Das Zaubermännchen (1960)

Hans, a miller’s apprentice, works for Miller Kunz. He has trouble with the farmers because he cannot deliver enough flour, even though he works from dawn until dusk. But instead of helping him, Miller Kunz prefers to spend the day boasting and idling. Because the farmers therefore give Miller Kunz no money, leaving him unable to pay the dues owed to the king, he tells the king’s treasurer that his daughter Marie can spin straw into gold. Marie is horrified when she hears of her father’s boasts. The king orders the miller’s daughter to prove that she can spin straw into gold. If she fails, she is to be thrown in prison and the miller’s mill taken from him. When Marie is set to work in the king’s palace, a little man appears and offers to help her; in return, she gives him her necklace. When Marie is told to spin even more straw into gold the following night, the little man appears again. This time, he receives Marie’s ring in return. The king is so pleased that he orders her to spin three times as much straw into gold the next night; as a reward, he promises to marry her. The little man appears again, but since Marie has nothing left to give him as payment, he demands the first child she bears as queen. The king and the miller’s daughter marry and have a child. Miller Kunz becomes the king’s adviser and enjoys a life of idleness. A year later, the little man appears and demands the promised payment; he does not want the child to grow up among people who care about nothing more than gold. When Marie refuses to give up her child, the little man offers to let her keep the child if she can guess his unusual name. With her father’s help, Marie gathers several unusual first names, but none is the right one. The little man says Marie can only be helped if she confesses how the straw was turned into gold; he will come back one more time. Marie tells the king about the little man and his demand for the child. The king then orders his subjects to collect unusual names and search for the little man. Marie asks Hans to go into the forest, to a place no one else goes, and look for the little man there. Hans watches the little man dancing around the fire pit beside his hut and calling out: “Today I bake, today I brew, tomorrow I’ll take the queen’s child. Oh, how good that nobody knows that Rumpelstiltskin is my name!” Hans rushes straight to Marie and tells her what he has discovered. When the little man appears again and Marie is able to tell him his name, he keeps his promise, since Marie loves the child and the king, too, has been cured of his greed for gold. The little man returns to the forest. Hans wishes that, as punishment for his lies, the miller would have to work at the mill again and that his simple-minded neighbor would help him; as a reward for his assistance, Hans himself is appointed adviser to the king and queen.