Rumpelstiltskin
Three impossible nights and a secret name that must be found
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Rumpelstiltskin
A poor miller wanted to impress the king, so he falsely claimed that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The miller was proud of his daughter.
The greedy king ordered the young woman brought to his palace to prove what her father had said. Gold interested him greatly.
Rumpelstiltskin
The king locked her in a room of straw with a spinning wheel and threatened to kill her unless it was gold by morning. The wheel could spin thread, but not change straw into treasure.
She began to cry, until a strange little man entered and asked why she was so unhappy. He was a short adult with a curious manner.
Rumpelstiltskin
The young woman offered him her necklace if he would spin the straw into gold, and he agreed. She had nothing else ready to offer.
He turned the wheel until all the straw became gold thread, and the king found the shining reels in the morning. The work continued through the night.
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Explore this illustrated story at four reading levels. Each level follows the same essential events.
Collection: Fairy tales
Retelling: Germany · Brothers Grimm
For parents: After Grimm tale 55, Margaret Hunt’s Household Tales (1884). Keeps the king’s threats, three bargains, first-child promise, three days to guess, messenger’s discovery and Hunt’s ending: the furious man destroys himself. Threats and destruction are told without graphic detail and are not illustrated. The king is not given an invented change of heart.
Public-domain source: View the recorded source edition