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!'
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