Journeys Through Bookland Volume Ii Part 7

Then join your little hands and pray To G.o.d, who made the light, To keep you holy all the day And guard you through the night.

RUMPELSTILTZKIN

By Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm

There was once upon a time a poor miller who had a beautiful daughter.

It happened one day that he had an audience with the King, and in order to appear important he told the King that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold.

"Now that's a talent worth having," said the King to the miller; "if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to my palace tomorrow, and I'll test her."

When the girl was brought to him, 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, and if by early dawn you haven't spun the straw into gold you shall die." Then he closed the door behind him and left her alone inside.

So the poor miller's daughter sat down. She hadn't the least idea of how to spin straw into gold, and at last she began to cry. Suddenly the door opened, and in stepped a tiny little man who said: "Good evening, Miss Miller-maid; why are you crying so bitterly?"

"Oh!" answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and haven't the slightest notion how it's done." "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" asked the manikin.

"My necklace," replied the girl.

The little man took the necklace, sat down at the wheel, and whir, whir, whir, round it went until morning, when all the straw was spun away, and all the bobbins were full of gold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rumpelstiltzken spinning.]

As soon as the sun rose, the King came, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but he wanted more of the precious metal. He had the miller's daughter put into another room, much bigger than the first and full of straw, and bade her, if she valued her life, spin it all into gold before morning.

When the girl began to cry the tiny little man appeared again and said: "What'll you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?"

"The ring from my finger," answered the girl. The manikin took the ring, and when morning broke he had spun all the straw into glittering gold.

The King was pleased beyond measure at the sight, but he was still not satisfied, and he had the miller's daughter brought into a yet bigger room full of straw, and said:

"You must spin all this away in the night; but if you succeed this time you shall become my wife."

When the girl was alone, the little man appeared for the third time, and said: "What'll you give me if I spin the straw for you this third time?"

"I've nothing more to give," answered the girl.

"Then promise me when you are Queen to give me your first child."

Seeing no other way out of it, she promised the manikin, and he set to work.

When the King came in the morning, and found the gold, he straightway made her his wife. When a beautiful son was born to her, she did not think of the little man, till all of a sudden one day he stepped into her room and said: "Now give me what you promised."

The Queen offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom if he would only leave her the child.

But the manikin said, "No, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world."

Then the Queen began to cry and sob so bitterly that the little man was sorry for her, and said, "I'll give you three days, and if in that time you guess my name, you may keep your child."

The Queen pondered the whole night over all the names she had ever heard, and sent messengers to scour the land, and to pick up far and near any names they should come across. When the little man arrived she began with Kasper, Melchior, Belshazzer, Sheepshanks, Cruickshanks, Spindleshanks, and so on through the long list. At every name the little man shook his head.

At last a messenger reported, "As I came upon a high hill round the corner of the wood, where the foxes and hares bid each other good-night, I saw a little house, and in front of the house burned a fire, and round the fire sprang the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg and crying,

'Tomorrow I brew, today I bake, And then the child away I'll take; For little deems my royal dame That Rumpelstiltzken is my name!'"

When the little man stepped in afterward and asked his name she said, "Is your name Conrad?"

"No."

"Is your name, perhaps, Rumpelstiltzken?"

"Some demon has told you that, some demon has told you that," screamed the little man, as he vanished into the air.

THE MIRROR OF MATSUYANA

The following pretty little story comes from j.a.pan, where it may be found in a collection of tales for children. A long time ago a young couple lived in the country with their only child, a beautiful little girl whom they loved tenderly. The names of the parents cannot be told now, for they have long been forgotten, but we know that the place where they lived was Matsuyana, in the province of Echigo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AWAITING THE RETURN OF THE FATHER]

Now it happened when the child was still very little that her father was obliged to go to the capital of the kingdom. As it was so long a journey, neither his wife nor his child could go with him and he departed alone, promising to bring them many pretty gifts on his return.

The mother had never been away from the neighborhood and was not able to get rid of some fear when she thought of the long journey her husband must take. At the same time, however, she could not but feel pride and satisfaction that it was her husband who was the first man in all that region to go to the rich city where the king and the n.o.bles lived, and where there were so many beautiful and marvelous things to be seen.

At last, when the good wife knew that her husband would return, she dressed her child gaily in the best clothes she had and herself in the blue dress that she knew he liked very much.

It is not possible to describe the joy of the good woman when she saw her husband return safe and sound. The little one clapped her hands and laughed with delight when she saw the toys her father had brought, and he never tired of telling of the wonderful things he had seen on his journey and at the capital.

"To you," he said to his wife, "I have brought a thing of wonderful power, that is called a mirror. Look and tell me what you see inside."

He handed her a little flat box of white wood, and when she opened it she saw a metal disk. One side was white as frosted silver and ornamented with birds and flowers raised from the surface; the other side was shining and polished like a window-pane. Into this the young wife gazed with pleasure and astonishment, for from the depths she saw looking out at her a smiling face with parted lips and animated eyes.

"What do you see?" repeated the husband, charmed by her amazement and proud to prove that he had remembered her in his absence.

"I see a pretty young woman, who looks at me and moves her lips as if talking, and who wears--what a wonderful thing! a blue dress exactly like mine."

"Silly one! What you see is your own sweet face," replied the man, delighted to know that his wife did not recognize herself. "This circle of metal is called a looking-gla.s.s. In the city, every woman has one, although here in the country no one has seen one until to-day."

Enchanted with her gift, the woman pa.s.sed several days in wonderment, because, as I have said, this was the first time she had seen a mirror, and consequently the first time she had seen the image of her own pretty face. This wonderful jewel she thought too precious to be used every day, and the little box she guarded carefully, concealing it among her most precious treasures.

Years pa.s.sed, the good man and his wife living happily through them all.

The delight of his life was the child, who was growing into the living image of her dear mother, and who was so good and affectionate that everybody loved her.

The mother, remembering her own pa.s.sing vanity over her beauty, kept the mirror hidden, to protect her daughter from any chance of vanity. As for the father, no one had spoken of the gla.s.s, and he had forgotten all about it. Thus the child grew up frank and guileless as her mother wished, knowing nothing of her own beauty or what the mirror might reflect.