Stranica 286 [286]
230 GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES.
and thought no more of the little man ; but one day he came
suddenly into her room, and said,
_“ Now give me what you promised me.”
The queen was terrified greatly, and offered the little man
all the riches of the kingdom if he would only leave the child ;
but the little man said,
“No, I would rather have something living than all the
treasures of the world.”
Then the queen began to lament and to weep, so that
the little man had pity upon her.
(I will give you three days,” said he, " and if at the end
of that time you cannot tell my name, you must give up the
child to me.” |
Then the queen spent the whole night in thinking over all
the names that she had ever heard, and sent a messenger through
the land to ask far and wide for all the names that could be
found. And when the little man came next day, (beginning
with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar) she repeated all she knew,
and went through the whole list, but after each the little man
sald,
“ That is not my name,”
The second day the queen sent to inquire of all the
neighbours what the servants were called, and told the little
man all the most unusual and singular names, saying,
“Perhaps you are called Roast-ribs, or Sheepshanks, or
Spindleshanks?” But he answered nothing but
© That is not my name.”
The third day the messenger came back again, and said,
"I have not-been able to find one single new name; but
as I passed through the woods I came to a high hill, and near
it was a little house, and before the house burned a fire, and
round the fire danced a comical little man, and he hopped on
one leg and cried,
** ‘To-day do I bake, to-morrow I brew,
The day after that the queen’s child comes in ;
And oh! I am glad that nobody knew
That the name I am called is Rumpelstiltskin ! "
You cannot think how pleased the queen was to hear that
name, and soon afterwards, when the little man walked in and