Now it happened that the king loved gold above all things. So taking the poor girl by the hand, he led her into one of the great rooms of the castle.
There, in the middle of the room, stood a spinning wheel, and near it was a great heap of straw.
The king turned to the miller's daughter, and said:
"There is your spinning wheel, and here is the straw. If you do not spin all of it into gold by morning, your head shall be cut off."
Then the king left the room and locked the door behind him.
The poor girl could only sit and weep, for she had not the least idea how to spin straw into gold.
While she was crying, the door flew open and a little old man stepped into the room.
He had bandy legs, a long red nose, and wore a tall, peaked cap. Bowing low to the maiden he said:
"Good evening, my dear young lady. Why are you crying?"
"Alas," said the girl, "the king has ordered me to spin all this straw into gold, and I do not know how."