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Part I
Once upon a time there was a poor miller who had a very beautiful daughter. The miller was
always looking for an opportunity to advance his place in the world, and he didn’t mind stretching
the truth now and then if he thought he could profit from it.
One day he learned that all the tradesmen were to be introduced to the King. He thought
long and hard about how to impress the King. He decided that he would exaggerate the virtues of
his daughter, and when he was brought before the King, the miller announced, “ Your highness, I
have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.”
“I would very much like to meet your daughter,” said the King to the miller. “I would hand-
somely reward someone with such ability. Bring her to my palace tomorrow, and we will see what she
can do.”
The miller wasn’t really worried that he had promised his daughter could spin straw into gold.
He believed the beauty of his daughter would capture the King’s heart, and the King would forget
about the gold.
But the King was as greedy as most men are, and the thought of building his store of riches
was all he could think about. When the girl was brought to him, he didn’t even notice her great
beauty. He led her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and spindle, and said, “Now
set to work and spin all night ‘til early dawn, and if by that time you haven’t spun the straw into gold,
you shall die.” Then he closed the door, locked it, and left her alone inside.
So the poor miller’s daughter sat down, but she didn’t know what in the world she was to
do. She hadn’t the least idea of how to spin straw into gold, and became so frightened and miserable
that she began to cry. Suddenly, the door opened, and in stepped an ugly, tiny man who said, “Good
evening, lovely lady; tell me, why are you crying so bitterly?”
Fun Reading with Activities
chron.com/cieCopyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 1
RumplestiltskinAndrew Lang’s
Adaptation© 2005, Marie Swiston Illustrated by Gary Turtle
Fun Reading with Activities
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 2
Rumplestiltskin “Oh,” answered the girl, “the King has commanded me to spin straw into gold, and I don’t
even know how to begin.”
“It so happens that I know exactly how to spin straw into gold. What will you give me if I
spin it for you?” asked the ugly man.
“This necklace that my mother gave me,” replied the girl.
The little man took the necklace and sat down at the wheel. Whir, whir, whir! In a matter of
moments the bobbin was full of gold. The little man replaced the bobbin, the wheel went round three
times, and the second bobbin was also full. When the sun rose in the morning, all the straw was spun
away, and all the bobbins were full of gold.
The miller’s daughter was very relieved, and when the King came, she proudly showed him
the gold. The King was delighted, but he was not yet satisfied. He had the miller’s daughter put into
another room full of straw, much bigger than the first, and told her, if she valued her life, to spin it all
into gold before the following morning.
The girl tried to do what she had seen the little man do, but try as she might, the straw did not
change into gold. Worried and afraid, she began to cry. The door opened, and the tiny man appeared
and said, “I see that you have more straw to spin into gold. What will you give me this time?”
“I will gladly give you this ring, which was given to me by my godmother,” answered the
girl. The little man took the ring, sat down at the spinning wheel, and set to work again. He labored
through the night, and when the sun rose, he had spun all the straw into glittering gold.
The miller’s daughter hoped that the King would be satisfied, but he was not yet ready to
let her go free. He had her taken to a still larger room full of straw and said, “This is just a bit more
straw than you had last night. Spin it all into gold and you shall become my wife.”
When the girl was alone, the little man appeared for the third time, and said, “What will you
give me if I spin the straw into gold again?”
Fun Reading with Activities
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 3
Rumplestiltskin “I have nothing more to offer you,” answered the girl, “but if I become Queen, I can give you
a much more valuable jewel than the necklace or the ring.”
“No, I do not want another bauble. Let me think a moment.” The ugly, little man stood deep
in thought for a few seconds, then he continued, “I know what I will take. Promise me when you are
Queen that you will give me your first child.”
At first the miller’s daughter was horrified at the little man’s demand. Then, she began to
think about her predicament. If she didn’t show the King a roomful of gold in the morning, she had
no future at all. Many things could happen over the next year or two. She would find a way out of
the promise later on. So she promised the little man what he demanded, and he set to work once
more and spun the straw into gold.
When the King came in the morning, and found everything as he had commanded, he imme-
diately made her his wife, and the miller’s daughter became Queen.
Part One Activities:
1. Spinning straw into gold would be a strange and perhaps wonderful talent to have. Some
characters in the Comics section of the Houston Chronicle have unusual talents that most people do not
have. Find one or two examples of unusual abilities, and explain how the character uses those abilities.
