Once upon a time there was an old carpenter who wanted to impress the king. Not possessing a fortune, he told the king that his daughter spins so well that she can turn straw into gold. After hearing this, the king summoned the girl to the palace and locked her in a room full of straw.

‘Here’s a spinning wheel and a reel. Turn this straw into gold or you will stay in this room forever,” he said.

The carpenter’s daughter did not know what to do. Turning straw into gold was not one of his skills.

As she cried, a quirky dwarf appeared and asked her what was going on.

“If I don’t turn this straw into gold, I’ll be locked up here forever,” the young woman answered through tears.

The dwarf offered to turn the straw into gold in exchange for his necklace. The young woman handed him the necklace and the creature turned the straw into gold threads.

The next day, the king was delighted to find the room full of gold. So he took the carpenter’s daughter into a larger room filled with more straw.

“Turn all this straw into gold or I will lock you up here forever,” the king ordered.

Just when the girl was giving up hope, the jumping dwarf appeared again.

“What do you give me if I turn straw into gold?” he asked as he became visible.

“I only have this ring,” the young woman said, handing him the ring.

“Let’s begin then,” answered the dwarf.

But the king’s greed had no end, and when he found that his orders had been carried out, he took the young woman to an even larger room. However, he promised the carpenter’s daughter that he would marry her if she could turn straw into gold one last time.

The dwarf appeared again to offer his help. With no more jewelry to take, she told the young woman that she must give her her first child. She reluctantly agreed, and once again the strange dwarf turned straw into gold. The king soon married the carpenter’s daughter, and they had a beautiful baby.

The now queen had forgotten the incident with the straw, the gold and the dwarf. Great was his surprise when one night the jumping dwarf appeared claiming his reward.

“Take what you want, but please, not my son!” she exclaimed desperately.

The creature thought about it.

“If you can guess my name, I will disappear forever. I’ll give you a week! said the dwarf.

But the young woman devised a plan and sent several messengers to look for different names in all the corners of the world. On the way back, one of them told the story of a dwarf he had seen jumping in front of the door of a small cabin singing:

In the afternoon I knead the bread, in the evening I will bake it.

Tomorrow, with the queen’s son I will stay.

The little one just like me will be called,

your name will:

RUMPELSTILTSKIN!

When the dwarf returned, and asked the queen her own name, she replied:

“Your name is Rumpelstiltskin!”

And the jumping dwarf disappeared forever.