39/Card65

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[edit] Card 65

Card #65 - Secret: Grimm Tales
Image:39BG_cahill.png
Branch: Cahill
Rarity: Rare
Visit unlocked URL

Stole Archive file 65: The Cahill version of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale

(picture of a book)

(Handwriting on top of page)

This gruesome tale will certainly scare people away from alchemy. They will learn that turning straw into gold has terrible consequences!

( Historiated initial with the head of a old man in the center of the letter 'O'. NOTE: the typesetter should have omitted the 'O' in 'Once,' the first word of the story, but did not.)

Once upon a time, there was a lazy miller who lived with his greedy daughter. Instead of grinding grain for the hungry townspeople, the miller spent his days experimenting with ways to turn straw into gold.

One day, the miller and his daughter met the king. Desperate to impress him, the miller lied and said that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king ordered her to prove her talent and locked the daughter in the dungeon with a spinning wheel and a pile of straw. When she heard the heavy door bang shut, the daughter began to cry.

Suddenly, an odd little man appeared on the windowsill. At first, the daughter was frightened by his strange appearance.

"Why do you cry so?" he asked.

When she saw the man meant her no harm, she calmed down.

"I cry because my father told the king I could spin straw into gold and I fear he will punish me if I cannot."

The little man frowned. "That was indeed a foolish thing to say, for no human can turn straw into gold."

The daughter began sobbing even louder until a look of pity came over the man's face. "Do not cry," he said. "I will try to spin the straw into gold for you."

The daughter stopped crying and a sly smile crossed her face. "You can do that?" she asked.

"I might be able to with my magic."

"The king said I have to turn this pile of straw into gold, or he'll kill me," the daughter said, lying.

"I'm not sure my magic is strong enough for that," he replied worriedly.

The daughter forced herself to weep harder.

The little man looked at the tears streaming down her beautiful face. "But I can try," he said. He closed his eyes and concentrated until a look of pain crossed his face. The straw began to sparkle and the daughter giggled with delight. She crossed the room to look at it but, when she turned around, the little man was lying on the floor. She hurried over to him, but it was too late. The task had required too much of his magic. He was dead. She covered his little body with the remaining straw and went to sleep.


[edit] Card 65 Back

original picture found on wikipedia, as part of Torbern Bergman's 1775 Dissertation on Elective Affinities

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