Story 77: Rumplestiltskin Americanized Adaptation

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There was once a mile who was very poor, yet his daughterwas more beautiful than any maiden in the land

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There was once a mile who was very poor, yet his daughter
was more beautiful than any maiden in the land. One day it happened that the miller met the king. "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold," the miller said, trying in this way to make himself seem important.
"Is that so?" said the king. "Such a skill interests me greatly.
Bring your daughter to the castle tomorrow and then we shall see what we shall see."
When the girl was brought to him, the king led her to a little room filled with straw. He gave her a spinning wheel and a winder and said, "Now you must set to work quickly. If by dawn tomorrow this straw has not been spun into gold, you will have to die." Then without a backward glance he left the room.
The girl heard a key turn in the lock. She was entirely alone and terrified, for she had not the least idea how straw could be spun into gold. The hours passed and it grew darker and darker, and at last she threw herself upon the straw, weeping for her life.
Suddenly the door sprang open. Before her stood a tiny man; he was not even as tall as her waist.
"Good evening, my girl. Why are you weeping?" he said.
The girl answered, "I was told to spin gold out of straw and I don't know how to do it."
"What will you give me if I spin it for you?"
"You shall have my necklace," she said.
At this the little man seated himself before the spinning wheel and began to work. The wheel whirred and sang all through the night and one by one the spools piled near it were filled with gold.
When the king unlocked the door and saw the glittering gold, his mouth fell open in astonishment. Yet he was not satisfied "You did well, my dear. Now let us see how much more gold you can spin for me tonight." He led her to another room filled with straw and this one was much larger than the first. "If you value your life, you will spin it all by morning, " he said.

Once again the girl began to weep. She had no more idea how it was done than the first time. Suddenly the door opened and the little man appeared. "What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold?" he demanded.
"The ring from my finger," she said without hesitation.
And so he began to work again at the spinning wheel, and by morning he was done. Not a piece of straw remained in the room, only spools and spools of gold.
The king was delighted at the sight of so much gold, but he was a very greedy man and so he wanted still more. He led the miller's daughter to a third room, far bigger than the first two and filled to the top with straw. "Tonight you must spin all this into gold. If you succced you shall be my queen." The king no longer cared that she was only a miller's daughter. All he could think about were the riches he would gain.
When the girl was alone the little man came again and said for the third time, "What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?"
"I have nothing more I can give you," she cried in dismay.
"Promise me your first child if you should become queen,
the little man said.
Who knows if that will ever happen," thought the maiden and so she agreed. Without another word the little man set to work, and soon all the straw was spun into gold. When the king came in and saw it, he celebrated his marriage to the girl at once. Now the miller's daughter was queen of the land.

About a year later a beautiful child was born to her. She had forgotten all about the little man, but she had made her promise and the very next day he was there in her room. "Now give me the child," he said.
The queen was horrified and told the little man he could have all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her keep the child. But he cared nothing for riches. "I would far rather have some living thing," he said and he reached out his arms for the baby.
At this the queen began to weep and moan as if her heart would break. The little man took pity upon her and said, "I will give you three days and three days only. If within this time you discover my name you may keep the child."
During the night the queen remembered all the names she had ever known and she sent a messenger into the countryside to discover what other names there were. When the little man appeared the next day, she began to call them out one by one.
"Are you Caspar? Are you Melchior? Are you Balzer?"
But each time he only shook his head and said, "No, that is not my name."
On the second day the messenger told the queen the most strange and unusual names from the farthest parts of the king-dom. "Perhaps your name is Cowribs?" she said to the little man when he came.
"Perhaps it is Spindleshanks? Perhaps it is Lace-legs?"
"No, that is not my name," he said again and again, and now only one day remained.
The next morning the messenger returned to the palace, riding hard. "I have found no more names,'
" he told the queen.
"But as I came to a high mountain at the end of the forest, I saw a tiny little house and in front of the house a fire was burning and around it a strange little man was hopping on one leg and singing:
Today I bake, tomorrow I brew,
The next the queen's child I will claim.
Lucky it is that no one knows
That Rumpelstiltskin is my name.' "
How glad the queen was when she heard the name! Soon afterward the little man came back and asked, "Now what names have you for me today?"
"Is your name Klaus?" she said.
"No."
"Is it Heinz?"
"No."
"Is it perhaps Rumpelstiltskin?"
"The devil told you that! The devil told vou that!" screamed the little man. In his rage he stamped his foot so hard on the ground that he sank in up to his waist.
And then, as the queen watched in horror, he seized his other leg with both his hands and tore himself in two.

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