Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

     Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter.
Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the King, and in order to make
himself appear important he said to him, "I have a daughter who can spin straw
into gold." The King said to the miller, "That is an art which pleases me
well; if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to my
palace, and I will try what she can do."

     And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a room which was
quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, "Now
set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw
into gold during the night, you must die." Thereupon he himself locked up the
room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller's daughter, and
for her life could not tell what to do; she had no idea how straw could be
spun into gold, and she grew more and more miserable, until at last she began
to weep.

     But all at once the door opened, and in came a little man, and said,
"Good evening, Mistress Miller; why are you crying so?" "Alas!" answered the
girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it." "What
will you give me," said the manikin, "if I do it for you?" "My necklace," said
the girl. The little man took the necklace, seated himself in front of the
wheel, and "whirr, whirr, whirr," three turns, and the reel was full; then he
put another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the second was
full too. And so it went on until the morning, when all the straw was spun,
and all the reels were full of gold. By day-break the King was already
there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart
became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter taken into another room
full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her to spin that also in
one night if she valued her life. The girl knew not how to help herself, and
was crying, when the door again opened, and the little man appeared, and said,
"What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?" The ring on my
finger," answered the girl. The little man took the ring, again began 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 gold
enough; and he had the miller's daughter taken into a still larger room full
of straw, and said, "You must spin this, too, in the course of this night; but
if you succeed, you shall be my wife." "Even if she be a miller's daughter,"
thought he, "I could not find a richer wife in the whole world."

     When the girl was alone the manikin came again for the third time, and
said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?" "I
have nothing left that I could give," answered the girl. "Then promise me, if
you should become Queen, your first child." "Who knows whether that will ever
happen?" thought the miller's daughter; and, not knowing how else to help
herself in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted, and for that
he once more spun the straw into gold.

     And when the King came in the morning, and found all as he had wished, he
took her in marriage, and the pretty miller's daughter became a Queen.

     A year after, she had a beautiful child, and she never gave a thought to
the manikin. But suddenly he came into her room, and said, "Now give me what
you promised." The Queen was horrorstruck, and offered the manikin all the
riches of the kingdom if he would leave her the child. But the manikin said,
"No, something that is living is dearer to me than all the treasures in the
world." Then the Queen began to weep and cry, so that the manikin pitied her.
"I will give you three days' time," said he; "if by that time you find out my
name, then shall you keep your child."

     So the Queen thought the whole night of all the names that she had ever
heard, and she sent a messenger over the country to inquire, far and wide, for
any other names that there might be. When the manikin came the next day, she
began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one
after another; but to every one the little man said, "That is not my name." On
the second day she had inquiries made in the neighbourhood as to the names of
the people there, and she repeated to the manikin the most uncommon and
curious. "Perhaps your name is Shortribs, or Sheepshanks, or Laceleg?" but he
always answered, "That is not my name."

     On the third day the messenger came back again, and said, "I have not
been able to find a single new name, but as I came to a high mountain at the
end of the forest, where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, there
I saw a little house, and before the house a fire was burning, and round about
the fire quite a ridiculous little man was jumping: he hopped upon one leg,
and shouted -

"'To-day I bake, to-morrow brew,
The next I'll have the young Queen's child.
Ha! glad am I that no one knew
That Rumpelstiltskin I am styled."

     You may think how glad the Queen was when she heard the name! And when
soon afterwards the little man came in, and asked, "Now Mistress Queen, what
is my name?" at first she said, "Is your name Conrad?" "No." "Is your name
Harry?" "No."

     "Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?"

     "The devil has told you that! the devil has told you that!" cried the
little man, and in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth
that his whole leg went in; and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard
with both hands that he tore himself in two.