RUMPELSTILTSKIN
There was once a mill that stood by a stream on the edge of a forest.
Next to the mill was a little cottage and in it lived the miller and his daughter. The miller’s
daughter was very smart and beautiful and the miller was very proud of her.
One day the king came to hunt in the forest.
The miller couldn’t resist telling him all about his wonderful daughter.
It wasn’t long, however, before the miller began to exaggerate his daughter’s talents. “My girl
is very clever,” he said. “She is so clever that she can take straw and spin it into gold.”
“Spin straw into gold?” cried the king, clearly impressed, “that is amazing! You must bring your
daughter to my palace. I will give her some straw and she will spin it into gold for me.”
“But, but…..,” began the miller. Oh how he wished he hadn’t got so carried away.
Why oh why had he gone and told the king such a thing?
But it was too late now. He couldn’t admit to the king that he had made the story up.
So when the king returned to his palace he took the miller’s daughter with him.
He took her to a room that was piled high with straw. In the corner was a little spinning wheel.
“Get to work,” cried the king, “I want all of this straw spun into gold by tomorrow morning.”
The miller’s daughter was shocked. She tried to tell the king that she really could not
spin straw into gold, that it was just some silly tale that her father had made up.
The king however, did not want to hear. He left the room and locked the heavy door behind him.
The girl sat at the spinning wheel and looked at the pile of straw. She put her head in her hands
and began to cry. “What’s the matter?” a little voice said. The girl looked around, confused.
Then she saw a little man who had appeared in the room out of nowhere. “The king wants me to
spin this straw into gold,” explained the girl, “but I don’t know how!” She began to sob again.
“I can help you,” said the little man, “but I cannot work for free.
What will you give me if I help you?” he asked. The girl thought for a moment. Then she took her
necklace from around her neck and held it out, “this,” she said, “I will give you my necklace.”
The strange little man nodded and asked the girl to move away from the spinning wheel. Then he sat
himself down and got to work. In no time he had spun the piles of straw into delicate gold thread.
The next morning the king came and saw the gold thread. He was amazed. However,
he was also very greedy and gave the girl an even bigger pile of straw. “I want all of this straw
spun into gold by tomorrow morning,” he said, “if you can do that, then I will make you my wife.”
Once again the girl began to cry. But then the little man appeared beside her again.
“I can do it,” he told her, “what will you give me this time?”
“My ring,” answered the girl. So the little man set to work and it was not
long before he had once again spun all of the straw into shiny golden thread.
Then the king arrived and was thrilled with what he saw. He rubbed his hands together as
he thought about how rich he would be with so much gold. He was so excited that he filled the
room with yet more piles of straw and told the girl to get to work creating more golden thread.
Once the king had left, the little man appeared again. “What can you give me?” he asked the girl.
The young girl sobbed. She sobbed hard this time
because she knew that she had nothing left to give to the little man.
“I can't give you anything,” she replied, “I don’t have anything.” She began to cry even louder.
“I have an idea,” said the little man suddenly, “I will spin this straw into thread tonight.
When you become queen and have your first child, you will give the baby to me.”
The girl agreed, as she had no idea what else she could do. So the little man began spinning.
In the morning the king arrived and was delighted.
He was so pleased to see so much gold that he demanded the wedding take place
immediately. The miller’s daughter married the king that very same day and became queen.
The king and queen lived happily for a number of years and the queen forgot all about her promise
to the strange little man. One day the queen gave birth to a baby boy. Both the king and queen were
thrilled with the arrival of the child. One night the little man appeared in the baby’s nursery.
“I’ve come to take the child away with me,” he announced to the queen, “just as we agreed.” The
queen was heartbroken and promised the little man all sorts of jewels and riches, if he would
leave her baby boy alone. The little man was not interested. “I’ll give you three days,” he said,
“if you can guess my name, then you can keep your baby. If you can’t, then I will take him with me.”
The queen spent all night thinking of names. She sent messengers to visit the land far and wide,
asking for as many names as they could find.
The queen made a list of them all and when the little man arrived the next morning
she repeated all of the names to him. After each name the little man replied “that is not my name.”
The next day the queen guessed again, shouting out every name she could possibly think of.
But the little man just shook his head and said “wrong again! Now you have just one day left.”
That night, one of the queen’s messengers was in the forest
when he saw a strange little man dancing around a fire and singing;
“I know my name, but you don’t do you? Oh, aren’t I glad that nobody knew
I’m so sure that I will win For my name is Rumpelstiltskin”
The woodcutter rushed back to the palace and told the queen what he had seen and heard.
The little man arrived smiling the next day and asked “What is my name, dear queen?” The queen
pretended to think. “Are you Thingamajig?” she asked, “Or Whatchamacallit? Or Whatsisname?”
Each time the answer was “no”.
Then the queen moved a little closer to the man and said,” or maybe you are Rumpelstiltskin?”
The little man became very cross. His face was bright red with rage
and he jumped and hopped up and down angrily. He jumped so hard that he cracked the floorboards
and fell right through the floor. And he was never seen or heard in the kingdom again.