Rumpelstiltskin v8

Rumpelstiltskin

A book in 10 pages

1. Once upon a time there was a miller. he wasn't important - but his
daughter jeannie was very smart, clever, and cute. She was sick and
tired of grinding wheat all day and was always coming up with ideas to
become rich and famous.
(She knew the king was greedy)

2. One day the king and his servants were riding by, she made her father
run out kneel before the kings horses with a plate with a few gold coins
on it. The king asked what he wanted, the miller told the king what
Jeannie had asked to him say - 'oh lord, these coins are but a few of
the many coins thay my daughter has made by spinning straw in to gold.'

3. The king ordered that she be brought to him at once. she courtsied to
the king and told him that of course she couldn't spin straw into gold
but that by taxing water usage he could raise levies to build a dam that
would power more wind mills and generate even more taxes.

4. The king was not a nice man. He didn't stay king by being nice. And
he didn't like being made fun of in front of his lords by anyone -
though she was cute, and obviously clever - he was furious and he wanted
his revenge on her by showing his lords that no one could get the better
of him. So he ordered his soldiers to arrest Jeannie, and other soldiers
beat up her father while the others soldiers took Jeannie to the castle
as she cried.

5. The king ordered Jeannie's prison to be filled with straw and to have
a spinning wheel brought. Then he said to her, in front of his retinue,
'so - you has better to learn to spin straw into gold. Because in the
morning if you haven't spun all this straw into gold - the executioner
will chop off your pretty little head.'

6. Jeannie cried and cried and cried. She was upset with herself and
wished she was back at home with her father grinding the wheat into
flour instead of being locked in the cold, wet, smelly and rat infested
prison.

7. Before she had time to feel truly miserable about dying the next day
- suddenly there was a knock on the prison door, and in came a small
strange man. Strange because he was small and strange because he had
opened the door without unlocking it though the door had been locked. He
said to her why are you crying? And she explained how she had tried to
impress the king, but hadn't counted on his not having a sense of humour
and had been thrown in jail and was facing execution. He looked her up
and down and said - what will you give me if I spin this straw into
gold?

8. Jeannie tried to wake herself up - I must be dreaming this. I must be
still asleep in my bed in the windmill. The little man waited. She said
here take my gold ring. He put the ring on his necklace, and set to work
feeding the straw into the spinning wheel, and he began to sing a
lullaby. And soon the lullaby, the sound of the spinning wheel and the
hypnotic spinning of the wheel soon put Jeannie to sleep.

9. The sound of the prison door creaking open made Jeannie wake up with
a start. She rubbed her eyes and stood up. The king and the executioner
were standing in the room with dumbfounded looks on their faces. The
straw was all gone, and in its place was solid gold thread. The king
blinked and gulped and rubbed his eyes. He went down on his hands and
knees and felt the solid gold thread. He bit it, checking if it was
gold. Suddenly he began to smile, and laugh and jump and shout 'I am
rich! I am rich!'

10. But then a sly and crafty look fell over the king's face. 'So,' he
said, 'you can spin straw into gold. You weren't lying after all. Well,
well. I will put your talents to good use.' But Jeannie protested - 'my
lord, I can't spin straw into gold! It wasn't me - I swear! It was this
little man - he came in and did the spinning. I gave him my ring.' The
king frowned, and called to the guard outside the door - 'guardsmen,
bring me the captain of the guard, it is urgent' The captain of the
guard came running, and panting said 'sire, what is it? What has
happened?' 'captain, on your life, did anyone enter this room last
night?' asked the king. The captain starting shaking 'no sire. I posted
these two guards and no one has come in or out.' The king nodded, and
the captain relaxed and looked around for first time and was shocked.

11. 'Well, well, miller's daughter, you say you had outside help? We
will just have to test it and see. Someone has performed this miracle?
Are you the spinner? Or did my captain of the guard forfeit his life by
failing in his duties? Tonight I will move you to bigger, better guarded
prison, with more straw for you to spin in to gold or you will lose your
head, and we will shall see what will shall see.' With that the king,
very pleased with his cleverness ordered the gold transferred to his
vaults and Jeannie moved to a medium security prison.

12. Jeannie lay surrounded by straw heaped all around her. She thought
of her dying tomorrow. She thought of all the people she would never
see. She thought of the husband she would never meet, the child she
would never have, and the grandchild she would never spoil. She wondered
what having her head cut off would feel like. She wondered what would
happen to her body. She was doing her best to stay awake since it was to
be her last night alive. As she was starting to go to sleep a familiar
voice whispered to her 'what will you give me, if I spin this straw into
gold?'

13. She opened her aways. It was the little man. She made to run and
pound on the door - but the little man caught her by the wrist with an
iron grip. 'No,' he said. She opened her mouth to scream - when out shot
his other hand, and covered her mouth so she couldn't breathe. 'Not that
either - understand? I can kill you now if I like. They will find your
body in the morning. Now behave.'

14. She nodded and at once he let her go. 'What are you doing here? Do
you always hang out it prisons waiting for women to show up that need
straw spun into gold?'