“Rumpelstiltzkin.” The Blue Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1889, pp. 96-99.

Tale Summary

Once upon a time, a poor Miller had an audience with the King, and, trying to make himself seem important, said that his beautiful daughter could spin straw into gold. The King demanded her presence, and locked her away in a room full of straw, commanding her to spin it all into gold by morning or she would die. While she weeps about her situation, a little man appears and asks what she will give him if he does the work for her. She gives him her necklace, and by morning all of the bobbins are full of gold. The king places her in another bigger room out of greed, and again commands she spin all of the straw into gold by the morning or she will die. And again, the little man appears, and she gives him the ring off her finger in return for his help. The next day, the king promises that if she completes this task once more, she will be his Queen, and if not, she will die. The little man appears to the miller’s daughter, who has nothing left to give him. He proposes that she give him her firstborn child if she is ever to become Queen, and she agrees. The gold is spun, and straightaway the girl is wed to the King. A year later, forgetful of the little man, the Queen has a child. When the little man appears again to claim him, the Queen weeps so bitterly that he has pity on her. He tells her that if she is able to guess his name within three days’ time, she will be able to keep her child. On the first day, she lists off every name she can think of. On the second day, she scours the neighborhood for strange and unusual names. On the third day, a messenger arrives whom she had sent away to search for names. He tells her about how near the woods, there was a little man he saw hopping around a fire on one leg crying that his name was Rumpelstiltzkin. The Queen guesses this name, and he becomes so enraged that he strikes the ground with his right foot, becomes lodged in the earth, and pulls upon his left leg so that he tears himself in two.