Long ago there lived a poor miller who had a very beautiful daughter. Now it so happened that even though he was poor, the miller sometimes had occasion to speak with the King, for he lived in a village quite near the palace and the King often strolled through the village to mingle with the commoners. The villagers would gather around and regale the King with stories of their simple lives and share with him their hopes and dreams, while the gracious monarch smiled and nodded as he thought of the royal luncheon waiting for him back at the palace.

"Your Highness" said the miller one day hoping to catch the King's ear, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold". The King turned. "You don't say, Herr Miller. Well I demand that you bring her to me this very evening". The miller was overjoyed that he had got the King's attention, but he was also somewhat worried, for he had never considered that the King would actually take him seriously.

He went back to his house and spoke to his daughter. "Good morning my dear. The King has a job for you". "Me, father? Well then, I shall make you proud of me. Whatever the job is, I will do it. I'm a very quick learner, you know." "I hope so" said the father, "I certainly hope so".

That evening the young woman was brought to the great palace. The King led her into a small stone room that was filled with straw and in one corner of the room sat a spinning wheel. "Well" said the King, "there it is!" "Yes" replied the miller's daughter, "this is quite a lot of straw you have here your Majesty. Do you have a horse you want me to feed, or a hog perhaps?" "Hog?!! Not at all my dear. You must spin every bit of this straw into gold by morning, or else you will die" and with that, he slammed the door and bolted it from the outside.

The miller's daughter sat down on the cold stone floor, trying not to cry. She knew how to do a great many things, but... spinning straw into gold? How does a girl even start? She wept and wept for a long while, until a trapdoor in the ceiling suddenly swung open, startling her. An ugly little man fell through and landed on the floor before her. "Good morning mistress miller" he said. "Why are you weeping so?" "Oh" she answered, "I'm supposed to spin straw into gold, but I don't know how". "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" he asked her. "My necklace?" said the maiden. The little man considered it and then quickly took it and clasped it round his thick neck.

He then sat down at the spinning wheel and 'whizz, whizz, whizz', three times round, filled the spool with strands of gold. He kept spinning all night, until at last the impossible task was done.

At sunrise, just as the King could be heard outside the chamber unbolting the door, the ugly little man escaped, with a quick hoist from the maiden back through the ceiling. As the King entered, the sun's first rays filled the room with light and made the gold shine so brightly, he had to cover his eyes.

He laughed with pleasure, picking up some golden strands and letting them slip through his fingers. And then his heart grew even greedier, so he led the miller's daughter into another store room much larger than the first and also filled with straw. Again he said "You must spin every bit of it into gold by morning, or else you will die".

Again the maiden wept, but even more bitterly. The night before she had watched the little man very closely as he spun and spun, but his hands had moved too fast for her to tell what the fingers did to conjure the strands of gold. She looked at her own hands, wiggled her fingers and knew that they could never do the same. Just then, a small stone in the wall fell out and the little man crawled through and stood before her. "Good day, mistress miller" he said. "What will you give me now if I spin this straw into gold?" The maiden looked at her hands. "The ring from my finger" she replied. The little man snatched the ring and forced it onto his gnarled finger. For just a moment he held his hand up and admired his prize with a crooked smile. He then sat down and brought the wheel to life, chuckling softly to himself. When the King entered the room in the morning, the sun's rays shone on the gold with a light so bright, he did not see the little man as he escaped through the wall whence he came.

Of course, on seeing the piles of gold, the King was extremely pleased. But he thought to himself "If she can do this much, why not that much more?" He brought the miller's daughter now to a still larger room, measuring nearly an acre and filled with straw. "You have done well my dear" he said, "and if you can spin this last roomful of straw into gold by morning, I shall make you my wife. But if you fail, you must die". And with that, the King tossed her a crust of bread for her supper.

When the King had gone, she took a bite of the stale bread and did her best to chew it up. Just then however, through a crack in the floor, like a corkscrew of smoke, rose the little man. He looked around at the many tons of straw and again grinned his crooked grin. "Good morning, mistress miller" he said. "What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold once more?" A tear came to her eye. "I have nothing more to give" she said. "Then promise me your first child". The miller's daughter shuddered, but then she thought "I'm still so young, surely I won't be having a child for many years. This will be long forgotten by then". So she agreed to his terms and the little man hopped to his seat at the spinning wheel and with a quick piercing shriek of glee, he grabbed the first handful of straw.

And so the King did indeed marry the miller's daughter, making her his Queen. The wedding itself was magnificent, with fresh spring flowers bedecking the entire palace courtyard and jesters and jugglers and magicians performing their tricks. The proud miller and his wife were there as well as half the miller's village and they all spent the best day of their lives, feasting and dancing as never before.

