Drama: RUMPELSTILTSKIN

Brothers Grimm

Script by Debrina Ayu Virgoyanti

Once, a miller who is poor yet has a beautiful daughter had to speak to the king.

MILLER                                 :               I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.

KING                                     :               That is an art which pleases me well, if your daughter is as clever as you say, bring her to-morrow to my palace, and I will put her to the test.

The girl is bought into a room which is quite full of straw and given her a spinning-wheel and a reel.

KING                                     :               (Pointing at the straw) now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die.

The King leaves and locks up the room. The Girl has no idea how straw could be spun into gold.

GIRL                                       :               (Frightened then crying)

LITTLE MAN                        :               (Opening the door and entering the room) good evening, mistress miller. Why are you crying so?

GIRL                                       :               Alas. I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it. (Still sobbing)

LITTLE MAN                        :               What will you give me, if I do it for you?

GIRL                                       :               My necklace.

LITTLE MAN                        :               Well then… (Taking the necklace then sitting in front of the wheel. Whirr, whirr, whirr. (Putting another on) whirr, whirr, whirr.

And so it goes on until the morning, when all the straw is spun, and all the reels are full of gold.

KING                                     :               (Entering the room) (Astonished and delighted) so, it’s true what your father said. I can have more gold now. Soldier! (To the soldier) Bring this girl to another room. We need to make her productive.

GIRL                                       :               No! No! Please… Just let me go, please please.

The King doesn’t listen to the girl. The King has the miller's daughter taken into another room full of straw, which is much larger.

KING                                     :               Now, you have to spin all of this straw that also in one night if you value your life. (Exit)

GIRL                                       :               (Crying again)

LITTLE MAN                        :               (Opening the door and entering the room -again) what will you give me if I spin that straw into gold for you?

GIRL                                       :               (Pointing at her ring) I have a ring to give it to you.

LITTLE MAN                        :               Alright… (Taking the ring then sitting in front of the wheel. Whirr, whirr, whirr. (Putting another on) whirr, whirr, whirr. (Putting another on again) whirr, whirr, whirr)

By morning, the little man had spun all the straw into glittering gold.

KING                                     :               (Entering the room) (Rejoiced beyond measure at the sight) this is bewildering! I cannot let you do nothing after this.

Unable to say and do anything, the girl is taken into a still larger room full of straw.

KING                                     :               You must spin this, too, in the course of this night, but if you succeed this time, you shall be my wife. (Greedy) (Thinking he could not find a richer wife in the whole world.)

GIRL                                       :               (confused but not crying.)

LITTLE MAN                        :               (Opening the door and entering the room -again) what will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?

GIRL                                       :               I have nothing left that I could give.

LITTLE MAN                        :               Then promise me, if you should become queen, to give me your first child.

GIRL                                       :               That probably will ever happen… but I promise it to you.

LITTLE MAN                        :               We’ll see honey… (Taking the ring then sitting in front of the wheel. Whirr, whirr, whirr. (Putting another on) whirr, whirr, whirr. (Putting another on again) whirr, whirr, whirr)

KING                                     :               This is magnificent! I shall keep my words. You will be a queen now! Everybody! Prepare a wedding. We will have glorious wedding today.

A year after, the queen gives a birth to a beautiful child yet let her promise slip. Out of the blue, the little man comes into her room.

LITTLE MAN                        :               I come to collect your promise. Give me what your child.

QUEEN                                 :               (horror-struck) I could offer you all the riches of the kingdom if you would leave me with my child.

LITTLE MAN                        :               No, something alive is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world, honey.

QUEEN                                 :               (Began to lament and cry)

LITTLE MAN                        :               Alright, alright. I could give you a bargain. I will give you three days, time. If by that time you find out my name, then shall you keep your child.

QUEEN                                 :               It’s a deal.

So the queen thinks the whole night of all the names that she has ever heard, and she send a messenger over the country to inquire, far and wide, for any other names that there might be. The little man comes the next day.

LITTLE MAN                        :               So, what’s my name?

QUEEN                                 :               Is it… Caspar? Melchior? Balthazar? Jack? Thomas? Oliver? Charlie? George? Lewis? Harvey? Luke?

LITTLE MAN                        :               That is not my name. (Exit)

On the second day she had inquiries made in the neighborhood as to the names of the people there. The little man comes again.

LITTLE MAN                        :               So, what’s my name?

QUEEN                                 :               Shortribs? or Sheepshanks? or Laceleg?

LITTLE MAN                        :               That is not my name. (Exit)

On the third day the messenger came back again.

MESSENGER                       :               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.'

QUEEN                                 :               (Happy) Thank you for your hard work, man. You may leave this room.

MESSENGER                       :               At your service. (Exit)

LITTLE MAN                        :               (Enter) now, mistress queen, what is my name?

QUEEN                                 :               Is your name Conrad?

LITTLE MAN                        :               No.

QUEEN                                 :               Is your name Harry?

LITTLE MAN                        :               No.

QUEEN                                 :               Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?

LITTLE MAN                        :               (Crying) the devil has told you that! The devil has told you that! This is unacceptable.

In his anger he plunges his right foot so deep into the earth that his whole leg goes in, and then in rage he pulls at his left leg so hard with both hands that he tears himself in two.