He had a beautiful daughter. Now
the miller had a bad habit of bragging. One day,
the King came on visit. He heard the miller bragging to the people.
"Do you know, I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold!"
The King was surprise to hear this. He called the miller and
said to him, "If your daughter is as skillful as you say, then bring her to my palace
tomorrow. I will put her to a test." The miller was terribly upset but he
couldn't refuse the King. The next morning, the miller and his daughter went to the King's palace.
On reaching the palace, the girl was led to a room that was filled with straw.
Giving her a spinning wheel, the King said, "Get to work now.
Spin all this straw into gold or you shall die!" Then he locked the room and left.
The poor miller's daughter sat in one corner and cried.
She had no idea how to spin the straw into gold.
Just the, the door opened. A little man who was strange looking stepped inside and said, "Good evening, sweet lady! Why are you crying?"
"Oh, I am supposed to spin these straws into gold and I do not know how to do it,"
answered the girl, sobbing.
The little man said, " What will you give me if I spin it for you?"
"My necklace," said the girl.
The little man took the necklace, sat down before the spinning wheel and pulled it three times. Instantly, all the straw was spun into gold! The next morning, the King came and when he saw the gold, he was very happy. But instead of being satisfied, he became very greedy.
This time, the king took the miller's daughter to a bigger room filled with more straw. "Spin all these straw if you wish to be alive!" He warned her. The miller's daughter was very sad. She sat in the corner of the room and began to cry.
Once again, the door opened and the little man appeared. He asked, "What will you gave me if I spin the straw into gold for you?"
"My ring," answered the girl, amidst her tears.
Once again, the little man took the ring, and spun all the straw into glistening gold.
The king was happy beyond measure when he saw the gold. But he was not satisfied. He took the miller's daughter to a still larger room filled with straw and said, "Tonight, you must spin this too. If you succeed, you shall become my wife."
When the girl was alone, the little man returned for the third time. He said, "What will you gave me if I spin the straw this time?"
I have nothing more that to give you," answered the girl, sadly
"Promise me, after you become the Queen, you will give me your first child."
The miller's daughter agreed to his condition having no other alternative. In return, in return the little man once again spun the straw into gold.
In the morning when the King came and found everything just as he desired, he married her. The miller's beautiful daughter became the Queen.
Time passed and a year later the miller's daughter gave birth to a beautiful child. She was so happy with her present life that she had forgotten her promise to the little man. But one day, suddenly the little man appeared in her room and said, "Now give me your child as you have promised!"
The Queen was frightened and offered the little man all wealth of the kingdom instead of the child. But the little man didn't agree to this.
The Queen began to cry so much that the little man took pity on her and said, "I will give you three days. If you are able to tell my name, then you shall keep your child.
That night, the Queen kept on thinking of all the names she even heard. Then she sent a messenger into the country to inquire about the little man. When the little man came the next day, she began with Kaspar, Melchior, Balzer. The Queen said all the names she could think of. But after each one the little man said, "That's not my name!"
The second day the Queen sent her messenger to the neighborhood to inquire about the names people had. She recite the most unusual and most curious names to the little man. "Is your name Beastrib? Or Muttoncalf? Or Legstring?"
But he always answered, "That's not my name!"
The Queen was overjoyed. Soon afterwards the little man came in and asked, "Your Majesty, tell me my name."
"Is your name Conrad?"
"No, not at all!"
"Is your name Heinrich?"
"No, not at all!"
"All right, is your name Rumpelstiltskin?"
The little man was shocked at this.
"Who told you my name? Oh dear,
What shall I do!" saying this, he ran away into the forest
never to return.
* THE END *
Source : PEGASUS BOOK
(C) B. Jain Publishers (P) Ltd.
Published by Kuldeep Jain for
PEGASUS
An imprint of
B. JAIN PUBLISHERS (P) LTD.
Printed in India by:
J.J. imprints Pvt. Ltd.
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