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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 put her to the test."

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 frightened, 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 opened again, 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?"

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"I have nothing left that I could give," answered the girl.

"Then promise me, if you should become queen, to give me 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 spun 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 brought a beautiful child into the world, 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 alive is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."

Then the queen began to lament 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

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that Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.'"

You may imagine 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.

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Comments

Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/06/2012 - 00:13

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MM
I think that this story is a fantastic story for little kids and I like it to. I think that it could have been a little longer but all and all it was great.
I liked the part where he turned the straw into gold and the king was very pleased.
I recommend this story to amnyone who likes Rumplestiltskin and in my opinion I really liked it.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 08/19/2012 - 03:37

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Rumpelstiltskin is some kind of small spirit, such as dwarf, troll, gnome, or elf, which is why he has magical powers. Each major event happens in threes: three days to spin gold and three days to guess his name. This is because spirits understand the power of that number, which is based on the Divine. Such spirits will often come to us during times of trouble or stress because they see an opportunity. Rumpelstiltskin seems to help or cooperate with the millers daughter in order to draw her in and then to demand a high price from her. As a spirit, he only appears to have a body. Because he is actually not physical he cannot reproduce, so he must take a child by trickery. Although he is basically evil, he still has a little capacity to feel pity, so he offers to let her keep her child if she can guess his name. The significance of the name is that spirits can be mastered (cast away) only if you know their names. Most humans dont know spirit names so he believes she will never guess his. By happenstance the Queen finds someone who has discovered his name. Rumpelstiltskin blames the devil because he knows the devil knows his name. He tears himself apart from sheer anger.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 11/10/2012 - 21:22

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wow love it

Submitted by admin on Tue, 11/27/2012 - 16:22

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Boring

Submitted by admin on Sat, 01/05/2013 - 00:02

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Christ, how does anyone not find this story unjust? Everyones finding fault with Rumpelstiltskin, but what about the king? Hes a greedy bastard who takes away a mans daughter and locks her in a room, forcing her to spin gold under threat of her life. And oh, great, whats he offer the millers daughter on the third day? Marriage or death, all depending on if she can spin some gold for him.

Lets look at Rumpelstiltskin, then: he saves the girls life twice (from the king, I might add) in return for a necklace and a ring, both of which are worth less than a fraction of the gold that he spins for her. When he asks for her child, lets face it, the millers daughter doesnt exactly do anything to protest. When he comes to collect, he gives her another chance, even! When she gets what she wants, what does he end up with? Death.

Basically, Im just confused and irritated by this story. What moral is there to be learned from it? "You can get out of debts if your debt collector is a weak-willed magical goblin"? Even as a kid, this was ridiculous to me.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 12/16/2013 - 18:42

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I like the messenger because if it wasnt 4 him the
king wouldnt have been able 2 Kill the millers
daughter. The king was just pure greedy and evil by
threatning 2 kill the millers daughter.Also I didnt like
the miller much because he lied about. his own
daughter sayin she could spin wool in 2 gold when he
knew fine well she could not. He was just after
money as well by starting this storey just because he
had a pretty daughter but still should not have taking
that risk for her life. I felt sorry for the future princess
because of all the tough tasks she was left 2 do
sobbing and weeping lucky for her Rumpelstiltskin
turned up and saved her 3 different times. I agree that
she couldnt give up her 1st born child it was just
lucky for her the messenger was passing by
Rumpelstiltskins cottage and hear him revealnhis
name

Submitted by admin on Thu, 09/11/2014 - 03:16

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Its just a fictitious tale. Not too good nor terribly bad. The only lesson I see is, as in the tale so in life; everyone has a little good and a little bad. No one is perfect. Every human being will, at some time in their lives, use some guile to get ahead.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 01/29/2015 - 12:18

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bad

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/19/2015 - 16:48

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lol

Submitted by admin on Wed, 04/01/2015 - 05:33

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I do not get it. It says that he plunged his right foot into the earth then pulled so hard with his left leg that he tore himself in two? Now, why would he pull at his left leg if his right leg was the one that was stuck? That does not make any sense.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 05/09/2015 - 13:51

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Very nice but should the miller tell the false that she could spin straw into gold ? Luckily saved Rumpelstiltskin but at last he became the villain in this story ! why could this be ??!!??!!

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