The next day, when the King came and saw all the gold he was even more delighted than before. He was now as rich as any emperor, but even yet he was not content. He took the girl into a still larger room, and it, like the others, was full of straw.
“If you will spin this, too, into gold, then you shall be my bride,” said he.
The King had scarcely left her before the dwarf came hopping into the room. “Well,” said he, “what will you give me this time if I spin the straw into gold for you?”
“Alas, alas!” cried the girl, “I have nothing more to give.”
“Promise me that if the King marries you, you will give me your first child, and I will help you,” said the dwarf.
At first the girl did not want to promise this, but then she thought that after all it was very unlikely the King would marry her, and even if he did she might never have a child. “Very well,” said she, “I promise.”
The dwarf laughed aloud and snapped his fingers with joy. Then he sat down at the spinning wheel and spun till the wheel whirred. You could scarcely see it, it flew so fast. Soon all the straw was spun. “There,” said he, “now you will not need me again. But do not forget your promise, for at the right time I shall certainly come to claim the child.” Then he hopped away, laughing as he went.
Not long afterward the King came into the room. He could wait no longer to see whether the girl had finished her task. When he saw the heaps of gold, more than ever before, he hardly knew what to do with himself, he was so happy.
“Now I am satisfied,” said he. “You shall be my wife, as I promised, and your father shall be brought to court and become a great nobleman.”
As the King said, so it was done. He and the girl were married, and her father was sent for to come and live at the court.