Once there was a miller who was poor, but
who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he had to go and
speak to the king, and in order to make himself appear important he
said to him, I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold. The
king said to the miller, that is an art which pleases me well, if
your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to my
palace, and I will put her to the test.
And when the girl was brought to him he took
her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave her a
spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, now set to work, and if by
to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold
during the night, you must die. Thereupon he himself locked up the
room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller's
daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to do, she had
no idea how straw could be spun into gold, and she grew more and
more frightened, until at last she began to weep.
But all at once the door opened, and in came a
little man, and said, good evening, mistress miller, why are you
crying so. Alas, answered the girl, I have to spin straw into gold,
and I do not know how to do it. What will you give me, said the
manikin, if I do it for you. My necklace, said the girl. The little
man took the necklace, seated himself in front of the wheel, and
whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and the reel was full, then he put
another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the
second was full too. And so it went on until the morning, when all
the straw was spun, and all the reels were full of gold.
By daybreak the king was already there, and
when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart
became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter taken into
another room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her
to spin that also in one night if she valued her life. The girl knew
not how to help herself, and was crying, when the door opened again,
and the little man appeared, and said, what will you give me if I
spin that straw into gold for you. The ring on my finger, answered
the girl. The little man took the ring, again began to turn the
wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering gold.
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