Bedtime stories for littles

Rumpelstiltskin

There once lived a miller with his daughter. When the miller was at work all day turning grain into flour, he loved nothing more than to think up tall tales to amaze people.

One day the King came to town. He heard the miller talking about his daughter. The miller was saying that his daughter was the most amazing girl in their village, if not in all the land.

"You there!" said the King. "What is so amazing about your daughter?"

The father bowed. He said, "Your Majesty, my daughter is so clever that she can spin straw into gold!"

"Spin straw into gold?" said the King. "That is amazing! She must come to my palace. I will put her to the test!"

"But I mean..." said the miller. He wished he had not told the King such a thing! But now it was too late.

So the miller's daughter had to go to the King's palace at once. The King took her to a room piled with straw from floor to ceiling. He pointed to the spinning wheel in the middle of the room. He said, "Now get to work! If by morning you have not spun this straw into gold, you will die!"

The King slammed the door and locked it behind him. The girl was all alone. For the life of her, she did not know what to do. She had no idea how to spin straw into gold! "What will I do?" she called out to the air. "No one can do such a thing!"

"Your Majesty, my daughter is so clever that she can spin straw into gold!"

Just then, an odd little man stood before her. "Did I hear you say, 'no one'?" he said.

"What?" said the girl, shocked. "Where did you come from?"

"Never mind that!" said the imp. "What matters is I can save your life. For a price, of course."

"You can spin straw into gold?" said the girl. "What kind of price do you have in mind?" She did not know if she should trust this stranger.

"What you give must be important to you," said the imp. "How about that necklace?"

The girl thought, "Indeed, my necklace is very dear to me. But not as much as my freedom." So she said to the imp, "Very well. If by morning you can turn this room full of straw into gold, this necklace is yours."

"What matters is that I can save your life. For a price, of course."

The little man got to work. Very busy he was, all night long. Whirr, whirr, whirr, until morning. By then, not one piece of straw was left in the room – all of it was turned into piles of pure gold thread!

"You did it!" said the girl.

"Of course I did!" snapped the imp. "Now hand over that necklace!"

"A deal is a deal," said the girl. She took off her necklace and gave it to him. And he was gone.

When the King stepped into the room, he was very glad. "Look at that!" he said, running the gold thread through his fingers. "Pure gold!"

"Yes," said the girl. "Now if you please, sir. I'd like to go home now."

"Not so fast!" said the King. "I will have my servants bring new straw to fill up a room larger than this one. You will stay there tonight. Beware – by morning all the straw must be spun into gold. If you care about your life!"

"Look at that!" he said, running the gold thread through his fingers. "Pure gold!"

"But I already–!" said the girl.