the necklace summary

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The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Summary The necklace is a story written by Guy de Maupassant. The story is about Matilda Loisel who belongs to a middle class family of clerks and she marries a clerk. Matilda thinks that she should have been leading a life of luxury so she is unable to keep herself happy in her current situation. She thinks that she is fit of jewels and pretty dresses. Her husband has exactly opposite views and he is very happy in whatever they have. One day her husband gets an invitation for a party given by Minster of Public Instruction, when Matilda hears this she says she will need a suitable dress which will cost 400 francs. Her husband gives her the money he had been saving to buy a gun for hunting. Next she says she needs jewellery and decides it to borrow from her friend who also has a diamond necklace. She attends the ball and is very happy but on returning home she realizes that she has lost the necklace. They report it to the police and the paper but it sister not turn up, she tells the owner that she broke the clasp and had sent it to be repaired. They pool in all they have and buy a similar diamond necklace for thirty six thousand francs and return it. Now they have to live a life of poverty and she constantly thinks how different their life could have been if she had not lost the necklace. One day she sees her friend from whom she borrowed the necklace and decided to tell her the truth. When she hears about it she is shocked and tells Matilda that it was fake and did not cost more than 5oo Francs.

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Page 1: The Necklace Summary

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

Summary

The necklace is a story written by Guy de Maupassant. The story is about Matilda Loisel who

belongs to a middle class family of clerks and she marries a clerk. Matilda thinks that she should

have been leading a life of luxury so she is unable to keep herself happy in her current situation.

She thinks that she is fit of jewels and pretty dresses. Her husband has exactly opposite views

and he is very happy in whatever they have. One day her husband gets an invitation for a party

given by Minster of Public Instruction, when Matilda hears this she says she will need a suitable

dress which will cost 400 francs. Her husband gives her the money he had been saving to buy a

gun for hunting. Next she says she needs jewellery and decides it to borrow from her friend who

also has a diamond necklace. She attends the ball and is very happy but on returning home she

realizes that she has lost the necklace. They report it to the police and the paper but it sister not

turn up, she tells the owner that she broke the clasp and had sent it to be repaired. They pool in

all they have and buy a similar diamond necklace for thirty six thousand francs and return it.

Now they have to live a life of poverty and she constantly thinks how different their life could

have been if she had not lost the necklace. One day she sees her friend from whom she borrowed

the necklace and decided to tell her the truth. When she hears about it she is shocked and tells

Matilda that it was fake and did not cost more than 5oo Francs.

Page 2: The Necklace Summary

Plot

This story is more toward tragedy as the main character has suffered because of her own greed

which leads to her downfall. In this story, Mathilde has a simple life but to her it was not enough

as she always dreams to have rich and luxurious lifestyles. This evidence can be seen on

paragraph 3…   “She suffered intensely, feeling herself born for every delicacy and every luxury.

She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the worn walls, the abraded chairs, the

ugliness of the stuffs”. This explains how poor her life is and each passing days she wish that her

life would be rich. Another evidence show how she suffer in her life for 10 years after losing her

friend’s necklace. In paragraph 99,”She learned the rough work of the household, the odious

labors of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, wearing out her pink nails on the greasy pots and

the bottoms of the pans”. The third evidence of tragedy is that in the part of the story she found

out that all this time the real price of the necklace was only 400 francs. This can be seen on

paragraph 128 “Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine were false. At most they were worth five

hundred francs!”

Page 3: The Necklace Summary

The Necklace By Guy de Maupassant

SHE was one of those pretty and charming girls, born by a blunder of destiny in a family

of employees. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood,

loved, married by a man rich and distinguished; and she let them make a match for her

with a little clerk in the Department of Education.

   1

   She was simple since she could not be adorned; but she was unhappy as though kept out

of her own class; for women have no caste and no descent, their beauty, their grace, and

their charm serving them instead of birth and fortune. Their native keenness, their

instinctive elegance, their flexibility of mind, are their only hierarchy; and these make the

daughters of the people the equals of the most lofty dames.

