By the side of a wood, in a country a long way off, ran a fine streamof water; and upon the stream there stood a mill. The miller's house wasclose by, and the miller, you must know, had a very beautiful daughter.She was, moreover, very shrewd and clever; and the miller was so proudof her, that he one day told the king of the land, who used to come andhunt in the wood, that his daughter could spin gold out of straw. Nowthis king was very fond of money; and when he heard the miller's boasthis greediness was raised, and he sent for the girl to be brought beforehim. Then he led her to a chamber in his palace where there was a greatheap of straw, and gave her a spinning-wheel, and said, 'All this mustbe spun into gold before morning, as you love your life.' It was in vainthat the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father,for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold: the chamberdoor was locked, and she was left alone.

She sat down in one corner of the room, and began to bewail her hardfate; when on a sudden the door opened, and a droll-looking little manhobbled in, and said, 'Good morrow to you, my good lass; what are youweeping for?' 'Alas!' said she, 'I must spin this straw into gold, andI know not how.' 'What will you give me,' said the hobgoblin, 'to do itfor you?' 'My necklace,' replied the maiden. He took her at her word,and sat himself down to the wheel, and whistled and sang:

'Round about, round about, Lo and behold! Reel away, reel away, Straw into gold!'

And round about the wheel went merrily; the work was quickly done, andthe straw was all spun into gold.

When the king came and saw this, he was greatly astonished and pleased;but his heart grew still more greedy of gain, and he shut up the poormiller's daughter again with a fresh task. Then she knew not what to do,and sat down once more to weep; but the dwarf soon opened the door, andsaid, 'What will you give me to do your task?' 'The ring on my finger,'said she. So her little friend took the ring, and began to work at thewheel again, and whistled and sang:

'Round about, round about, Lo and behold! Reel away, reel away, Straw into gold!'

till, long before morning, all was done again.

The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure;but still he had not enough: so he took the miller's daughter to a yetlarger heap, and said, 'All this must be spun tonight; and if it is,you shall be my queen.' As soon as she was alone that dwarf came in, andsaid, 'What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?''I have nothing left,' said she. 'Then say you will give me,' saidthe little man, 'the first little child that you may have when you arequeen.' 'That may never be,' thought the miller's daughter: and as sheknew no other way to get her task done, she said she would do what heasked. Round went the wheel again to the old song, and the manikin oncemore spun the heap into gold. The king came in the morning, and, findingall he wanted, was forced to keep his word; so he married the miller'sdaughter, and she really became queen.

At the birth of her first little child she was very glad, and forgot thedwarf, and what she had said. But one day he came into her room, whereshe was sitting playing with her baby, and put her in mind of it. Thenshe grieved sorely at her misfortune, and said she would give him allthe wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off, but in vain; till atlast her tears softened him, and he said, 'I will give you three days'grace, and if during that time you tell me my name, you shall keep yourchild.'

Now the queen lay awake all night, thinking of all the odd names thatshe had ever heard; and she sent messengers all over the land to findout new ones. The next day the little man came, and she began withTIMOTHY, ICHABOD, BENJAMIN, JEREMIAH, and all the names she couldremember; but to all and each of them he said, 'Madam, that is not myname.'

The second day she began with all the comical names she could hear of,BANDY-LEGS, HUNCHBACK, CROOK-SHANKS, and so on; but the little gentlemanstill said to every one of them, 'Madam, that is not my name.'

The third day one of the messengers came back, and said, 'I havetravelled two days without hearing of any other names; but yesterday, asI was climbing a high hill, among the trees of the forest where the foxand the hare bid each other good night, I saw a little hut; and beforethe hut burnt a fire; and round about the fire a funny little dwarf wasdancing upon one leg, and singing:

"Merrily the feast I'll make. Today I'll brew, tomorrow bake; Merrily I'll dance and sing, For next day will a stranger bring. Little does my lady dream Rumpelstiltskin is my name!"

When the queen heard this she jumped for joy, and as soon as her littlefriend came she sat down upon her throne, and called all her court roundto enjoy the fun; and the nurse stood by her side with the baby in herarms, as if it was quite ready to be given up. Then the little man beganto chuckle at the thought of having the poor child, to take home withhim to his hut in the woods; and he cried out, 'Now, lady, what is myname?' 'Is it JOHN?' asked she. 'No, madam!' 'Is it TOM?' 'No, madam!''Is it JEMMY?' 'It is not.' 'Can your name be RUMPELSTILTSKIN?' said thelady slyly. 'Some witch told you that!--some witch told you that!' criedthe little man, and dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into thefloor, that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull itout.

Then he made the best of his way off, while the nurse laughed and thebaby crowed; and all the court jeered at him for having had so muchtrouble for nothing, and said, 'We wish you a very good morning, and amerry feast, Mr RUMPLESTILTSKIN!'