In time, the miller's daughter became a grown woman and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

She often took her child into the courtyard so that he could look at the world, at the trees and the birds and the highest towers of the palace and the smallest insects in the soil.

One day, when the air was sharp and the birds were preparing to leave for warmer lands, the young woman wrapped her child up in a wool blanket and took him outside. Together, they watched the white clouds moving across the sky, the leaves falling from the trees and one of the palace cats running through the grass as it searched for a playmate. In the far corner of the courtyard she saw a shadow move and suddenly she remembered her promise to the little man. The Queen immediately turned to go back inside. She hoped she was only having a bad dream, but before she could make it to the door, there he was, just as real as the clouds and the birds and the cats, standing right in front of her.

"Good day, my young Queen" he said. "I have come for the child".

She couldn't speak. She could barely breathe through her tightening throat.

The infant on the other hand did not know danger and he smiled down at the tiny thief. Clutching her child closer to herself, the Queen fell to her knees and began to weep.

"Give me what you promised" said the ugly little man, "else I will take it". He stepped nearer, reaching out his hands and snapping his fingers. She offered him everything she owned, all the treasures of the kingdom, but the little man only laughed. "One thing is dearer to me than any treasure" he said, "but I will give you three days more and if you can guess my name by the third day, you can keep your child" and with that he vanished.

That night the Queen lay awake, trying to recall every name she had ever heard. She sent a messenger to the countryside to enquire high and low what unusual names there might be.

On the following day, when the little man crept through the window of her chamber, she began with:

"'Casper'? 'Melkior'? 'Balzor'?" then she repeated all the names she knew, one after the other. "'Doscher'? 'Huggermugger'? 'Larzalu'?" but to each of them the ugly little man replied "That is not my name" and he rubbed his hands together and grinned at the child, who slept peacefully in his cradle.

On the second day the Queen dispatched no less than 24 servants to collect rare names in the surrounding villages. She even sent one to a small hamlet hidden on the far side of a mountain and when the little man came that night she was ready.

"Is your name "Ribs of Beef'? she asked, "or 'Laceleg'? Or 'Little Goosetwist' perhaps?" but it was always the same reply. "That is not my name". "Perhaps, then, you are called 'Alabaster Meeps'?" she asked. "That is not my name, silly girl".

On the third day, the Queen shed her royal garb and donned her old village frock instead. She set out with her son in her arms through the cold autumn countryside.

Now being queen, she led a very pampered life. She was served all her meals on golden dishes and three times a day seven maidens combed her hair. Everything was done for her. in fact, she was never allowed to lift anything heavier than a pound. But tonight, she wandered over the rugged countryside with her dear child clasped to her breast. The great ghostly winds of winter, taller and stronger than any giant in any children's tale, came down to pull her off her feet. At every house she begged for names. But nobody had a single new name for her to try.

By the end of the day she was exhausted and had lost all hope. And so, on aching feet, leaning into the stiff, constant wind, she made her way back toward the palace. But at the top of a hill at the edge of the forest, where the fox and the hare say "good-night" to each other, she came across a tiny cottage made of moss and twigs. In front of this was a blazing fire and around the flames danced none other than the strange little man himself. His shadow was thrown by the firelight, huge against the trees and his shrill cackle filled the night. The Queen hid with her child at the edge of the clearing. Shivering in the frigid air, she stared, entranced, at the odd figure who hopped on one leg and chanted:

"Oh summer's gone
But the weather's fine
For tonight
I'll make her child mine
She'll never guess
I won't confess
That 'Rumpelstiltskin' is the magic line"

Later that night the Queen sat in her chamber with her son in her lap, playing with his fingers and singing sweetly to him. When the ugly little man appeared, she hardly seemed to notice.

"I have come for what is rightfully mine" he said. "Have you?" said the Queen. "Yes" he snapped, "give me the child". "Is your name 'Curt'?" "Ha!" "Is it Heinz?" "Ha!" "Perhaps it is Berthold then?" "That is not my name and I can tell that your head is finally empty.'Heinz'. The very idea! It is time." "Yes, yes. I must admit, you have beaten me Rumpelstiltskin. there's no denying it..."

"Thank you and... WHAT!! What did you say? Argh! Argh! Argh! The Devil has told you! the Devil himself has told you!"

Then in his rage he stamped his right foot so ferociously that his whole leg went into the floor of the Queen's chamber. He then spun around and around and around, driving himself deeper and ever deeper into the earth until his cries could be heard no more