Brick Fairy Tales: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hansel and Gretel, and More by John McCann, Monica Sweeney, Becky Thomas Read Free Book Online Page A

the manikin came again for the third time, and said, “What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?”

    “I have nothing left that I could give,” answered the girl.

    “Then promise me, if you should become Queen, your first child.”

    “Who knows whether that will ever happen?” thought the miller’s daughter;

    and, not knowing how else to help herself in this strait, she promised the manikin what he wanted,

    and for that he once more span the straw into gold.

    And when the King came in the morning, and found all as he had wished, he took her in marriage, and the pretty miller’s daughter became a Queen.

    A year after, she had a beautiful child, and she never gave a thought to the manikin.

    But suddenly he came into her room, and said, “Now give me what you promised.” The Queen was horror-struck,

    and offered the manikin all the riches of the kingdom if he would leave her the child.

    But the manikin said, “No, something that is living is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.”

    Then the Queen began to weep and cry, so that the manikin pitied her.

    “I will give you three days’ time,” said he, “if by that time you find out my name, then shall you keep your child.”

    So the Queen thought the whole night of all the names that she had ever heard,

    and she sent a messenger over the country to inquire, far and wide, for any other names that there might be.

    When the manikin came the next day, she began with Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar, and said all the names she knew, one after another;

    but to every one the little man said, “That is not my name.”

    On the second day she had inquiries made in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there, and she repeated to the manikin the most uncommon and curious. “Perhaps your name is Shortribs, or Sheepshanks, or Laceleg?”

    but he always answered, “That is not my name.”

    On the third day the messenger came back again, and said, “I have not been able to find a single new name,

    but as I came to a high mountain at the end of the forest, where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, there I saw a little house, and before the house a fire was burning,

    and round about the fire quite a ridiculous little man was jumping: he hopped upon one leg, and shouted—“To-day I bake, to-morrow brew, The next I’ll have the young Queen’s child. Ha! glad am I that no one knew That Rumpelstiltskin I am styled.”

    You may think how glad the Queen was when she heard the name!

    And when soon afterwards the little man came in, and asked, “Now, Mistress Queen, what is my name?”

    at first she said, “Is your name Conrad?” “No.”

    “Is your name Harry?” “No.”

    “Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?”

    “The devil has told you that! The devil has told you that!” cried the little man,

    and in his anger he plunged his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg went in;

    and then in rage he pulled at his left leg so hard with both hands

    that he tore himself in two.

Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by every one who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child.

    Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called “Little Red-Cap.”

    One day her mother said to her, “Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good.

    Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly

    and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don’t forget to say, ‘Good-morning,’ and don’t peep into every corner before you do it.”

    “I will take great care,” said