Rumpelstiltskin

(by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had a morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the
beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go reels were full of gold.
and speak to the king, and in order to make himself By daybreak the king was already there, and
appear important he said to him, “I have a daughter when he saw the gold he was astonished and
who can spin straw into gold.” delighted, but his heart became only more greedy. He
The king said to the miller, “That is an art which had the miller’s daughter taken into another room full
pleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her
say, bring her to-morrow to my palace, and I will put to spin that also in one night if she valued her life.
her to the test.” The girl knew not how to help herself, and was
And when the girl was brought to him he took crying, when the door opened again, and the little
her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave man appeared, and said, “What will you give me if I
her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, “Now set to spin that straw into gold for you?”
work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have “The ring on my finger,” answered the girl.
not spun this straw into gold during the night, you The little man took the ring, again began to turn
must die.” the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into
Thereupon he himself locked up the room, and glittering gold.
left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller’s The king rejoiced beyond measure at the sight,
daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to but still he had not gold enough, and he had the
do, she had no idea how straw could be spun into miller’s daughter taken into a still larger room full of
gold, and she grew more and more frightened, until at straw, and said, “You must spin this, too, in the
last she began to weep. course of this night, but if you succeed, you shall be
But all at once the door opened, and in came a my wife.”
little man, and said, “Good evening, mistress miller, Even if she be a miller’s daughter, thought he, I
why are you crying so?” could not find a richer wife in the whole world.
“Alas,” answered the girl, “I have to spin straw When the girl was alone the manikin came again
into gold, and I do not know how to do it.” for the third time, and said, “What will you give me if
“What will you give me,” said the manikin, “if I I spin the straw for you this time also?”
do it for you?” “I have nothing left that I could give,” answered
“My necklace,” said the girl. the girl.
The little man took the necklace, seated himself “Then promise me, if you should become queen,
in front of the wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three to give me your first child.”
turns, and the reel was full, then he put another on, Who knows whether that will ever happen,
and whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the thought the miller’s daughter, and, not knowing how
second was full too. And so it went on until the else to help herself in this strait, she promised the

1
manikin what he wanted, and for that he once more “Today I bake, tomorrow brew,
spun the straw into gold. the next I’ll have the young queen’s child.
And when the king came in the morning, and Ha, glad am I that no one knew
found all as he had wished, he took her in marriage, that Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.”
and the pretty miller’s daughter became a queen. You may imagine how glad the queen was when
A year after, she brought a beautiful child into she heard the name. And when soon afterwards the
the world, and she never gave a thought to the little man came in, and asked, “Now, mistress queen,
manikin. But suddenly he came into her room, and what is my name?”
said, “Now give me what you promised.” At first she said, “Is your name Conrad?”
The queen was horror-struck, and offered the “No.”
manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he would “Is your name Harry?”
leave her the child. But the manikin said, “No, “No.”
something alive is dearer to me than all the treasures “Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?”
in the world.” “The devil has told you that! The devil has told
Then the queen began to lament and cry, so that you that,” cried the little man, and in his anger he
the manikin pitied her. plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his
“I will give you three days, time,” said he, “if by whole leg went in, and then in rage he pulled at his
that time you find out my name, then shall you keep left leg so hard with both hands that he tore himself in
your child.” two.
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: