Rumpelstiltskin

There was a girl who was the daughter of a miller. She was pretty and also clever at spinning pure gold silk from ordinary cotton. That was because she used colourings and some of her own strands of hair. The king heard stories about this amazing girl weaving and spinning gold. He sent for her and then he locked her up inside a tower room full of straw. He ordered her to make as much gold thread as possible using the straw by morning or he’ll cut her head off.

Scared and wondering what to do, a little imp creature appeared magically in the room. He told her that he would help her to spin gold from straw if she gave him her pretty necklace (pink Mother-of=Pearls that was a birthday gift from her late father).

The following morning, the king was impressed by the gold that the girl managed to make from straw. The ungrateful king took her into another room and it was filled with much more straw and some bits of rubbish. Again he threatened to chop off her head if she didn’t make gold by tomorrow. 

Again the imp arrived and spun all of the straw as well as some rubbish, turning into piles of pure sparkling gold. The imp wanted the girl’s ring. It was a silver ring with a small diamond, a heirloom gift from her late mother.

The king took the girl to a larger room fill of bales of hey. He told her aggressively that he’ll chop off her head and stick it on a spike if she doesn’t turn all of it into gold by tomorrow morning. He said if she does make all of this gold, he will marry her. The girl ran out of things to pay for the imp in exchange for turning the hey into gold. The imp told her that he will spin all of the bales of hey into gold if she agrees to give him her future baby. The girl felt obliged to agree and the imp spun the entire bales of hey into pure gold silk.

So the king married the girl and a year later she gave birth to a baby son. Shortly after the baby was born, the imp appeared. He demanded his payment, which was the baby. The young queen was scared and told him that she’ll give him her jewels and finery. The imp didn’t care about all that. He wanted her child as that was the deal agreed to. Soon the imp decided that he’ll not take her child then if the queen was able to guess what his name is. He said he’ll return after three days. The young queen was at a loss in what to do. For two days she was afraid and desperate to think of what name the imp has. 

Then the day before the imp arrived, she went out into the forest hoping to spy on him. She found him by a small house, hopping around a bonfire, singing.

"Tonight tonight, my plans I make, tomorrow tomorrow, the baby I take. The queen will never win the game, for Rumpelstiltskin is my name'.

The following day, the imp appeared to the queen and asked if she knew what his name was. She told him “Rumpelstiltskin” and the imp grew so angry that he banged his foot into the floorboard. He remained stuck there forever, always laughed at and seen as the fool.
Then end.

Written by Rayne Belladonna

This story is based on the fairytale "Rumplestiltskin" by the Brothers Grimm.