there was once upon a time a poor miller1 who had a very beautiful daughter.2 now it happened one day that he had an audience with the king,3 and in order to appear a person of some importance4 he told him that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold.5 "now that's a talent worth having,"6 said the king to the miller; "if your daughter is as cl*r as you say, bring her to my palace to-morrow, and i'll put her to the test." when the girl was brought to him he led her into a room full of straw,7 gave her a spinning-wheel8 and spindle,9 and said: "now set to work and spin all night till early dawn,10 and if by that time you haven't spun the straw into gold11 you shall die."12 then he closed the door behind him and left her alone inside.
so the poor miller's daughter sat down, and didn't know what in the world she was to do. she hadn't the least idea of how to spin straw into gold, and became at last so miserable that she began to cry. suddenly the door opened, and in stepped a tiny little man13 and said: "good-*ning, miss miller-maid; why are you crying so *tterly?" "oh!" answered the girl, "i have to spin straw into gold, and haven't a notion how it's done." "what will you give me if i spin it for you?"14 asked the manikin.15 "my necklace,"16 replied the girl. the little man took the necklace, sat himself down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, the wheel went round three17 times, and the bob*n18 was full. then he put on another, and whir, whir, whir, the wheel went round three times, and the second too was full; and so it went on till the morning, when all the straw was spun away, and all the bob*ns were full of gold. as soon as the sun rose the king came, and when he perceived the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart only lusted * than *r after the precious metal.19 he had the miller's daughter put into another room full of straw, much *gger than the first, and bade her, if she valued her life, spin it all into gold before the following morning. the girl didn't know what to do, and began to cry; then the door opened as before, and the tiny little man appeared and said: "what'll you give me if i spin the straw into gold for you?" "the ring from my finger,"20 answered the girl. the manikin took the ring, and whir! round went the spinning-wheel again, and when morning broke he had spun all the straw into glittering gold. the king was pleased beyond measure at the sights but his greed for gold was still not sati*ied, and he had the miller's daughter brought into a yet *gger room full of straw, and said: "you must spin all this away in the night; but if you succeed this time you shall become my wife."21 "she's only a miller's daughter, it's true," he thought; "but i couldn't find a richer wife if i were to search the whole world over." when the girl was alone the little man appeared for the third time, and said: "what'll you give me if i spin the straw for you once again?" "i've nothing * to give,"22 answered the girl. "then promise me when you are queen to give me your first child."23 "who knows what may not happen before that?" thought the miller's daughter; and besides, she saw no other way out of it,24 so she promised the manikin what he demanded,25 and he set to work once * and spun the straw into gold. when the king came in the morning, and found *rything as he had desired, he straightway made her his wife, and the miller's daughter became a queen.26
when a year had passed a beautiful son27 was born to her, and she thought no * of the little man, till all of a sudden one day he stepped into her room and said: "now give me what you promised." the queen was in a great state, and offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom28 if he would only leave her the child. but the manikin said: "no, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."29 then the queen began to cry and sob so *tterly that the little man was sorry for her,30 and said: "i'll give you three days to guess my name, and if you find it out in that time you may keep your child."31
then the queen pondered the whole night over all the names she had *r heard, and sent a messenger to scour the land,32 and to pick up far and near any names he could come across. when the little man arrived on the following day she began with kasper, melchior, belshazzar,33 and all the other names she knew, in a string, but at each one the manikin called out: "that's not my name." the next day she sent to inquire the names of all the people in the neighborhood, and had a long list of the most uncommon and extraordinary for the little man when he made his
appearance. "is your name, perhaps, sheepshanks cruickshanks, spindleshanks?"34 but he always replied: "that's not my name." on the third day the messenger returned and announced: "i have not been able to find any new names, but as i came upon a high hill round the corner of the wood, where the foxes and hares *d each other good night, i saw a little house, and in front of the house burned a fire, and round the fire sprang the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg and crying:
"to-morrow i brew, to-day i bake,
and then the child away i'll take;
for little deems my royal dame
that rumpelstiltskin is my name!"35
you may imagine the queen's delight at hearing the name, and when the little man stepped in shortly afterward and asked: "now, my lady queen, what's my name?" she asked first: "is your name conrad?"36 "no." "is your name harry?" "no." "is your name perhaps, rumpelstiltskin?"37 "some demon has told you that, some demon has told you that!"38 screamed the little man, and in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist;39 then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two.40
by the brothers grimm
surlalune's annotations
1. miller: a miller is "one who keeps or attends a flour mill or gristmill" (webster's 1990). a miller, while not a peasant, would be part of the working class and not the no*lity. he would have some property and a few comforts for himself and his family, depending on the success of his mill. he may also be a community leader due to his property ownership and thus have access to meeting the king.
a miller often symbolizes greed, ha*tual and uncreative thinking as well as logic as a feeble protection against passion (olderr 1986).
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2. beautiful daughter: note that the daughter's beauty is not an issue in the story, but it is still mentioned. the daughter is not valued for her beauty, how*r, so it is not a critical part of the story.
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3. king: the king is not present in all versions of the tale. often the tale is about a young woman's parent trying to achi* a comfortable marriage, sometimes to a king and sometimes to a wealthy merchant, by falsely bragging about her skill at spinning.
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4. to appear a person of some importance: the *nts of this story begin thanks to a father's false boasts and brags about his daughter. many variants of the tale start with a parent's outrageous boast about a daughter's skills with spinning. some scholars consider the tale's secondary moral to be a warning about false boasting. a few, such as peter and iona opie consider the primary moral to be a warning against boasting (opie 1974).
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5. who could spin straw into gold: formerly scholars concentrated on the false boasting and "name of the *er" aspects of the tale. for example, the aarne-thompson classification focuses on the name of the *er theme of the story. how*r, scholars such as ruth bottigheimer and jack zipes have offered newer theories concerning the spinning aspects of the story. they compare the tale to the grimms' the three spinners and consider the tale to be "an amalgamation of literary and oral tales that the grimms carefully reworked to represent the dilemma of a young peasant woman who cannot spin to save herself" (zipes 1994, 55).