บทที่ บทที่ 51 · Rumpelstiltskin

. Rumpelstiltskin

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter.

Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the King, and in order

to make himself appear important he said to him, “I have a daughter who

can spin straw into gold.” The King said to the miller, “That is an art

which pleases me well; if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring

her to-morrow to my palace, and I will try what she can do.”

And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a room which was

quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said,

“Now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun

this straw into gold during the night, you must die.” Thereupon he

himself locked up the room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the

poor miller’s daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to

do; she had no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and she grew

more and more miserable, until at last she began to weep.

But all at once the door opened, and in came a little man, and said,

“Good evening, Mistress Miller; why are you crying so?” “Alas!”

answered the girl, “I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know

how to do it.” “What will you give me,” said the manikin, “if I do it

for you?” “My necklace,” said the girl. The little man took the

necklace, seated himself in front of the wheel, and “whirr, whirr,

whirr,” three turns, and the reel was full; then he put another on, and

whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the second was full too.

And so it went on until the morning, when all the straw was spun, and

all the reels were full of gold. By daybreak the King was already

there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but

his heart became only more greedy. He had the miller’s daughter taken

into another room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded

her to spin that also in one night if she valued her life. The girl

knew not how to help herself, and was crying, when the door again

opened, and the little man appeared, and said, “What will you give me

if I spin that straw into gold for you?” “The ring on my finger,”

answered the girl. The little man took the ring, again began to turn

the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering gold.

The King rejoiced beyond measure at the sight, but still he had not

gold enough; and he had the miller’s daughter taken into a still larger

room full of straw, and said, “You must spin this, too, in the course

of this night; but if you succeed, you shall be my wife.” “Even if she

be a miller’s daughter,” thought he, “I could not find a richer wife in

the whole world.”

When the girl was alone the manikin came again for the third time, and

said, “What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time

also?” “I have nothing left that I could give,” answered the girl.

“Then promise me, if you should become Queen, your first child.” “Who

knows whether that will ever happen?” thought the miller’s daughter;

and, not knowing how else to help herself in this strait, she promised

the manikin what he wanted, and for that he once more span the straw

into gold.

And when the King came in the morning, and found all as he had wished,

he took her in marriage, and the pretty miller’s daughter became a

Queen.

A year after, she had a beautiful child, and she never gave a thought

to the manikin. But suddenly he came into her room, and said, “Now give

me what you promised.” The Queen was horror-struck, and offered the

manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he would leave her the child.

But the manikin said, “No, something that is living is dearer to me

than all the treasures in the world.” Then the Queen began to weep and

cry, so that the manikin pitied her. “I will give you three days’

time,” said he, “if by that time you find out my name, then shall you

keep your child.”

So the Queen thought the whole night of all the names that she had ever

heard, and she sent a messenger over the country to inquire, far and

wide, for any other names that there might be. When the manikin came

the next day, she began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and said all

the names she knew, one after another; but to every one the little man

said, “That is not my name.” On the second day she had inquiries made

in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there, and she

repeated to the manikin the most uncommon and curious. “Perhaps your

name is Shortribs, or Sheepshanks, or Laceleg?” but he always answered,

“That is not my name.”

On the third day the messenger came back again, and said, “I have not

been able to find a single new name, but as I came to a high mountain

at the end of the forest, where the fox and the hare bid each other

good night, there I saw a little house, and before the house a fire was

burning, and round about the fire quite a ridiculous little man was

jumping: he hopped upon one leg, and shouted—

“To-day I bake, to-morrow brew,

The next I’ll have the young Queen’s child.

Ha! glad am I that no one knew

That Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.”

You may think how glad the Queen was when she heard the name! And when

soon afterwards the little man came in, and asked, “Now, Mistress

Queen, what is my name?” at first she said, “Is your name Conrad?”

“No.” “Is your name Harry?” “No.”

“Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?”

“The devil has told you that! the devil has told you that!” cried the

little man, and in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the

earth that his whole leg went in; and then in rage he pulled at his

left leg so hard with both hands that he tore himself in two.