ENLeseprobe
The Strange Little Man
Elsa sat crying in a cold stone room, surrounded by piles of straw. Her father, a foolish miller, had boasted to the king that she could spin straw into gold, and now the king had locked her in this tower to prove it.
Suddenly, a strange little man appeared in a puff of smoke. "Why are you crying, my dear?" he asked with a peculiar giggle. When Elsa explained her impossible task, he offered to help in exchange for her necklace.
By morning, all the straw had been spun into glittering gold thread! The king was amazed but greedy. He locked Elsa in an even larger room full of straw, demanding more gold.
Again the little man appeared, and this time he took her ring as payment. When the king saw the second room filled with gold, his eyes gleamed with greed. He brought Elsa to the largest tower of all and said, "Spin this straw into gold, and you shall become my queen."
The strange man came a third time, but Elsa had nothing left to give. "Then promise me your first child when you become queen," he said. Desperate and not thinking clearly, Elsa agreed.
A year later, Queen Elsa held her baby daughter and had forgotten all about her promise. But the little man appeared, demanding the child. Elsa begged and pleaded until he finally said, "If you can guess my name in three days, you may keep your baby."
Elsa sent messengers throughout the kingdom collecting every name they could find. On the third day, her messenger Thomas returned with exciting news. "I heard a strange little man dancing around a fire, singing: 'Tomorrow the queen's child I'll claim, for Rumpelstiltskin is my name!'"
When the little man arrived that evening, Elsa guessed several wrong names first. Then she asked sweetly, "Could your name be... Rumpelstiltskin?" The little man stamped his foot so hard it went through the floor.
The devil told you that!" he shrieked, and in his rage, he stamped his other foot and disappeared through the floor forever. Elsa held her daughter close, having learned that promises should never be made lightly, and that cleverness and determination can overcome even the trickiest magic.
