Rumpelina
from the story by
Sowmya Rajendran and the Brothers Grimm
Illustrated by Elizabeth Mayuku and Rafał Jaki
Chapter 1: The miller’s son
Once upon a time there was a poor miller, who loved to show off. She boasted about everything.
“I have a pretty son.” she said.
Sometimes her boasts were true…
“Hello, Mother.” greeted his son.
And sometimes they weren’t…
“I’m the best looking woman around.” said the miller.
One day, on her way back from a hunt, the Queen rode through the miller’s village. Suddenly, she stopped.
A handsome boy was standing on the path.
“What’s you name?” asked the Queen, gazing at him.
“His name is Anshu,” said the miller, quickly. “He’s my son…
…and he can spin straw into gold,” she added, boasting as usual.
“Really?” asked the Queen.
“Yes, really,” replied the miller, nodding her head.
“In that case, bring him to my castle,” ordered the Queen, and rode away.
“This is your chance, Anshu,” cried the miller. “The more the Queen sees your pretty face, the more she’ll want to marry you. You could be King!”
The next morning, the miller took Anshu to see the Queen.
The castle walls were old and crumbling. Windows were broken and doors were missing.
“The Queen must be short of money,” whispered the miller.
“You can’t go!” the Queen commanded the miller “As for you,” she said turning to Anshu, “follow me.”
Chapter 2: The Queen’s test
The Queen led Anshu down dark quarters and twisting stairs and last they reached a tiny room stuffed with straw.
In the corner was a large spinning-wheel. “You’re pretty enough to marry,” said the Queen. “But are you as clever as your mother says?”
“You have tonight to turn this straw into gold. If you fail you shall die.” Then she went out and locked the door.
Anshu sat down, put his head in his hands and sobbed.
“Oh Mother!” he cried. “What have you done?
I don’t want to die! I want to be King, but I can’t spin straw into gold. No one can!”
“That’s what you think!” came a voice from the window.
Anshu jumped, there, by the window, was a little woman — riding on a wooden spoon.
Her long green braid waved about in the wind.
“Hurry up,” she shouted, “and let me in! it’s cold out here!”
With a trembling hand, Anshu opened the window…
,,,and a little woman flew in.
“Master Miller,” she said with a smile. “What will you give me if I spin that straw into gold?”
For a moment, Anshu was too shocked to speak. He could only open and close his mouth, like a fish.
“I c-c-could give you my necklace?” he said, at last.
“Perfect,” said the little woman, grabbing it.
She leaped onto the stool, tossed her braid over her shoulder and began to spin.
Whirl, whirl, whirl.
Anshu gasped in surprise. The straw was changing into gold before his eyes.
He tried to how it was done. But as he watched the whirring wheel, he felt his eyes begin to close.
Soon, he was fast asleep.
Chapter 3: Glittering gold
Anshu woke at dawn to find the little woman gone. But the room glittered with gold.
When the Queen came in, her eyes lit up in delight. “But it’s not enough for me,” she said. “I need you to spin more gold. I have servants to pay…”
She took Anshu to a second room, larger than the one before.
Once again, it was stuffed with straw.
“You have tonight to turn this straw to gold. If you fail, you shall die.” said the Queen.
Then she went out, and locked the door.
Anshu sat on the stool and cried. “I don’t know how to spin stride too gold,” she sobbed.
But that night, the little woman came again.
“Let me in! What will you give me if I spin this time?” she said.
“I’ll give you the ring on my finger.” Anshu replied.
“Perfect,” said the little woman. She pulled off his rig, hung her braid over her ears and began to spin.
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Whirr, whirr, whirr went at the wheel, and all through the night. The little woman left as the sun rose.
When the Queen came in she jumped for joy. “But I still need more gold!” she cried.
“After all, I’m a country to run and enemies to fight. I want enough money to last my whole life.”
She took Anshu to another room, even larger than the one before. This one who was bursting with great piles of straw.
“You must spin this to all through the night. And if you succeed, you shall be my husband.”
That night, the little woman appeared for the third time. “What can you give me now, Master Miller?” she asked.
“Oh!” cried Anshu. “I have nothing left to give.”
“Then promise me your first born child,” said the little woman.
“And if I refuse?” asked Anshu.
“ I won’t spin,” she snapped.
Anshu thought for a while. “I do want to be King…and she might forget his request…”
Finally he said, “I promise.”
The little woman grinned, tied her braid under her chin and began to spin.
Whirr, whirr, whirr
The next morning, the Queen was dazzled by all the gold.
“At last!” she cried. “I have the gold I’ll ever need.”
“Anshu,” she said, “you are both handsome and clever. Will you marry me?”
“Oh yes!” said Anshu, at once. And so Anshu, the poor miller’s son, became King.
“My new husband!” the Queen announced.
Chapter 4: Anshu’s promise
A year later, the Queen bore Anshu a beautiful girl. He loved her more than his own life. “Let me in!”
But, one dark winter’s day, the King heard a tapping noise at his window.
“Oh no!” he gasped. “The little woman’s back!”
“You can’t come in trying to cried the King, clutching his baby
“That’s what you think,” said the little woman.
She disappeared from the window. The King waited.
“Perhaps she’s gone? He hoped.
The next moment, there was a rustling noise in the chimmey and the little woman whooshed into the room.
“Give me the baby, as you promised,” she cried, dancing around the room.
“Take whatever you want,” pleaded the King. “You can have all my money and all my jewels. But please let me keep my daughter.”
“No!” said the woman something alive means more to me and all the treasures in the world.”
The King was wept and begged and wept again. At last. The little woman took pity on him
“I will give you three days,” she said “If you can find out my name before then you may keep the child.”
Chapter 5: Name games
The King lay awake through the night, trying to remember every name he had ever heard.
When the little woman came the next evening, the King recited all the names he knew.
Is it Jasmin, Priyasha, Josa…” he began.
But to every one, the little woman shook her head and said. “That is not my name.”
On the second day, the King rode far and wide, asking everyone their names.
That night, he recalled the strange new names. “Is your name Simbala, Sundari, Lalita?” he asked.
But to every one, the little woman shook her head and said, “That is not my name. You’ll never guess!”
“By the third day, the King was in despair. He sat down for supper with the Queen, but could hardly eat a thing.
“I have a strange tale to tell you,” said the Queen. “Two days ago I went hunting through a deep dark forest. In the middle of the forest was a little house.”
“Outside the house the strangest little woman was jumping about. She hopped on one and sang…”
Today I bake tomorrow brew,
The next I’ll do the same,
Ha! Glad I am that no one knew
That Rumpelina is my name.
The King smiled when he heard the Queen’s story, but he didn’t say a word.
When the little woman arrived at that night she said. “Well, Master King, do you know my name?”
At first the King said, “Is your name Sohalia?”
“No,” said the little woman, jumping up and down in excitement.
“Is your name Zuleika?”
“No,” said the little woman, leaping around the room.
“Perhaps,” said the King, after a long pause, “perhaps, your name is Rumpelina?
“How did you know that” How did you know that?” cried the little woman.
With a roar, Rumpelina jumped on her spoon and shot through the wall.
She was never seen again.
— The End —