   2

  She suffered intensely, feeling herself born for every delicacy and every luxury. She

suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the worn walls, the abraded chairs, the

ugliness of the stuffs. All these things, which another woman of her caste would not even

have noticed, tortured her and made her indignant. The sight of the little girl from Brittany

who did her humble housework awoke in her desolated regrets and distracted dreams. She

let her mind dwell on the quiet vestibules, hung with Oriental tapestries, lighted by tall

lamps of bronze, and on the two tall footmen in knee breeches who dozed in the large

armchairs, made drowsy by the heat of the furnace. She let her mind dwell on the large

parlors, decked with old silk, with their delicate furniture, supporting precious bric-a-brac,

and on the coquettish little rooms, perfumed, prepared for the five o’clock chat with the

most intimate friends, men well known and sought after, whose attentions all women

envied and desired.

   3

  When she sat down to dine, before a tablecloth three days old, in front of her husband,

who lifted the cover of the tureen, declaring with an air of satisfaction, “Ah, the good pot-

au-feu. I don’t know anything better than that,” she was thinking of delicate repasts, with

glittering silver, with tapestries peopling the walls with ancient figures and with strange

birds in a fairy-like forest; she was thinking of exquisite dishes, served in marvelous

platters, of compliment whispered and heard with a sphinx-like smile, while she was

   4

Page 4: The Necklace Summary

eating the rosy flesh of a trout or the wings of a quail.

  She had no dresses, no jewelry, nothing. And she loved nothing else; she felt herself

made for that only. She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be seductive

and sought after.

   5

  She had a rich friend, a comrade of her convent days, whom she did not want to go and

see any more, so much did she suffer as she came away. And she wept all day long, from

chagrin, from regret, from despair, and from distress.

   6

But one evening her husband came in with a proud air, holding in his hand a large

envelope.

   7

  “There,” said he, “there’s something for you.”    8

  She quickly tore the paper and took out of it a printed card which bore these words:—    9

  “The Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Rampouneau beg M. and Mme. Loisel to

do them the honor to pass the evening with them at the palace of the Ministry, on

Monday, January 18.”

  10

  Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table

with annoyance, murmuring—

  11

  “What do you want me to do with that?”   12

  “But, my dear, I thought you would be pleased. You never go out, and here’s a chance, a

fine one. I had the hardest work to get it. Everybody is after them; they are greatly sought

for and not many are given to the clerks. You will see there all the official world.”

  13

  She looked at him with an irritated eye and she declared with impatience:—   14

  “What do you want me to put on my back to go there?”   15

  He had not thought of that; he hesitated:—   16

  “But the dress in which you go to the theater. That looks very well to me—”   17

  He shut up, astonished and distracted at seeing that his wife was weeping. Two big tears

were descending slowly from the corners of the eyes to the corners of the mouth. He

stuttered:—

  18

  What’s the matter? What’s the matter?”   19

  But by a violent effort she had conquered her trouble, and she replied in a calm voice as

she wiped her damp cheeks:—

  20

Page 5: The Necklace Summary

  “Nothing. Only I have no clothes, and in consequence I cannot go to this party. Give

your card to some colleague whose wife has a better outfit than I.”

  21

  He was disconsolate. He began again:—   22

  “See here, Mathilde, how much would this cost, a proper dress, which would do on other

occasions; something very simple?”

  23

  She reflected a few seconds, going over her calculations, and thinking also of the sum

which she might ask without meeting an immediate refusal and a frightened exclamation

from the frugal clerk.

  24

  “At last, she answered hesitatingly:—   25

  “I don’t know exactly, but it seems to me that with four hundred francs I might do it.”   26

  He grew a little pale, for he was reserving just that sum to buy a gun and treat himself to

a little shooting, the next summer, on the plain of Nanterre, with some friends who used to

shoot larks there on Sundays.

  27

  But he said:—   28

  “All right. I will give you four hundred francs. But take care to have a pretty dress.”   29

The day of the party drew near, and Mme. Loisel seemed sad, restless, anxious. Yet her

dress was ready. One evening her husband said to her:—

  30

  “What’s the matter? Come, now, you have been quite queer these last three days.”   31

  And she answered:—   32

  “It annoys me not to have a jewel, not a single stone, to put on. I shall look like distress. I

would almost rather not go to this party.”

