Bechloe Fairytales

Rumplestiltskin

There was once a kingdom far to the east where all the citizens were very wealthy. The whole land was covered in fields of wheat, which grew abundantly and apparently effortlessly. The harvests were so rich that everybody had far more wheat than they could eat, which meant that they were able to sell it in the market to merchants from neighboring kingdoms. This way, some of this kingdom's citizens were just as wealthy as the king.

Which did not please the king very much. Of course he was happy that his citizens never lacked any material things, and that their bellies were always full, because that way they never questioned his authority. But he was jealous and greedy. He had been looking at the straw, as it was brought from the fields, and the color of the straw reminded him very much of the color of gold. So he began to think of ways to turn the straw into gold, and this became an obsession. He bought all the straw that he could get hold of, and stored it in three large rooms in his palace. He employed alchemists from his own kingdom and beyond to come up with a formula to turn the straw into gold, but nobody was ever to accomplish this.

The king's obsession was fairly well known throughout his kingdom, and one day a miller, who had a very beautiful daughter named Chloe, thought he could take advantage of this. Like most fathers, he thought his daughter was the most beautiful young girl in the land, and he wanted nothing more than that she should marry the king, and become queen. One day, he gathered up his courage, and took himself to the king's palace, and asked for an audience. He told the king about his daughter, claiming that she could spin straw into gold. The king was intrigued, "Well, my good man, he said to the miller, if your daughter can indeed do this, then I should be very happy to make Chloe my queen. We will put her to the test. Bring her back to the palace tonight."

Immediately, the king had a spinning wheel installed in the first room where he stored the straw. When Chloe arrived later that day, the king took her into the room, and showed her the wheel and the straw. "I want all this straw spun into gold, the king told her. I will come back early tomorrow morning, and if it is not done, I will have you put to death. So don't delay, and get started!" With this, he left the room, and locked the door behind him.

But of course poor Chloe had no idea how to turn straw into gold; she was not even very good at using a spinning wheel. She started to cry, and the more she thought about the impossible task she had been given, the more she cried. Then, suddenly, the door opened, and a curious looking little man appeared. His head was far too big for his body, and his arms were long and thin, whereas his legs were short and stumpy! "my dear Chloe, he said, why are you crying and weeping like this? What can the matter be? A pretty girl like you should not be so sad!" Chloe explained to him what she had been asked to do. "all this straw had to be spun into gold, she cried, I don't have a clue how to go about that, I can't even use a spinning wheel. But if I don't do this job, the king will have me put to death tomorrow!" The funny little man's eyes lighted up. "Is that all!" he shouted. "What will you give me, if I do the job for you?" Chloe was wearing a beautiful necklace, with a silver medallion. "You can have my necklace!" she said. "Excellent, said the little man. He took the necklace, put it in his pocket, and set himself at the wheel, and started spinning. By the time the girl had stopped crying, he had spun the first bobbin, and it did indeed looks like pure gold. Humming to himself, as he went along, the little dwarf kept at his task without a pause or a break, and before long, all the straw in the room had been spun, and there on the table lay some twenty bobbins of pure gold thread.

At the first ray of the sun came through the window, so the king opened the door, and he was very pleased when he saw the gold sitting there. "You're a good girl, he said, you really can spin straw into gold!" He called one of his servant maids, and told her to feed his guest, and then let her sleep. "We'll carry on tonight, he said, beaming. The sight of this gold had only increased the king's greed, and his mouth watered at the prospect of turning the rest of his straw store into gold as well.