“Rumpelstiltskin.” A Selection from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Gilbert James, London: Siegle, Hill and Co., [c. 1900], pp. 15-24.

Tale Summary

When a poor Miller must speak with the King, he tells him that his daughter has the ability to spin straw into gold to make himself seem more notable. The king demands the presence of the girl. The miller’s daughter is shut into a large room filled with straw and is ordered to spin it all into gold by the end of the night, under penalty of death. Weeping, she does not know what to do, when a strange little man offers his services in return for whatever she can give him. She hands over her necklace, and he spins the straw into gold. The king is amazed, and shuts her in another, larger room, and demands the same thing of her again. The little man appears that night, and the girl offers her ring, and the straw is again spun into gold. The next morning, the king promises the girl she will be Queen if she succeeds one more time, and will die if she fails. She has nothing left to give the little man, so when he asks her firstborn child if she becomes Queen, she agrees, and he spins the straw into gold. A year later, the Miller’s daughter (now the Queen) gives birth to a child. The little man shows up and demands what he is owed, but the Queen is so distraught, he takes pity and says she may keep the child if she guesses his name within three days. She sends a messenger to search for names across the land, and in the meantime spends the first day guessing more conventional names, and the second day asking strange and more ridiculous names. On the third day, the messenger comes back and tells the queen something useful. He tells of a strange little man, living in a house on the edge of the forest, dancing around a fire, boasting that no one knows his name is ‘Rumpelstiltskin’. The Queen guesses this name, and out of anger the little man strikes the ground with his right foot so hard it gets stuck, and then comes off when pulls on his left leg too hard. Rumpelstiltskin is no longer a problem for the Queen.