  33

  He answered:—   34

  “You will wear some natural flowers. They are very stylish this time of the year. For ten

francs you will have two or three magnificent roses.”

  35

  But she was not convinced.   36

  “No; there’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among a lot of rich women.”   37

  But her husband cried:—   38

  “What a goose you are! Go find your friend, Mme. Forester, and ask her to lend you

some jewelry. You know her well enough to do that.”

  39

  She gave a cry of joy:—   40

  “That’s true. I had not thought of it.”   41

Page 6: The Necklace Summary

  The next day she went to her friend’s and told her about her distress.   42

  Mme. Forester went to her mirrored wardrobe, took out a large casket, brought it, opened

it, and said to Mme. Loisel:—

  43

  “Choose, my dear.”   44

  She saw at first bracelets, then a necklace of pearls, then a Venetian cross of gold set

with precious stones of an admirable workmanship. She tried on the ornaments before the

glass, hesitated, and could not decide to take them off and to give them up. She kept on

asking:—

  45

  “You haven’t anything else?”   46

  “Yes, yes. Look. I do not know what will happen to please you.”   47

  All at once she discovered, in a box of black satin, a superb necklace of diamonds, and

her heart began to beat with boundless desire. Her hands trembled in taking it up. She

fastened it round her throat, on her high dress, and remained in ecstasy before herself.

  48

  Then, she asked, hesitating, full of anxiety:—   49

  “Can you lend me this, only this?”   50

  “Yes, yes, certainly.”   51

  She sprang to her friend’s neck, kissed her with ardor, and then escaped with her

treasure.

  52

The day of the party arrived. Mme. Loisel was a success. She was the prettiest of them all,

elegant, gracious, smiling, and mad with joy. All the men were looking at her, inquiring

her name, asking to be introduced. All the attaches of the Cabinet wanted to dance with

her. The Minister took notice of her.

  53

  She danced with delight, with passion, intoxicated with pleasure, thinking of nothing, in

the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness made

up of all these tributes, of all the admirations, of all these awakened desires, of this victory

so complete and so sweet to a woman’s heart.

  54

  She went away about four in the morning. Since midnight—her husband has been dozing

in a little anteroom with three other men whose wives were having a good time.

  55

  He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought to go home in, modest garments

of every-day life, the poverty of which was out of keeping with the elegance of the ball

dress. She felt this, and wanted to fly so as not to be noticed by the other women, who

  56

Page 7: The Necklace Summary

were wrapping themselves up in rich furs.

  Loisel kept her back—   57

  “Wait a minute; you will catch cold outside; I’ll call a cab.”   58

  But she did not listen to him, and went downstairs rapidly. When they were in the street,

they could not find a carriage, and they set out in search of one, hailing the drivers whom

they saw passing in the distance.

  59

  They went down toward the Seine, disgusted, shivering. Finally, they found on the Quai

one of those old night-hawk cabs which one sees in Paris only after night has fallen, as

though they are ashamed of their misery in the daytime.

  60

  It brought them to their door, rue des Martyrs; and they went up their own stairs sadly.

For her it was finished. And he was thinking that he would have to be at the Ministry at

ten o’clock.

  61

  She took off the wraps with which she had covered her shoulders, before the mirror, so

as to see herself once more in her glory. But suddenly she gave a cry. She no longer had

the necklace around her throat!

  62

  Her husband, half undressed already, asked—   63

  “What is the matter with you?”   64

  She turned to him, terror-stricken:—   65

  “I—I—I have not Mme. Forester’s diamond necklace!”   66

  He jumped up, frightened—   67

  “What? How? It is not possible!”   68

  And they searched in the folds of the dress, in the folds of the wrap, in the pockets,

everywhere. They did not find it.

  69

  He asked:—   70

  “Are you sure you still had it when you left the ball?”   71

  “Yes, I touched it in the vestibule of the Ministry.”   72

  “But if you had lost it in the street, we should have heard it fall. It must be in the cab.”   73

  “Yes. That is probable. Did you take the number?”   74

  “No. And you—you did not even look at it?”   75

  “No.”   76

  They gazed at each other, crushed. At last Loisel dressed himself again.   77

  “I’m going,” he said, “back the whole distance we came on foot, to see if I cannot find   78

Page 8: The Necklace Summary

it.”

