In a faraway land in a long ago time, there lived a poor farmer and his beautiful daughter. One day, the palace announced that the king’s son was looking for a wife and all the maidens in the village should be presented. The old farmer came to the castle with his daughter. He was afraid that her beauty alone would not catch the eye of the prince, so the old man boasted, “My daughter can spin straw into gold!”
The king said to the farmer, “That is a skill in which I am interested. Let us see how she spins straw into gold.”
The king led the maiden to a room that was full of straw, gave her a spinning wheel and a spindle and said, “Get to spinning. If you have spun all this straw into gold by morning, then you shall be my son’s bride. If not, then you shall be locked up in the tower forever.” Then he bolted the door and left her alone in the room.
The unfortunate farmer’s daughter sat there feeling scared and confused. She had no idea how to spin gold from straw, and she started to cry. All of a sudden, a little man appeared in front of her. He had a long gray beard and walked with a cane that seemed to be made out of gold. “Good evening, Mistress Farmer,” he said. “Why are you crying?”
“Oh, dear me,” wailed the young woman. “I’ve got to spin all this straw into gold by morning, or I shall be locked in the tower forever, and I don’t know how to spin gold from straw!”
The little man thought for a moment and then asked, “What will you give me if I spin it for you?”
“My necklace,” said the maiden.
He took the necklace from her, sat down in front of the spinning wheel, and began to spin. Whirr, whirr, whirr! The wheel spun around so fast and his fingers moved so quickly, in no time at all the entire room full of straw was spun into gold.
At daybreak, the king entered the room and was so surprised to see that all the straw had been turned into gold that he immediately began to imagine how rich he could be if he gave the girl more straw to spin. So he had twice as much straw as before brought into the room and ordered her to spin it during the night. The king threatened that if she didn’t, her father would also be locked up in a tower forever. Then he left her alone in the room filled with straw.
The maiden was terribly upset and began to weep. But just then, the little man with the cane appeared before her again and said, “What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?”
“The ring off my finger,” answered the maiden gratefully.
The man took the ring, sat down at the spinning wheel, and once again, whirr, whirr, whirr, he set about to spin all the straw into gold. It took a lot longer than the night before, because there was twice as much straw, but eventually the job was done and he disappeared while the maid was sleeping.
In the morning, the king was much pleased, but grew even more greedy when he saw the piles of gold. He took her to another room which was twice as big as the last, and filled from floor to ceiling with straw. This time, he threatened that if she didn’t spin all the straw into gold by morning, she and her father would be killed. Then he left her alone and locked the room. The girl was in deep despair. There was more straw than ever, and she had no idea how to spin it into gold.
As the frightened maiden sat there crying, the little man appeared once again. “What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time?” he asked.
“I have nothing more to give,” sobbed the girl.
“Ah, but you will. You must promise me your first child when you marry the prince,” the little man said.
“Who knows if that will ever happen!” thought the maiden, but she could not think of any other way out of this difficult situation. So she promised the strange little man what he demanded, and in return he spun the straw into gold once more. It took him most of the night, and he finished just before sunrise.
When the king came in and found the entire room full of gold, he was happy at last, and gave his permission for the prince to marry the farmer’s daughter. It was a beautiful wedding and the prince and princess were in love and were very happy together. Their first child was born a year later, and by then the princess had quite forgotten about her promise to the strange little gray bearded man. But one night soon after the baby’s birth, the little man entered her chamber and demanded, “Now, give me what you promised!”
The princess was terrified, and offered the little man all of her wealth if she could just keep her child. But the little man said, “No! A promise is a promise, and I will take your child now!”
The princess was heartbroken at the thought of losing her child, and began to weep and moan so much that the little man felt sorry for her. “I will give you three days,” said he, “and if within that time you discover my name, you shall keep the child and I will leave you alone forever.”
That night, the princess thought of all the names she had ever heard. She also sent a messenger out into the country to ask what other names there were.
When the little man appeared the next day, she began with Gregor, Ferdinand and Aldorf, and mentioned all the names she could think of, one after the other. But at every one, the little man said, “No. No. That’s not my name.”
The second day she had asked all the people in the village for unusual names and when he came, she asked, “Is your name Puddlejumper, Spiderlegs, or perhaps Balthazar?”
But he answered every time, “No. That’s not my name.”
On the evening of the second day, the Princess was out riding her horse in the forest when she heard singing and saw a campfire through the trees in the distance. She quietly approached and was startled to see the little man dancing a crazy jig around a fire. He was so happy, he was singing out loud:
When she was a maid I spun straw into gold.
And I have a secret that I’ve never told.
Tomorrow I bring the baby with me,
For no one knows I’m Rumplestiltskin! Hee hee!
The princess was beside herself with joy for now she knew the little man’s name, and would not have to give up her precious baby! She hurried back to the castle to be ready for his early morning visit the next day.
When he walked in and sat down, the princess began by asking, “Is it Tom?”
“No.”
“Then is it Beauregard?”
“No!” he responded, gleefully.
“Then perhaps it is Rumplestiltskin?”
“How did you know? How did you know?” shrieked the little man. He began running around the room in such a rage that he ran right through the open door and into the garden, where he knocked over the gardener’s beehive. The angry bees started swarming after him, so he ran to keep ahead of them. For all I know, he is still running around the countryside ahead of a swarm of angry bees! Hee-hee!
And the prince and princess lived happily ever after.
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