By Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm

There was once upon a time a poor miller who had a beautiful daughter. It happened one day that he had an audience with the King, and in order to appear important 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 to the miller; "if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace tomorrow, and I'll test her."

When the girl was brought to him, he led her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and spindle, and said, "Now set to work and spin all night, and if by early dawn you haven't spun the straw into gold you shall die." Then he closed the door behind him and left her alone inside.

So the poor miller's daughter sat down. She hadn't the least idea of how to spin straw into gold, and at last she began to cry. Suddenly the door opened, and in stepped a tiny little man who said: "Good evening, Miss Miller-maid; why are you crying so bitterly?"

"Oh!" answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and haven't the slightest notion how it's done." "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" asked the manikin.

"My necklace," replied the girl.

The little man took the necklace, sat down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, round it went until morning, when all the straw was spun away, and all the bobbins were full of gold.

[Illustration: Rumpelstiltzken spinning.]

As soon as the sun rose, the King came, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but he wanted more of the precious metal. He had the miller's daughter put into another room, much bigger than the first and full of straw, and bade her, if she valued her life, spin it all into gold before morning.

When the girl began to cry the tiny little man appeared again and said:
"What'll you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?"

"The ring from my finger," answered the girl. The manikin took the ring, and when morning broke he had spun all the straw into glittering gold.

The King was pleased beyond measure at the sight, but he 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 away in the night; but if you succeed this time you shall become my wife."

When the girl was alone, the little man appeared for the third time, and said: "What'll you give me if I spin the straw for you this third time?"

"I've nothing more to give," answered the girl.

"Then promise me when you are Queen to give me your first child."

Seeing no other way out of it, she promised the manikin, and he set to work.

When the King came in the morning, and found the gold, he straightway made her his wife. When a beautiful son was born to her, she did not think of the little man, till all of a sudden one day he stepped into her room and said: "Now give me what you promised."

The Queen offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom if he would only leave her the child.

But the manikin said, "No, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."

Then the Queen began to cry and sob so bitterly that the little man was sorry for her, and said, "I'll give you three days, and if in that time you guess my name, you may keep your child."

The Queen pondered the whole night over all the names she had ever heard, and sent messengers to scour the land, and to pick up far and near any names they should come across. When the little man arrived she began with Kasper, Melchior, Belshazzer, Sheepshanks, Cruickshanks, Spindleshanks, and so on through the long list. At every name the little man shook his head.

At last a messenger reported, "As I came upon a high hill round the corner of the wood, where the foxes and hares bid each other good-night, I saw a little house, and in front of the house burned a fire, and round the fire sprang 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 Rumpelstiltzken is my name!'"

When the little man stepped in afterward and asked his name she said,
"Is your name Conrad?"

"No."

"Is your name, perhaps, Rumpelstiltzken?"

"Some demon has told you that, some demon has told you that," screamed the little man, as he vanished into the air.