  And he went out. She stayed there, in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed,

overwhelmed, on a chair, without a fire, without a thought.

  79

  Her husband came back about seven o’clock. He had found nothing.   80

  Then he went to police headquarters, to the newspapers to offer a reward, to the cab

company; he did everything, in fact, that a trace of hope could urge him to.

  81

  She waited all day, in the same dazed state in face of this horrible disaster.   82

  Loisel came back in the evening, with his face worn and white; he had discovered

nothing.

  83

  “You must write to your friend,” he said, “that you have broken the clasp of her necklace

and that you are having it repaired. That will give us time to turn around.”

  84

  She wrote as he dictated.   85

At the end of a week they had lost all hope. And Loisel, aged by five years, declared:—   86

  “We must see how we can replace those jewels.”   87

  The next day they took the case which had held them to the jeweler whose name was in

the cover. He consulted his books.

  88

  “It was not I, madam, who sold this necklace. I only supplied the case.”   89

  Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, looking for a necklace like the other, consulting

their memory,—sick both of them with grief and anxiety.

  90

  In a shop in the Palais Royal, they found a diamond necklace that seemed to them

absolutely like the one they were seeking. It was priced forty thousand francs. They could

have it for thirty-six.

  91

  They begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they made a bargain that he

should take it back for thirty-four thousand, if the first was found before the end of

February.

  92

  Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He had to

borrow the remainder.

  93

  He borrowed, asking a thousand francs from one, five hundred from another, five here,

three louis there. He gave promissory notes, made ruinous agreements, dealt with usurers,

with all kinds of lenders. He compromised the end of his life, risked his signature without

even knowing whether it could be honored; and, frightened by all the anguish of the

future, by the black misery which was about to settle down on him, by the perspective of

  94

Page 9: The Necklace Summary

all sorts of physical deprivations and of all sorts of moral tortures, he went to buy the new

diamond necklace, laying down on the jeweler’s counter thirty-six thousand francs.

  When Mme. Loisel took back the necklace to Mme. Forester, the latter said, with an

irritated air:—

  95

  “You ought to have brought it back sooner, for I might have needed it.”   96

  She did not open the case, which her friend had been fearing. If she had noticed the

substitution, what would she have thought? What would she have said? Might she not

have been taken for a thief?

  97

Mme. Loisel learned the horrible life of the needy. She made the best of it, moreover,

frankly, heroically. The frightful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed the

servant; they changed their rooms; they took an attic under the roof.

  98

  She learned the rough work of the household, the odious labors of the kitchen. She

washed the dishes, wearing out her pink nails on the greasy pots and the bottoms of the

pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and the towels, which she dried on a rope; she

carried down the garbage to the street every morning, and she carried up the water,

pausing for breath on every floor. And, dressed like a woman of the people, she went to

the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, a basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, fighting for

her wretched money, sou by sou.

  99

  Every month they had to pay notes, to renew others to gain time.  100

  The husband worked in the evening keeping up the books of a shopkeeper, and at night

often he did copying at five sous the page.

 101

  And this life lasted ten years.  102

  At the end of ten years they had paid everything back, everything, with the rates of usury

and all the accumulation of heaped-up interest.

 103

  Mme. Loisel seemed aged now. She had become the robust woman, hard and rough, of a

poor household. Badly combed, with her skirts awry and her hands red, her voice was

loud, and she washed the floor with splashing water.

 104

  But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and she

thought of that evening long ago, of that ball, where she had been so beautiful and so

admired.

 105

  What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows?  106

Page 10: The Necklace Summary

How singular life is, how changeable! What a little thing it takes to save you or to lose

you.

  Then, one Sunday, as she was taking a turn in the Champs Elysées, as a recreation after

the labors of the week, she perceived suddenly a woman walking with a child. It was

Mme. Forester, still young, still beautiful, still seductive.

 107

  Mme. Loisel felt moved. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she had

paid up, she would tell her all. Why not?

