RUMPELSTILTSKIN

By the side of a wood, in a country a long way off, ran a fine stream of water; and upon the stream there stood a mill. The miller’s house was close by, and the miller, you must  know,  had  a  very   beautiful daughter.  She  was, moreover, very shrewd and clever; and  the miller was so proud of her, that he one day told the king of the  land, who  used  to  come  and  hunt  in  the  wood,  that  his daughter could spin gold out of straw. Now this king was very fond of money; and when he heard the miller’s boast his greediness was  raised, and he sent for the girl to be brought before him. Then he led her to a chamber in his palace where there was a great heap of straw, and gave her a spinning-wheel, and said, ‘All this must be  spun into gold before morning, as you love your life.’ It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father,  for  that she could do  no  such thing as  spin straw into gold: the chamber door was locked, and she was left alone.
She sat down in one corner of the room, and began to bewail her hard fate; when on a sudden the door opened, and a droll-looking little man hobbled in, and said, ‘Good


morrow to you, my good lass; what are you weeping for?’
‘Alas!’ said she, ‘I must spin this straw into gold, and I know  not   how.’  ‘What  will  you  give  me,’  said the hobgoblin, ‘to do it  for  you?’ ‘My necklace,’ replied the maiden. He took her at her word, and sat himself down to the wheel, and whistled and sang:
’Round about, round about, Lo and behold!
Reel away, reel away,
Straw into gold!’

And round  about the wheel went merrily; the work was quickly done, and the straw was all spun into gold.
When  the  king  came  and  saw this,  he  was greatly astonished and  pleased; but  his  heart  grew  still  more greedy of gain, and he shut up the poor miller’s daughter again with a fresh  task. Then she knew not what to do, and sat down  once more  to  weep; but  the  dwarf soon opened the door, and said, ‘What will you give me to do your task?’ ‘The ring on my finger,’ said she. So her little friend took  the  ring,  and began to  work  at the  wheel again, and whistled and sang:
’Round about, round about, Lo and behold!
Reel away, reel away, Straw into gold!’


till, long before morning, all was done again.
The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure;  but  still he  had  not  enough:  so he  took  the miller’s daughter to  a  yet larger heap, and said, ‘All this must be spun tonight; and if it is, you shall be my queen.’ As soon as  she was alone that dwarf  came in, and said,
‘What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?’ ‘I  have nothing left,’ said she. ‘Then say you will give me,’ said the little man, ‘the first little child that you may have when  you  are  queen.’ ‘That may never be,’ thought the miller’s daughter: and as  she knew no other way to get her task done, she said she would do what he asked. Round  went the wheel again to the old song, and the manikin once more spun the heap into gold. The king came in  the  morning,  and,  finding all he  wanted,  was forced  to  keep  his   word;  so  he  married  the  miller’s daughter, and she really became queen.
At the birth of her first little child she was very glad, and forgot the dwarf, and what she had said. But one day he came into her room, where she was sitting playing with her baby, and put her in  mind of it. Then  she grieved sorely at her misfortune, and said she  would give him all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off, but in vain; till at last her tears softened him, and he said, ‘I will


give you three days’ grace, and if during that time you tell me my name, you shall keep your child.’
Now the queen lay awake all night, thinking of all the odd   names  that   she  had  ever  heard;  and  she  sent messengers all  over the land to find out new ones. The next  day  the  little  man   came,  and  she  began  with TIMOTHY,  ICHABOD, BENJAMIN, JEREMIAH, and all the names she could remember; but to all and each of them he said, ‘Madam, that is not my name.’
The second day she began with all the comical names she  could   hear  of,  BANDY-LEGS,  HUNCHBACK, CROOK-SHANKS,  and so on; but the little gentleman still said to every one of them,  ‘Madam, that is not my name.’
The third day one of the messengers came back, and said, ‘I  have travelled two  days without  hearing of any other names; but  yesterday,  as I was climbing a high hill, among the trees of the forest where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, I saw a little  hut; and before the hut burnt a fire; and round about the fire a funny little dwarf was dancing upon one leg, and singing:
’’Merrily the feast I’ll make. Today I’ll brew, tomorrow bake; Merrily I’ll dance and sing,
For next day will a stranger bring.


Little does my lady dream
Rumpelstiltskin is my name!‘‘

When the queen heard this she jumped for joy, and as soon  as  her  little friend came  she sat down  upon  her throne, and called  all her court round to enjoy the fun; and the nurse stood by her side with the baby in her arms, as if it was quite ready to be given up. Then the little man began to chuckle at the thought of having the poor child, to take home with him to his hut in the woods; and he cried out, ‘Now, lady, what is my name?’ ‘Is it JOHN?’ asked she. ‘No, madam!’ ‘Is it TOM?’ ‘No, madam!’ ‘Is it JEMMY?’    ‘It    is    not.’    ‘Can    your    name    be RUMPELSTILTSKIN?’ said the lady slyly. ‘Some witch told you that!— some witch told you that!’ cried the little man, and dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into the floor, that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull it out.
Then he made the best of his way off, while the nurse laughed  and the baby crowed; and all the court jeered at him for having had so much trouble for nothing, and said,
‘We wish you a very good morning, and a merry feast, Mr
RUMPLESTILTSKIN!’