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Tale Summary

There was once a poor miller who was so proud and vain because of his beautiful daughter that he boasted to the King that she could spin straw into gold. The greedy King demanded she is brought to him, and shut her in a room full of straw, telling her she must spin it into gold by morning or she would be killed. Not knowing what to do, the girl cried, and a little man came in through the door. He said that, in exchange for her necklace, he would do all of the work for her, and the next day the King was pleased to see a room full of gold. Not satisfied, he locks her in another chamber, and she once again meets the little man, who does all of the work in exchange for her ring. The same thing happens the next day, except this time, the King swears she will be made his Queen if she is to succeed. She does not have anything else to pay the little man when he appears, so he asks for her to give him her firstborn child if she is to become Queen. She gives her word, but forgets and, after marrying the King, does have a child. When he comes for his payment, she cries so much that the little man takes pity on her, telling her that if she is able to guess his name before three days are up, then she may keep the child. The Queen sends out messengers to scout for names, and on the first day she guesses all of the normal names she can think of, and on the second day all of the comical names. On the third day, one of the messengers comes back and says that he saw a little man dancing around a fire and singing that his name was Rumpel-Stilts-Kin. The Queen guesses this name, and the little man, angry, stomps his foot into the ground so hard he must use both hands to free himself and leaves her and her child alone.

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