 108

  She drew near.  109

  “Good morning, Jeanne.”  110

  The other did not recognize her, astonished to be hailed thus familiarly by this woman of

the people. She hesitated—

 111

  “But—madam—I don’t know—are you not making a mistake?”  112

  “No. I am Mathilde Loisel.”  113

  Her friend gave a cry—  114

  “Oh!—My poor Mathilde, how you are changed.”  115

  “Yes, I have had hard days since I saw you, and many troubles,—and that because of

you.”

 116

  “Of me?—How so?”  117

  “You remember that diamond necklace that you lent me to go to the ball at the

Ministry?”

 118

  “Yes. And then?”  119

  “Well, I lost it.”  120

  “How can that be?—since you brought it back to me?”  121

  “I brought you back another just like it. And now for ten years we have been paying for

it. You will understand that it was not easy for us, who had nothing. At last, it is done, and

I am mighty glad.”

 122

  Mme. Forester had guessed.  123

  “You say that you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?”  124

  “Yes. You did not notice it, even, did you? They were exactly alike?”  125

  And she smiled with proud and naïve joy.  126

  Mme. Forester, much moved, took her by both hands:—  127

  “Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine were false. At most they were worth five hundred  128

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francs!”

Page 12: The Necklace Summary

The Frog Prince

One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by

herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water with a rose in the middle of it,

she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her

favourite plaything; and she was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell.

     After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounded

away, and rolled along on the ground, until at last it fell down into the spring. The princess

looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the

bottom of it. She began to cry, and said, 'Alas! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all

my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.'

     Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, 'Princess, why do you

weep so bitterly?'

     'Alas!' said she, 'what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the

spring.'

     The frog said, 'I do not want your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me,

and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep on your bed, I will bring

you your ball again.'

     'What nonsense,' thought the princess, 'this silly frog is talking! He can never even get out of

the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him

he shall have what he asks.'

     So she said to the frog, 'Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.'

     Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he

came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring.

     As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to

have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she

could.

Page 13: The Necklace Summary

     The frog called after her, 'Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said,'

     But she did not stop to hear a word.

     The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise - tap, tap -

plash, plash - as if something was coming up the marble staircase, and soon afterwards there was

a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:

'Open the door, my princess dear, 

Open the door to thy true love here! 

And mind the words that thou and I said 

By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

     Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had

quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as she could

came back to her seat.

     The king, her father, seeing that something had frightened her, asked her what was the matter.

     'There is a nasty frog,' said she, 'at the door, that lifted my ball for me out of the spring this

morning. I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the

spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.'

     While she was speaking the frog knocked again at the door, and said:

'Open the door, my princess dear, 

Open the door to thy true love here!

And mind the words that thou and I said 

By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.' 

     Then the king said to the young princess, 'As you have given your word you must keep it; so

go and let him in.'

     She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on - tap, tap - plash, plash -

from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat.

Page 14: The Necklace Summary

     'Pray lift me upon chair,' said he to the princess, 'and let me sit next to you.'

     As soon as she had done this, the frog said, 'Put your plate nearer to me, that I may eat out of

it.'

     This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, 'Now I am tired; carry me

upstairs, and put me into your bed.' And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her

hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long.

     As soon as it was light the frog jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house.

     'Now, then,' thought the princess, 'at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.'

     But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and

the frog came once more, and said:

'Open the door, my princess dear, 

Open the door to thy true love here! 

And mind the words that thou and I said 

By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'

     And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before,

till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the

following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on

her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen and standing at the head of her bed.

     He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog;

and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let

him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights.

     'You,' said the prince, 'have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but

that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as

long as you live.'

Page 15: The Necklace Summary

     The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying 'Yes' to all this; and as they

spoke a brightly coloured coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of

feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince's servant, faithful Heinrich,

who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so

bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.

     They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full

of joy and merriment, for the prince's kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived

happily a great many years.

Page 16: The Necklace Summary

Synopsis

The story happens when the frog help the princess get back her golden ball and it finally

got the chance to break the spell. At first, the princess does not want to bother the frog but once

her father, the king get to know about this matter, he told the princess must keep her words and

that start the night that the frog sleep together with the princess. After the third night, the frog

transforms back into a handsome prince and the princess gets to know that actually he had been

enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to

abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and

sleep upon her bed for three nights. At the end, they married and lived happily a great many

years.

