Once upon a time there was a miller who was poor, and he had a daughter who was far more intelligent than she was attractive. It happened that he got in to a conversation with the King, and while trying to impress him he boasted, "I have a beautiful daughter who can spin straw in to gold." The King said to the miller, "If your daughter is as skillful as you say, then bring her to my castle tomorrow and I will put her to the test."

When the girl was brought to him he led her in to a room that was filled from end to end with straw. Giving her a spinning wheel, he said, "Get to work, even if it takes you all night. If by morning you have not spun this straw in to gold then I will lock you in this room forever."

The poor miller's daughter had no idea how to spin straw in to gold. The longer she sat there staring at the spinning wheel, the more afraid she became and it caused her to cry.

Suddenly, the door opened. A little man stepped inside and said he could help her if she would part with something valuable, so she gave him her necklace. He then sat down and began his work of spinning all of the straw in to gold, which lasted until morning.

At sunrise the King returned, and seeing the gold only made him more greedy. He took the miller's daughter to a larger room filled with straw and ordered her to spin it all in one night. Once again, after she was left alone, the door opened and the little man appeared. This time the girl gave him her golden ring in return for spinning the straw in to gold.

By morning, the King saw what had been accomplished and was very pleased but, he was not through. He brought her to a larger room filled with straw, and said, "Tonight you must spin all of this straw. If you succeed then you shall become my wife." When the girl was alone the little man returned for a third time. The girl had nothing more that she could give him so, she promised him her first born child. Once again, the little man spun the straw in to gold.

When in the morning the King came and found everything just as he desired, he married her, and the poor miller's daughter became Queen and a year later she gave birth to a child. The little man soon appeared in her room and said, "Now give me that which you promised."

The Queen was not willing to part with her newborn, so the little man bargained with her and said she had three days' time to recite his name, and only then could she keep the child.

The Queen enlisted servants to write down every name in the kingdom and upon the first day, she called upon the little man. She began calling out names but, he only shook his head and laughed at her attempts.

The second day, the Queen had her servants gather the most unusual names from beyond her kingdom and she asked him, "Is your name perhaps, Gingerton? Or Mandrake? Or Flew O'Tenderly?" He laughed even harder this time, so the Queen knew she can no longer rely on others for help and must use her own intellect to outsmart him.

On the third day, she recited every word from a dictionary which took most of the day. She made note of three words that caused the little man to react strangely, as if he was disappearing for a brief second. She then decided to combine those particular words to see if she could figure out his name.

She asked him, "Is your name, Stiltrumple?" He shook his head but was clearly hiding his discomfort as the lower half of his body disappeared.

She tried again, "How about, Rumpleskin?" He shook his head but this time, his head was all that was left!

"Is it… Rumplestiltskin?" she asked finally.

The little man coughed, "Impossible! Nobody has ever been able to guess my name!" and with that, he completely disappeared in to thin air with a "Pop!".