#stripeshipping

Once there was a miller who was poor, but who had an average looking daughter that liked to pester and make others cry. Now it happened that he had to go and speak to the king, and in order to make himself appear important he said to him, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold."

     The king said to the miller, "That is an art which pleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her tomorrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test."

     And when the girl was brought to him he took her into a room which was quite full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and a reel, and said, "Now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die."

     Thereupon he himself locked up the room, and left her in it alone. So there sat the poor miller's daughter, and for the life of her could not tell what to do, she had no idea how straw could be spun into gold, she grew more and more frightened, and she started swearing her mouth off at her father for being such a dumbass, until at last she began to weep.

     But all at once the door opened, and in came a short man, and said, "Good evening, miss cries-alot-ka. Why are you crying so?"

     "Screw you," answered the girl, "I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it."

     "What will you give me," said the crouched man, "if I do it for you-ka?"

     "I guess you can have my necklace," said the girl.

     The little man took the necklace, seated himself in front of the wheel, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three turns, and the reel was full, then he put another on, and whirr, whirr, whirr, three times round, and the second was full too. And so it went on until the morning, when all the straw was spun, and all the reels were full of gold. As she watched him work, she grew fascinated with his talent, and loved to hear his laughter.

     By daybreak the king was already there, and when he saw the gold he was astonished and delighted, but his heart became only more greedy. He had the miller's daughter taken into another room full of straw, which was much larger, and commanded her to spin that also in one night if she valued her life. The girl thought back to her comrade, and cried in an attempt to bring him back. When the door opened again, and the short man appeared, and said, "What will you-“

“Ha. Now I know how to bring you back.”

“…screw you-ka. What’chu got this time-ka?”

     "The ring on my finger," answered the girl.

     The short man took the ring, again began to turn the wheel, and by morning had spun all the straw into glittering gold. As the night passed, the two talked more about silly things and things that mattered to them. It was then the miller’s daughter started to see beauty in her saviour.

     The king rejoiced beyond measure at the sight of the gold, but still he had not enough, and he had the miller's daughter taken into a still larger room full of straw, and said, "You must spin this, too, in the course of this night, but if you succeed, you shall be my wife."

     Even if she be a miller's daughter, thought he, I could not find a richer wife in the whole world.

     When the girl was alone the man came again for the third time, and said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also-ka?"

     "I have nothing left that I could give," answered the girl. “Not even my hand, for that stupid oaf of a king seems to have claimed it.”

     "Then promise me this-ka. If you should become queen, and forced to marry that oaf, give me your first child-ka." The girl was curious to his request, to which he answered, “Although it would be that oaf’s child, it would also be yours, and I would gladly care for a child that would care any of your aspects in your place-ka.”

     That won’t happen, thought the miller's daughter, and lying through her teeth, she promised to the man she had grown fond of what he wanted, and for that he once more spun the straw into gold.

     And when the king came in the morning, and found all as he had wished, he proposed for her in marriage. To his shock and horror, she had declined, the pestering girl saying her heart had belonged to a man not an oaf. In outrage, he smacked the unruly girl and threatened her life, to which she wept and brought back the short man.

With a cackling laugh he asked, “Kakaka, what would you give me if I tore my blade through this oaf-ka?”

“Now I can promise you my hand in marriage, should you take it.”

“With pleasure-ka.” As quick as a flash, the short man took a long blade from his back and sliced the oaf of a king’s neck and chest. Before the guards arrived to the scene, the small man took the girl’s hand and the two ran away.

“My name is Rose,” the girl had said. “I never caught your name though.”