格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
RUMPELSTILTSKIN
By the side of a wood, in a country a long way off, ran a fine streamof water; and upon the stream there stood a mill. The miller's housewas close by, and the miller, you must know, had a very beautifuldaughter. She was, moreover, very shrewd and clever; and the millerwas so proud of her, that he one day told the king of the land, whoused to come and hunt in the wood, that his daughter could spin goldout of straw. Now this king was very fond of money; and when he heardthe miller's boast his greediness was raised, and he sent for the girlto be brought before him. Then he led her to a chamber in his palacewhere there was a great heap of straw, and gave her a spinning-wheel,and said, 'All this must be spun into gold before morning, as you loveyour life.' It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was onlya silly boast of her father, for that she could do no such thing asspin straw into gold: the chamber door was locked, and she was leftalone.
She sat down in one corner of the room, and began to bewail her hardfate; when on a sudden the door opened, and a droll-looking little manhobbled in, and said, 'Good morrow to you, my good lass; what are youweeping for?' 'Alas!' said she, 'I must spin this straw into gold, andI know not how.' 'What will you give me,' said the hobgoblin, 'to doit for you?' 'My necklace,' replied the maiden. He took her at herword, and sat himself down to the wheel, and whistled and sang:
'Round about, round about,Lo and behold!Reel away, reel away,Straw into gold!'
And round about the wheel went merrily; the work was quickly done, andthe straw was all spun into gold.
When the king came and saw this, he was greatly astonished andpleased; but his heart grew still more greedy of gain, and he shut upthe poor miller's daughter again with a fresh task. Then she knew notwhat to do, and sat down once more to weep; but the dwarf soon openedthe door, and said, 'What will you give me to do your task?' 'The ringon my finger,' said she. So her little friend took the ring, and beganto work at the wheel again, and whistled and sang:
'Round about, round about,Lo and behold!Reel away, reel away,Straw into gold!'
till, long before morning, all was done again.
The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure;but still he had not enough: so he took the miller's daughter to a yetlarger heap, and said, 'All this must be spun tonight; and if it is,you shall be my queen.' As soon as she was alone that dwarf came in,and said, 'What will you give me to spin gold for you this thirdtime?' 'I have nothing left,' said she. 'Then say you will give me,'said the little man, 'the first little child that you may have whenyou are queen.' 'That may never be,' thought the miller's daughter:and as she knew no other way to get her task done, she said she woulddo what he asked. Round went the wheel again to the old song, and themanikin once more spun the heap into gold. The king came in themorning, and, finding all he wanted, was forced to keep his word; sohe married the miller's daughter, and she really became queen.
At the birth of her first little child she was very glad, and forgotthe dwarf, and what she had said. But one day he came into her room,where she was sitting playing with her baby, and put her in mind ofit. Then she grieved sorely at her misfortune, and said she would givehim all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off, but invain; till at last her tears softened him, and he said, 'I will giveyou three days' grace, and if during that time you tell me my name,you shall keep your child.'
Now the queen lay awake all night, thinking of all the odd names thatshe had ever heard; and she sent messengers all over the land to findout new ones. The next day the little man came, and she began withTIMOTHY, ICHABOD, BENJAMIN, JEREMIAH, and all the names she couldremember; but to all and each of them he said, 'Madam, that is not myname.'
The second day she began with all the comical names she could hear of,BANDY-LEGS, HUNCHBACK, CROOK-SHANKS, and so on; but the littlegentleman still said to every one of them, 'Madam, that is not myname.'
The third day one of the messengers came back, and said, 'I havetravelled two days without hearing of any other names; but yesterday,as I was climbing a high hill, among the trees of the forest where thefox and the hare bid each other good night, I saw a little hut; andbefore the hut burnt a fire; and round about the fire a funny littledwarf was dancing upon one leg, and singing:
'"Merrily the feast I'll make.Today I'll brew, tomorrow bake;Merrily I'll dance and sing,For next day will a stranger bring.Little does my lady dreamRumpelstiltskin is my name!"'
When the queen heard this she jumped for joy, and as soon as herlittle friend came she sat down upon her throne, and called all hercourt round to enjoy the fun; and the nurse stood by her side with thebaby in her arms, as if it was quite ready to be given up. Then thelittle man began to chuckle at the thought of having the poor child,to take home with him to his hut in the woods; and he cried out, 'Now,lady, what is my name?' 'Is it JOHN?' asked she. 'No, madam!' 'Is itTOM?' 'No, madam!' 'Is it JEMMY?' 'It is not.' 'Can your name beRUMPELSTILTSKIN?' said the lady slyly. 'Some witch told you that!--some witch told you that!' cried the little man, and dashed his rightfoot in a rage so deep into the floor, that he was forced to lay holdof it with both hands to pull it out.
Then he made the best of his way off, while the nurse laughed and thebaby crowed; and all the court jeered at him for having had so muchtrouble for nothing, and said, 'We wish you a very good morning, and amerry feast, Mr RUMPLESTILTSKIN!'