" Then the King
said, "You have spoken your own sentence"; and ordering a cask to be
fetched, he caused the old woman and her daughter to be put into it, and
the bottom nailed up. Then the cask was rolled down the hill until it
fell into the water.
RUMPELSTILTSKIN
There was once a poor Miller who had a beautiful daughter, and one day,
having to go to speak with the King, he said, in order to make himself
appear of consequence, that he had a daughter who could spin straw into
gold. The King was very fond of gold, and thought to himself, "That is
an art which would please me very well"; and so he said to the Miller,
"If your daughter is so very clever, bring her to the castle in the
morning, and I will put her to the proof."
As soon as she arrived the King led her into a chamber which was full of
straw; and, giving her a wheel and a reel, he said, "Now set yourself to
work, and if you have not spun this straw into gold by an early hour
to-morrow, you must die." With these words he shut the room door, and
left the maiden alone.
There she sat for a long time, thinking how to save her life; for she
understood nothing of the art whereby straw might be spun into gold; and
her perplexity increased more and more, till at last she began to weep.
All at once the door opened, and in stepped a little Man, who said,
"Good evening, fair maiden; why do you weep so sore?" "Ah," she replied,
"I must spin this straw into gold, and I am sure I do not know how.
Pages:
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189