The little man said, "What will you give me if I do it for you?" 66 "My neckerchief," said the maiden. 6. He took the kerchief, sat down before the wheel, and grind, grind, grind-three times did he grind—and the spindle was full; then he put another thread on, and grind, grind, grind, the second was full; so he spun on till morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the spindles were full of gold. 7. The king came at sunrise, and was greatly astonished and overjoyed at the sight; but it only made his heart the more greedy of gold. He put the miller's daughter into another much larger room, full of straw, and ordered her to spin it all in one night. 8. The poor helpless maiden began to weep, when once more the door flew open, the little man appeared, and said, "What will you give me if I spin this straw into gold?" 9. "My ring from my finger," answered the maiden. The little man took the ring, began to turn the wheel, and, by the morning, all the straw was spun into shining gold. 1. The king was delighted when he saw it, but was not yet satisfied with the quantity of gold; so he put the damsel into a still larger room, and said, "Spin this during the night; and if you do it you shall be my wife." "For," he thought, "though she's only a miller's daughter, I shall never find a richer wife in the whole world." 66 2. As soon as the damsel was alone, the little man came the third time, and said, "What will you give me if I again spin the straw for you?" "I have nothing more to give you," she said. "Then promise, if you become queen, to give me your first child.” 66 3. Who knows how that may be, or how things may turn out between now and then?" thought the girl, but she could not help herself; so she promised the little man what he desired, and he spun all the straw into gold. 4. When the king came in the morning, and saw that his orders had been obeyed, he married the maiden, and the miller's beautiful daughter became a queen. After a year had passed, a lovely baby came, but she quite forgot the little man, till he walked suddenly into her chamber, and said, "Give me what you promised me!" 5. The queen was frightened, and offered the dwarf all the riches of her kingdom, if he would only leave her her child; but he answered, "No; something living is dearer to me than all the treasures of the world." 6. Then the queen began to weep so bitterly that the little man took pity on her, and said, "I will give you three days; if in that time you can find out my name, you shall keep the child." 7. All night long the queen thought over every name she had ever heard, and sent a messenger through the kingdom to inquire what names were usually given to people in that country. When, next day, the little man came again, she repeated all the names she knew; but at each one the little man said, "That is not my name." 8. The second day she again sent round about in all directions, to ask how the people were called, and repeated to the little man the strangest names she could hear of or imagine; to each he answered always, "That is not my name." 9. The third day the messenger returned and said, "I have not been able to find a single new name; but as I came over a high mountain by a wood, where the fox and the hare bid each other good-night, I saw a little house, and before the house was burning a little fire, and round the fire danced a very funny little man, who hopped upon one leg, and cried out: "To-day I brew, to-morrow I bake; Next day the queen's child I shall take; My name is Rumpelstiltschen!'' 10. You may guess how joyful the queen was at hearing this; and when, soon after, the little man entered, and said, "Queen, what is my name?" she asked him, "Is your name Kunz?" 66 No." 11. Are you called Rumpelstiltschen?" A witch has told you that, a witch has told you!" shrieked the poor little man, and stamped so furiously with his right foot, that it sunk into the earth up to the hip; then he seized his left foot with both hands with such violence that he tore himself right in two. "The Fairy Book.” LXXXVI. WINTER ROSE. GERMAN. 1. All the trees are leaf-less, and the north wind roars; 2. I have given you wat-er, set you in the light, 3. Soon the spring 'll be bring-ing pinks and vio-lets blue, 4. Ah! I see a tiny bud up - on your bough, I've a little rose-bush that I keep in-doors. Made a fire to keep you warm e-nough at night; You'll be scarce-ly need-ed; now's the time for you. There's a pretty blos-som grow - ing for me now. Close be-side win-dow, a in box it grows, ev-ery-body knows, lie the win-ter snows, Thank you, lit-tle rose-bush, now before it blows; 2 |