Plot

Basically the story “The Frog Prince” is the rebirth story type because it involves the

prince who was enchanted into a frog by a spiteful fairy. Based on paragraph 4, this can be seen

when the princess tossing her golden ball and accidently the ball felt down into the spring. At

that moment, the frog appears and willing to help the princess get back the golden ball with the

term that 'I do not want your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let

me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep on your bed, I will bring you your

ball again. The frog saying such term because it know that princess able to broke the spell if the

she really kept her promise. Another evidence show of rebirth plot is that when the frog finally

transforms into the prince after slept upon on the princess bed for three nights. As a reward, the

prince brings princess to his father’s kingdom and married her. They lived happily ever after.

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Rumpelstiltskin

Once there was a miller who was very poor and very boastful. He had a beautiful daughter

whom he loved very much and whom he tried to keep protected from the world.

One day she was playing in her garden when she met Boy. They became friends and he told the

miller’s daughter all about the selfish king. Boy worked in the palace for the king. The Miller

was not happy about his daughter talking to Boy.

One day the miller happened to be talking to the king. The miller was so vain and proud of his

daughter that he stupidly said to the king, “My daughter can spin straw into gold.”

Now the king was very greedy and he loved money and gold. When he heard the miller’s boast,

he said, “How fascinating! If your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to the palace, and

we will see what she can do.”

When the daughter was brought to the king he took her to a room that was full of straw, and gave

her a spinning wheel. He then left her after saying, “Off you go then. All this straw must be spun

into gold by tomorrow morning. If you don’t manage this, I will have you killed.”

She sat down in one corner and started to cry. She didn’t know what to do. How on earth could

she spin straw into gold? All of a sudden, the door opened and in hobbled a little funny looking

man. He said, “Good evening. What are you crying for?”

“Oh,” she said, “I must spin this straw in to gold by tomorrow morning and I don’t know how.”

“What will you give me,” said the little man, “if I do it for you?”

“My necklace,” replied the miller’s daughter.

The little funny looking man took the necklace and sat himself down at the spinning wheel.

Whirr, Whirr, Whirr, three times the wheel went round and the first reel was full. Whirr, Whirr,

Whirr, three times the wheel went round and the second reel was full. He worked well into the

night, happy in his work, until all the work was done and all the straw was spun into gold.

When the king unlocked the door and came into the room he was amazed and astonished. He

was delighted with the reels of gold. But the king was a greedy man and his heart swelled with

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greed. This was not enough for him. Now he wanted more. So he took the miller’s daughter

into a larger room that was also full of straw, and again told her to spin all the straw into gold or

he would have her killed.

Again, the king locked the door and she started to weep. But all of a sudden the little funny

looking man came in again and said, “ What will you give me this time to do your task?”

“This ring on my finger,” she replied. So the little man took her ring and started work. Whirr,

Whirr, Whirr, three times the wheel went round and the first reel was full. Whirr, Whirr, Whirr,

three times the wheel went round and the second reel was full. He worked well into the night,

happy in his work, until all the work was done and all the straw was spun into gold.

In the morning the king cam in again and was even more astonished to see that all the straw had

been spun into gold once again. However his greed meant that he was still not satisfied, and he

took the miller’s daughter to an even bigger room, also full of straw and said, “All this must be

spun into gold by the morning. If you succeed, I shall have you killed.” (He thought to himself,

“She could be my queen. She may only be a miller’s daughter, but I couldn’t find a richer wife

in the whole world”)

As soon as she was left alone and started to cry, the funny looking little man came in again and

said, “What will you give me this time for doing your task?”

“I have nothing left to give you,” sobbed the miller’s daughter.

“Then promise me,” he said, “if you ever become queen, to give me your first child.”

The miller’s daughter thought to herself, “That will never happen. The king will never marry a

poor miller’s daughter!” So she promised the little man to give her what he wanted.

The little man sat down to work. Whirr, Whirr, Whirr, three times the wheel went round and the

first reel was full. Whirr, Whirr, Whirr, three times the wheel went round and the second reel

was full. He worked well into the night, happy in his work, until all the work was done and all

the straw was spun into gold.

