Rumpelstiltskin

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A poor miller once wanted to impress the king, so he said, "My daughter can spin straw into gold." The king, who loved gold more than anything, sent for the girl at once. He took her to a room full of straw and gave her a spinning wheel. "If you haven't turned all this into gold by morning," he said, "you will die." Then he locked the door.

The poor girl sat down and cried, because she had no idea how to do it. Suddenly, the door opened, and a little man stepped in. "Why are you crying?" he asked. She told him everything. "What will you give me if I do it for you?" he said. She gave him her necklace. He sat at the wheel, whirr, whirr, whirr, and by morning, the room was full of shining gold.

The king was delighted, but greedier than before. The second night, he gave her an even bigger room. Again, the little man came, and this time, she gave him her ring. Again, the gold appeared. The third night, the room was the biggest of all. "If you do this again," the king said, "I will marry you." But when the little man came, she had nothing left to give. "Then promise me," he said, "your first child, when you are queen." She agreed, because she had no other choice.

A year later, the queen had a beautiful baby. She had forgotten all about the promise, until the little man appeared in her room. "Now give me what you promised," he said. She offered him all the riches of the kingdom, but he refused. Then he saw her cry, and he felt a little sorry. "I'll give you three days," he said. "If you can guess my name, you can keep your child."

The queen stayed awake all night, thinking of names: Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and every other name she had ever heard. On the next day, the little man shook his head to all of them. The queen then sent a messenger across the land to collect more names, but he only found strange ones, like Ribs-of-Beef and Sheep-Shanks. "That's not my name either," said the little man.

On the third day, the messenger came back with news. "I couldn't find any new names," he said. "But in the forest, I saw a tiny house with a fire in front of it. A funny little man was jumping around the fire and singing: 'Today I bake, tomorrow I brew, the next day the queen's child I'll take. How happy I am that nobody knows my name is Rumpelstiltskin!'"

When the little man came, the queen pretended to think. "Is your name Conrad?" "No." "Harry?" "No." "Could it be Rumpelstiltskin?" The little man went pale. "A witch told you that!" he shrieked. He stamped his foot so hard that it went through the floor. Then he ran out of the palace, and nobody ever saw him again.