ervant who had
brought flour from the King's household, that he had a daughter who
could actually turn straw into pure gold by spinning it.

The messenger was astonished, and could hardly wait to get back to the
palace and see the King. He knew how mad the King was about money, and
wanted to be the first to tell him of the miller's extraordinary
daughter, who could make him vastly rich so easily.

The King was tremendously excited by the story, just as his servant had
hoped. He sent at once for the miller.

"My man," the King said, "I hear you have a daughter who can spin straw
into gold. That's a fine story, but you can hardly expect me to believe
it without seeing it. Have your daughter come here this evening."

So the miller went home and told his daughter that the King wanted to
see her. He dared not tell her why. Naturally, the girl was pleased and
flattered. She put on her best dress and braided her hair very
carefully. Then she went to the palace.

"So you're the miller's daughter," said the King. "Now we'll see
whether you can really spin straw into gold."

The girl thought the King must be crazy. She felt even surer of it when
he took her into a great room full of straw with a spinning wheel in
one corner.

A spinning wheel, you know, is an old-fashioned machine for making flax
and cotton into yarn and thread.

"If you don't spin all this straw into gold before the night is over,
you will die," the King said, and closed the door.

The poor little miller's daughter sat down in front of the spinning
wheel and cried and cried. She didn't know how to spin straw into gold
any more than you or I do, and she didn't want to die a bit.

"Well, well, what's all this crying for?" said a tiny voice at her ear.

So many queer things had happened that night that it did not seem at
all strange to have a man appear out of nowhere. He was not exactly a
man, though. He was just a tiny little Dwarf. And the miller's daughter
told him all her troubles.

"Why, that's nothing," the little man said; "I can spin that straw into
gold myself. But I won't do it for nothing. What will you give me for
doing it?"

The girl had a necklace she was very proud of. She hated to part with
it, but she gave it to the little man. He sat promptly down at the
spinning wheel, and in a jiffy the golden straws were flying through
his hands, and turning into threads of pure gold. Long before daybreak
the room was full of gold instead of st