2. Some people have abilities that are incredible to the rest of us. People with strong talents are often
described in the newspaper. Look through the Houston Chronicle for mention of a person who has
unusual abilities. Explain how that person uses those abilities.
Fun Reading with Activities
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 4
Rumplestiltskin
Part I I
The story: When a poor miller tells the King that his beautiful daughter can spin straw into gold, the King places her in
rooms filled with straw, demanding that she spin the straw into gold. An ugly, little man takes a necklace and a ring from the girl
in exchange for spinning the straw into gold. When she has nothing left to give him, the little man makes her promise to give him
her first child once she is Queen.
The miller’s daughter made a beautiful Queen, and she was happy with her new life. She was able to provide
a good life for her father; and her husband, the King, loved her. He treated her kindly and generously and appreciated
the fact that she had made him very wealthy.
When a little more than a year had passed, she was filled with joy when a handsome, healthy son was born to
her. The days in the rooms filled with straw seemed long ago, and the whole experience seemed unreal. She led a busy
life and gave no thought to the little man or the promise she had made.
One day, as she sat in her sun-filled room, bouncing her baby on her knee, the little man stepped into her
room. It seemed to the Queen as though a giant cloud had blocked the sun from her room and from her life. The little
man said only, “Now it’s time to keep your promise.”
The Queen threw herself at his feet and sobbed, offering the little man all the riches in her kingdom if he
would only leave her the child. But the ugly man said, “No, a promise is a promise. I have come to get your first child,
just as you promised me.”
When the Queen continued to cry bitterly, the little man began to feel sorry for her. He said, “I’ll give you
three days to guess my name, and if you find it out in that time, you may keep your child.”
Fun Reading with Activities
chron.com/cieCopyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 1
RumplestiltskinAndrew Lang’s
Adaptation© 2005, Marie Swiston Illustrated by Gary Turtle
Fun Reading with Activities
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 2
Rumplestiltskin The Queen lay awake the whole night, trying to remember any unusual names she had ever heard. As soon as
the sun rose, she sent for her trusted messenger.
“Ride far and wide across the land,” she instructed him. “Make a list of every strange name you hear. Return
to me within two days.” The Queen thought of discussing her problem with the King, but she decided that there was
no way she could explain the promise she had made. Also, she could not bear for him to know that she had not spun
the straw into gold.
When the little man arrived on the following day, she began with Ebenezer, Salazar, and every other name she
knew. After each attempt, the little man laughed and shouted, “That’s not my name!”
That evening, she told the lords and ladies of the court that they were to play a new game, and she asked them
to list every name they could imagine. She had a long list when the little man showed up again, but after each name
was uttered, he would answer, “That’s not my name.”
On the third day, the messenger returned and announced, “I have not been able to find many new or different
names, but you might want to hear about something that happened as I rode back. As I came across a high hill round
the corner of the wood where the river flows, I saw a little house. And in front of that house burned a fire, and round
the fire danced the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg and singing:
‘Today a special crib I’ll make
for the royal child I’ll surely take;
the Queen has beauty, gold, and fame,
But she’ll never guess from whence I came
Or that Rumplestiltskin is my name!’ ”
Fun Reading with Activities
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 3
Rumplestiltskin You can imagine how pleased the Queen was to hear the name. “If you are correct,” she told the messenger, “I
will have you knighted within the week, and you will have riches beyond your imagination.”
The little man arrived a short while later and asked, “Do you know what my name is?”
She asked first, “Is your name Cantiveras?”
“No.”
“Is your name Magellinini?”
“No.”
“Oh, dear. Let me try one last name. Is your name perhaps Rumplestiltskin?”
“Some demon has told you that! Some demon has told you that!” screamed the little man. But he had made a
promise, and a promise is a promise. He left the palace in anger and was never heard from again. The King, the Queen,
and the Prince lived happily ever after.
Part Two Activities:
1. Rumplestiltskin’s name is very unusual. That is why he was certain the Queen would never guess
it. Look through the Houston Chronicle for names that sound unusual to you. Make a list of five or
six of them. Do you think that your name might sound unusual to those people?
2. If newspapers were available to the Queen, she might have been able to get readers to help her
gather a list of names. Look at an advertisement in the Houston Chronicle Classifieds section, and
use that ad as your model. Write an ad asking people to help you make a list of names.
Fun Reading with Activities
Copyright 2011 Houston Chronicle 4
Rumplestiltskin
