Rumpelstiltskin

Once upon a time there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he came to speak with the King, and to make himself seem important he said, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold." The King said to the miller, "That is an art that pleases me well. If your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace tomorrow, and I will put her to the test."

And when the girl was brought to him, he led her into a room that was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning wheel and a reel, and said, "Now set to work, and if by tomorrow morning you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die." With that he locked the room himself and left her there alone.

So the poor miller's daughter sat there, and for the life of her she did not know what to do. She had no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and her fear grew greater and greater, until at last she began to weep. But all at once the door opened, and in came a little man, who said, "Good evening, Mistress Miller. Why are you crying so?"

"Oh," answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how."

"What will you give me," said the little man, "if I spin it for you?"

"My necklace," said the girl.

The little man took the necklace, seated himself before the wheel, and — whirr, whirr, whirr — three turns, and the reel was full. Then he put another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and the second was full too. And so it went on until morning, when all the straw was spun and all the reels were full of gold.

At sunrise the King was already there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart grew only greedier for gold. He had the miller's daughter taken into another room full of straw, one much larger, and ordered her to spin that too in a single night, if she valued her life. The girl did not know how to help herself and began to cry, when the door opened again and the little man appeared, saying, "What will you give me if I spin this straw into gold for you?"

"The ring from my finger," answered the girl.

The little man took the ring, began once more to turn the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering gold. The King rejoiced beyond measure at the sight, but still he had not had his fill of gold. He had the miller's daughter taken into a room larger still, filled with straw, and said, "This too you must spin during this night. But if you succeed, you shall be my wife." "Even if she is only a miller's daughter," he thought, "I could not find a richer wife in all the world."

When the girl was alone, the little man came a third time and said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time as well?"

"I have nothing left that I could give," answered the girl.

"Then promise me, if you become Queen, your first child."

"Who knows whether that will ever come to pass?" thought the miller's daughter. And, not knowing how else to help herself in her need, she promised the little man what he asked, and for that he spun the straw into gold once more.

And when the King came in the morning and found everything as he had wished, he married her, and the beautiful miller's daughter became a Queen.

A year later she brought a beautiful child into the world, and she gave no more thought to the little man. But suddenly he stepped into her room and said, "Now give me what you promised."

The Queen was horror-struck, and she offered the little man all the riches of the kingdom if he would let her keep the child. But the little man said, "No. Something living is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."

Then the Queen began to wail and weep so bitterly that the little man took pity on her. "I will give you three days' time," he said. "If by then you can tell my name, then you shall keep your child."

So the Queen spent the whole night thinking of every name she had ever heard, and she sent a messenger over the land to ask, far and wide, what other names there might be. When the little man came the next day, she began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one after another. But to each one the little man said, "That is not my name."

The second day she had inquiries made all through the neighborhood as to what the people there were called, and she said to the little man the most unusual and curious names. "Perhaps your name is Ribbeast, or Muttonshanks, or Lacyleg?" But he always answered, "That is not my name."

On the third day the messenger came back and said, "I could not find a single new name, but as I came round the edge of the forest to a high mountain, where fox and hare bid each other good night, I saw a little house, and before the house a fire was burning, and around the fire a most ridiculous little man was leaping. He hopped on one leg and shouted—

Today I bake, tomorrow brew, the next the young Queen's child I'll claim. Oh, how good that no one knew that Rumpelstiltskin is my name!"

You can imagine how glad the Queen was when she heard the name! And soon afterward, when the little man came in and asked, "Now, Mistress Queen, what is my name?" she asked first, "Is your name Conrad?"

"No."

"Is your name Harry?"

"No."

"Might your name be Rumpelstiltskin?"

"The devil told you that! The devil told you that!" screamed the little man, and in his rage he stamped his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in. Then, in his fury, he seized his left foot with both hands and tore himself right in two.