The king came into the room in the morning and found all that he had wished for, so he married

the miller’s daughter the very next day, and she really did become queen.

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A year later, she had her first child, and they were both very happy. She had forgotten all about

her promise to the funny looking little man, until one day he suddenly appeared in her room and

reminded her of it. The queen was horrified. She offered him all the riches in the kingdom if

only he could forget her promise to him. She cried and cried and cried. In fact she cried so

much that the little man took pity on her. “I will give you three days grace” he said. “If, in that

time, you can find out what my name is, you can keep your baby.” Boy heard of the queen’s

pain and went to speak to her. He saw how distressed she was so he went out into the world to

try and seek out the funny looking little man and find out his name.

That night the Queen tossed and turned all night trying to think of all the odd names that she had

ever heard. She sent out messengers around the kingdom, and across the land to ask what other

names there may be. The next day, the little man came and she began to reel off some names.

“Timothy, Benjamin, Casper, Melchior, Jerome” and all the other names she knew, but to all of

them he said, “That’s not my name!”

On the second day she sent the messengers back out to found out more new names, and when the

little man came back she tried all the funny, comical names she knew. “Scar-face, Bandy-legs,

Sparerib, Turnip-head”, but he answered “No!” to all of them.

On the third day, after having many adventures and meeting many different creatures, Boy

came back. He told the queen, “As I walked through a thick forest yesterday, where the fox and

the hare said goodnight to each other, I saw a little hut, and before the hut there burnt a fire, and

round the fire danced a little funny looking man. As he was dancing, he sang:

Today I brew, tomorrow I bake,

And after that the child I I’ll take.

I’m the winner of the game,

Rumpelstiltskin is my name”.

When the queen heard this, she jumped for joy as she knew that this was surely the little man’s

name. As soon as her little visitor came into her room that night, she joked.

“Is it Tom?”

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“No” laughed the little man.

“Is it Jas?”

“No.”

“Is it Sloppy Joe?”

“No.”

“Could it be………… Rumpelstiltskin?”

“Some witch must have told you that!” cried the little man and he stamped his foot so hard into

the ground that his whole leg went in. He then was so angry that he pulled so hard to get his leg

out and he split himself in two then disappeared!

So the queen kept her baby, and loved it all the more because she had so nearly lost it.

And her and her king, and the miller and Boy lived happily for a long time and never heard from

the funny little man again.

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Synopsis

The story start with a miller lied to the king that his daughter could spin straw into gold. Young

woman been called by the king and is told that first she must spin straw into gold or die. A funny

trickster (Rumpelstiltskin) agrees to do it, only if she promises her first born child. He does, and

she marries the King. When she gives birth to a child, Rumpelstiltskin comes back and demands

the child for payment. Since he loves to play games, he says that the Queen may keep the child,

if she can guess his name in three days. He comes back three times to ask her what his name is.

In the meantime the boy inadvertently discovers the man in the woods who is saying his name.

The boy rushes home to tell the Queen. When Rumpelstiltskin returns the third time, she says his

name and he disappears forever.

Plot

The plot of this story is overcoming the monster. This involve where the mysterious short man

name Rumpelstiltskin start to make deals with the young women, turning straws into gold. This

evidence can be seen on paragraph seven where Rumpelstiltskin offer to turn the straws into gold

if the young women agreed to offer her necklace as a payment. Later on, the ring became the

second payment until the young women doesn’t have any valuable items left. Rumpelstiltskin

give one final offer to the young women asking her to give her first born child when she becomes

a Queen. In the second evidence, it show that how the Queen find out rumpelstiltskin real’s name

by playing a game which she is given three day to find out. For the first and second days, the

Queen was unable to guess the name correctly although she has tried a lot of names. At the end

of last day the Queen able to guess the name correctly with the help of a scout that follow

Rumpelstiltskin back to his hut and heard he sang his name. Then Rumpelstiltskin cried he

stamped his foot so hard into the ground that his whole leg went in. He then was so angry that he

pulled so hard to get his leg out and he split himself in two then disappeared!