RUMPELSTILTSKIN

Once upon a time there was a poor miller who had a beautiful daughter.(rhythm). One day the king sent for the miller. The miller was so scared at seeing the king that he said the first thing that popped into his head. (assimilation) “I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold”, he said. The king was intrigued by this and told the miller to bring his daughter to the castle.

The next day as instructed the miller took his daughter there. The king led her into a room full of straw. The only other things in there was a stool and a spinning wheel. “You must spin all the straw into gold by the morning or else you must die”, said the king. Then he locked the door behind him. The miller’s daughter sat dawn with astonishment. She had no idea how to spin straw into gold and very soon the thought of what would happen to her in the morning made her cry. Suddenly the door flew open and in walked a strange little man with a long ginger beard.

“What will you give me”, said the man, “if I spin this straw into gold for you by the morning?”.

“I will give you my necklace”, said the girl.

The little man took the necklace and straight away started spinning. He worked all night until just as the sun rose he finished. Before the miller’s daughter could thank him he had vanished.

The king was surprised and pleased to see all the gold but this only made him more greedy. He led the girl into a second room, larger than the first one. It too was full of straw. Again the king told the girl to spin all the straw into gold by the morning or she must die. Once more the girl began to cry. And no sooner had she begun than the door flew open and in walked that strange manikin.

“What will you give me”, said the manikin, “if I spin this straw into gold for you by the morning?”.

“I will give you my ring”, said the girl.

The manikin took the ring and started to spin. Just as the sun rose the manikin finished and then disappeared. The king was overjoyed to see so much gold. However he still wanted more.

He led the poor girl into a third room, even bigger than the last and filled with even more straw. This time he said, “If you spin the straw into gold by morning I shall make you my queen”. Very soon the girl sat alone crying. The strange little man appeared once more.

“What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time?”, he said.

“Alas, I have nothing to give you”, said the girl.

The manikin thought for a while and then said, “Promise me that if you become queen you will give me your first child”. The girl thought the prospect of this happening was so remote that she gave her word and agreed to the manikin’s promise. So once more the little man sat himself at the spinning wheel and spun all the straw into gold. The king was filled with joy when he saw the gold and soon after he married the miller’s daughter and she became his queen.

A year after they were married the queen gave birth to a lovely baby. Both king and queen were very happy. Indeed the queen had been so happy since her marriage that she had quite forgotten about the strange little man and her promise to him until one evening the door to her bedroom burst open and in walked the manikin.

“Now give me what you promised”, he said pointing to the baby.

The queen was horrified and held her baby tightly. She pleaded with the manikin not to take her child and instead offered him all the riches in the kingdom. But when he refused she broke down and wept bitterly. Seeing this the manikin felt pity on the queen and decided to give her one last chance.

“I will give you three days”, he said, “and if in that time you can guess my name you can keep your child”.

The next day the queen sent her messenger to collect all the boys’ names he could find. In the evening when the little man returned the queen repeated the list of names to him. But after each name the manikin said, “No, that is not my name”.

The same happened the next day. And on the third day the messenger was once again sent out. It was quite late when the messenger returned and went straight away to see the queen.

“On the way back to the castle”, he said, “I took a route through the woods. I came across a little house with a fire burning outside and the strangest little man I have ever seen singing and dancing around it. And this is what he was singing: Although today I brew and bake, tomorrow the queen’s only child I’ll take. This guessing game she’ll never win for my name is Rumpelstiltskin ”.

On hearing this the queen was overjoyed. And when the manikin arrived that night she questioned him as though she did not know his name.

“Eh, is your name Twinkletoes?” she asked.

“No, that is not my name”, he replied.

“Is your name Theopholly?” she asked.

“No, that is not my name”, he replied.

“Is your name by any chance Rumpelstiltskin?”.

“What?” shrieked the man, “How did you know? How wiches told you”, he shouted.

He jumped up and down with anger and then stomped furiously out of the room.

The manikin was never seen again. And the king, queen and their child lived happily ever after.