One day a baron rode by, demanding directions to the castle. The miller, seeing a prospective husband for his daughter, immediately tells the man that the castle is more than a hard day's ride away. He offers the man a bed and a meal under his own roof, which

The baron, a fat and lazy man, immediately accepts. Upon sitting down to eat, the miller immediately begins bragging about his daughter's beauty and cooking.

When this produces no effect, he makes the fantastic claim that she can spin gold out of straw. When the baron demands proof, the miller shows him his daughter's necklace, which looks much like spun gold.

The baron leaves almost immediately to report to the king, who sends for the miller's daughter and puts her in a room filled with straw. He gives her a spinning wheel and lets her alone for the night. If she doesn't spin the straw into gold by morning, her father will suffer for lying to the King.

At a loss, she just sat there and cried until a strange little man who spoke only in rhyme appeared out of nowhere.

She told him of her plight and he demanded her necklace inreturn for spinning the straw into gold. She gave it to him, and when the king came the next morning, the deed was done.

He promtly put her in another room with twice the amount of straw, and set her to spinning again. This night, the little man took her ruby ring from her for the deed.

Upon seeing the task completed, the king put her to the task one more time, doubling the amount of hay yet again.

This time, when the little man came, she had nothing to give him. He demanded her first child of royal blood. Thinking that such a child was not possible for her, she agreed.

One final time, the king comes to find the deed accomplished. He marries the miller's daughter to his son, and they set up court in a brand new palace across the road from the Princes daddy, which had been outfitted with much of the gold spun from straw.

Time passed, and the Queen had a daughter. The little man came to claim her three days before her first birthday, but the Queen refused to give her up.

The little man suggested that if she could guess his name, he would let her keep the child. She has until the child's birthday to figure it out. (here the versions differ. sometimes it's the queen who goes out looking, and sometimes she sends someone.)

Someone sees the little man dancing in the forest, adn hears him say his name. Bringing word back to the queen, she guesses correctly when the man comes back to claim his prize. His name was Rumplestiltzkin.

The little man dissapears in a fit of anger, and all the gold that had been used to build the castle turned back into straw.

She explained her predicament to a very irate prince, who took it well, and was very understanding. They moved back into the other palace and lived happily ever after.