Once upon a time, there lived an old farmer who had a beautiful daughter. He did not know what to do with her and so he went and lied to the king that his daughter could turn straw to gold. The king then summoned his daughter to come to the court the next day.
She came to the court the next day and met the king. The king at once took her to a room filled with straw and told her to turn all this straw into gold by the next day, else she would be put to death. Saying so, he shut the door and went away. The girl did not know what to do and she started to cry. Out of the blue, a little man appeared in front of her and asked her why she was crying. She told him everything that had happened until now and the little man listened patiently. He then offered to convert all the straw in the room into gold in exchange for something. She then said that she would give him her necklace. He agreed and with a flick of his wrist, he turned all the straw into gold in a fraction of a second. She gave him the necklace and he left.
The next day, the king came and saw the room dazzling with gold. He was happy, but soon he was overcome by greed and he decided to repeat the exercise. The king at once took her to another bigger room filled with straw and told her to turn all this straw into gold by the next day, else she would be put to death. Saying so, he shut the door and went away. The girl did not know what to do and she started to cry once again. Out of the blue, the same little man appeared in front of her as before and asked her why she was crying. She told him everything that had happened after last night and the little man listened patiently. He then offered to convert all the straw in the room into gold in exchange for something. She then said that she would give him her ring. He agreed and with a flick of his wrist, he turned all the straw into gold in a fraction of a second. She gave him the ring and he left.
The next day, the king came and saw the huge room dazzling with gold. He was happy again, but this time he was overcome by so much greed, that he took her to a warehouse which was filled with straw till the roof. He told her to turn all this straw into gold by the next day, and that he would make her his queen in return. Saying so, he shut the door and went away. The girl did not know what to do and she started to cry once again. Out of the blue, the same little man appeared in front of her as before and asked her why she was crying. She told him everything that had happened after last night and the little man listened patiently. He then offered to convert all the straw in the room into gold in exchange for something. She then said that she had nothing to give him. He said that she could give him her first born baby later, after the marriage. She accepted his unfair request in her desperation and with a flick of his wrist, he turned all the straw into gold in a fraction of a second. The little man then left.
The king came the next day and was very happy on seeing the entire warehouse filled with gold to the roof. He married her the same day and soon she gave birth to a beautiful baby. As soon as he gave birth, the little man appeared and came to collect the baby. But, she was not willing to give the baby and so she asked if she could give something else instead. The little man then said that if she was able to guess his name within 3 nights, he would go away without taking the baby. After this the little man left.
The girl wondered as to what his name could be, but she took it easy, assuming his name to be something common which everyone knew. The little man then came to her room the next night and she said all the common names she knew, but none of them was right. The little man then left, saying that she had two nights left. The next morning, she sent out the army in all directions in the kingdom to ask the names of everybody living. The soldiers went everywhere except to the forest and noted the names of all citizens in the kingdom. They then went back and told her about the names. That night, she told the little man all the names that she had heard from the soldiers. But to her dismay, she could not get it right once again and the little man left, saying that she had one night left.
The following morning, she sent a small part of the army into the forest and told them to note the names of people living there. One of them eventually came across a little man dancing around a fire and singing happily. The little man was singing and in one of his lines, he uttered the word “Rumplestiltskin”. The soldier who was hiding in the shadows, heard this and he went back along with the other soldiers to the palace. He told this name and as soon as she heard it, she was certain that this was his name as it was unusual and she had never heard of it before.
That night, when the little man came, she guessed two names randomly and then said “Rumplestiltskin”. The little man was shocked on hearing this, as he never expected her to give the right answer. But as she was right, he could not take the baby now and so he left. The girl then lived happily ever after with her baby.