Part 1 (2/2)
Ah, wicked indeed he looked; But while she sighed, he smiled!
”Promise, when you are queen,” he said, ”To give me your first-born child!”
Little she tho't what that might mean, Or if ever in truth she should be queen Anything, so that the work was done-- Anything, so that the gold was spun!
She promised all that he chose to ask; And blithely he began the task.
Round went the wheel, and round, Whiz, and whiz-z, and whiz-z-z!
So swift that the thread at the spindle point Flew off with buzz and hiss.
She dozed--so tired her eyelids were-- To the endless whirr, and whirr, and whirr; Though not even sleep could overcome The wheel's revolving hum, hum, hum!
When at last she woke the room was clean, Not a broken bit of straw was seen; But in huge high heaps were piled and rolled Great spools of gold--nothing but gold!
It was just at the earliest peep of dawn, And she was alone--the dwarf was gone.
It was indeed a marvellous thing For a miller's daughter to wed a king; But never was royal lady seen More fair and sweet than this young queen.
The spinning dwarf she quite forgot In the ease and pleasure of her lot; And not until her first-born child Into her face had looked and smiled Did she remember the promise made; Then her heart grew sick, her soul afraid.
One day her chamber door Pushed open just a c.h.i.n.k, And she saw the well-known crooked dwarf, His wise smile and his blink.
He claimed at once the promised child; But she gave a cry so sad and wild That even his heart was touched to hear; And, after a little, drawing near,
He whispered and said: ”You pledged The baby, and I came; But if in three days you can learn By foul or fair my name-- By foul or fair, by wile or snare, You can its syllables declare, Then is the child yours--only then-- And me you shall never see again!”
He vanished from her sight, And she called her pages in; She sent one this way, and one that; She called her kith and kin, Bade one go here, and one go there, Despatched them thither, everywhere-- That from each quarter each might bring The oddest names he could to the king.
Next morning the dwarf appeared, And the queen began to say, ”Caspar,” ”Baltha.s.sar,” ”Melchoir”-- But the dwarf cried out, ”Nay, nay!”
Shaking his little crooked frame, ”That's not my name, that's not my name!”
The second day 'twas the same; But the third a messenger Came in from the mountains to the queen, And told this tale to her: That, riding under the forest boughs, He came to a tiny, curious house; Before it a feeble fire burned wan, And about the fire was a little man; In and out the brands among, Dancing upon one leg, he sung: ”_To-day I'll stew, and then I'll bake, To-morrow I shall the queen's child take; How fine that none is the secret in, That my name is Rumpelstiltskin!_”
The queen was overjoyed, And when, due time next day, The dwarf returned for the final word, She made great haste to say:
”Is it Conrade?” ”No,”--he shook his head.
”Is it Hans? or Hal?” Still ”No,” he said.
”_Is it Rumpelstiltskin?_” then she cried.
”A witch has told you,” he replied, And shrieked and stamped his foot so hard That the very marble floor was jarred; And his leg broke off above the knee, And he hopped off, howling terribly.
He vanished then and there, And never more was seen!
This much was in _his_ dreadful name-- It saved her child to the queen.
And the little lady grew to be So very sweet, so fair to see, That none could her loveliness surpa.s.s; And her eyes--they were as gray as gla.s.s!
A FISH STORY.
Sir Arthur, the sinner, Ate twelve fish for dinner, And you may believe it's just as I say!
For if you but knew it, 'Twas I saw him do it, And just as it happened, sir, this was the way: One day this tall fish Swallowed this small fish (_He_ had just eaten a smaller one still); Up came this queer one And gobbled that 'ere one-- Didn't he show the most magical skill?
Then came this other And chewed up his brother, Made but one gulp, and behold he was through!
He was a gold fish Oh! he was a bold fish-- But before he could wink he was eaten up too!
Up came a flounder, He was a ten-pounder, Opened his mouth, swallowed _him_ and was gone; Before you could blink, sir, Before he could shrink, sir, This fish came by and the flounder was gone!
(Alas for my story, 'Tis getting quite gory!
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