standing in the middle of the ocean attached to nothing and unaffected by the motion of the water. He reaches up, opens the door and the waves fling him through the portal. Authors and literary scholars have tried to find the moral of the story with little success. Furthermore, neither the character nor the door make another appearance in the Tales. While not perfectly in line with what is commonly told to children, most belive this story is derived from the same origin, as separate myths regarding mysteriously appearing doors would be quite unlikley.

Date of First Recording

c. 180 BKO