Once upon a time there was a poor miller who had a very beautiful daughter.
One day he had an audience with the King and in order to impress him he told the king that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold.
Now that’s a talent worth having!” said the King; “if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace tomorrow and I’ll test her to see if she really can spin straw into gold.”
The next day when the girl was taken to the king, he led her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and spindle, and said: “Now start to work and spin all night until the morning, and if by then you haven’t spun all the straw into gold you will have to leave the city.”
He then closed the door behind him and left her alone inside.
The poor miller’s daughter sat down and didn’t know what she was going to do. She hadn’t any idea of how to spin straw into gold and became so upset at the thought of having to leave the city she began to cry.
Suddenly the door opened and in stepped a tiny little man who said: “Good evening, why are you crying so much?” “Oh!” answered the girl, “I have to spin all this straw into gold, and I don’t know how to do it.”
“What will you give me if I spin it for you?” asked the little man. “How about my necklace,” replied the girl.
The little man took the necklace, sat himself down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, the wheel went round three times and the bobbin was full. Then he put on another and whir, whir, whir, the wheel went round three times, and the second was full too; and so it went on until the morning, when all the straw was spun away, and all the bobbins were full of gold.
As soon as the sun rose the King came to see the result of his test and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart only lusted for more of the precious metal.
He had the miller’s daughter put into another room full of straw, much bigger than the first, and said to her, if she wanted to stay in the city, she must spin it all into gold before the morning.
The girl didn’t know what to do and began to cry again when then the door opened as before, and the tiny little man appeared and said: “What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?” “How about the ring from my finger,” answered the girl.
The little man took the ring, and whir! round went the spinning-wheel again, and when morning came, he had spun all the straw into glittering gold.
The King was even more pleased than the previous day at the sight of all the gold, but his greed was still not satisfied and he had the miller’s daughter brought into a yet bigger room full of straw, and said: “You must spin all this into gold through the night but if you succeed this time you shall become my wife.”
When the girl was alone once more the little man appeared for the third time and said: “What will you give me if I spin the straw for you again?” “I’ve nothing more to give,” answered the girl. “Then promise me when you are Queen to give me your first child.”
“Who knows if that will ever happen?” thought the miller’s daughter; and besides, she saw no other way out of it, so she promised the little man what he demanded and he set to work once more and spun the straw into gold.
When the King came in the morning and found everything as he had desired, he straightway made her his wife, and the miller’s daughter became a queen.
When a year had passed, a beautiful son was born to her, and she thought no more of the little man, until one day he stepped into her room and said: “Now give me what you promised.”
The Queen was very upset by this and offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom if he would leave her the child. But the little man said: “No, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.”
The Queen began to cry and sob so bitterly that the little man felt sorry for her and said: “I’ll give you three days to guess my name and if you find it out in that time you may keep your child.”
The Queen debated the whole night over all the names she had ever heard, and sent a messenger to search the land, and to pick up any unusual names he could come across. When the little man arrived the following day she began with Ben, William, David and all the other names she knew, but at each one the little man called out: “That’s not my name.”
The next day she sent someone to ask all the names of the people in the neighborhood and had a long list of the most uncommon and extraordinary ones for the little man when he made his appearance.
“Is your name, perhaps, Sheepshanks Cruickshanks, Spindleshanks?” but he always replied: “That’s not my name.”
On the third day the messenger returned and announced: “I have not been able to find any new names, but as I came across a high hill around the corner of the wood I saw a little house, and in front of the house was a fire, and around the fire danced the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg and crying:
Tomorrow, I brew, today I bake,
And then the child away I’ll take.
For little deems my royal dame,
That Rumpelstiltskin is my name!”
You can imagine the Queen’s delight at hearing the name, and when the little man stepped in shortly afterward and asked: “Now, my lady Queen, what’s my name?” she asked first: “Is your name Conrad?” “No.” “Is your name Harry?” “No.” “Is your name perhaps, Rumpelstiltskin?”
“Some demon has told you that!” screamed the little man and in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank up to his waist; then in a rage he seized his left foot and did the same, and as he was screaming the earth almost appeared to open up and Rumpelstiltskin disappeared into the ground and was never seen again.
The end
To watch the animated video of this Fairy Tale on the Oxbridge Baby YouTube Channel click here (please note these links take you to an external website).