The Queen offered the little man all the riches in her kingdom if he would only leave her the child.

But the manikin said, “No, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.”

Then the Queen began to cry and sob so bitterly that the little man was sorry for her, and said, “I’ll give you three days, and if in that time you guess my name, you may keep your child.”

The Queen pondered the whole night over all the names she had ever heard, and sent messengers to scour the land, and to pick up far and near any names they should come across.  When the little man arrived she began with Kasper, Melchior, Belshazzer, Sheepshanks, Cruickshanks, Spindleshanks, and so on through the long list.  At every name the little man shook his head.

At last a messenger reported, “As I came upon a high hill round the corner of the wood, where the foxes and hares bid each other good-night, I saw a little house, and in front of the house burned a fire, and round the fire sprang the most grotesque little man, hopping on one leg and crying,

     ’Tomorrow I brew, today I bake,
      And then the child away I’ll take;
      For little deems my royal dame
      That Rumpelstiltzken is my name!’”

When the little man stepped in afterward and asked his name she said, “Is your name Conrad?”

“No.”

“Is your name, perhaps, Rumpelstiltzken?”

“Some demon has told you that, some demon has told you that,” screamed the little man, as he vanished into the air.

THE MIRROR OF MATSUYANA

The following pretty little story comes from Japan, where it may be found in a collection of tales for children.  A long time ago a young couple lived in the country with their only child, a beautiful little girl whom they loved tenderly.  The names of the parents cannot be told now, for they have long been forgotten, but we know that the place where they lived was Matsuyana, in the province of Echigo.

[Illustration:  Awaiting the return of the father]

Now it happened when the child was still very little that her father was obliged to go to the capital of the kingdom.  As it was so long a journey, neither his wife nor his child could go with him and he departed alone, promising to bring them many pretty gifts on his return.

The mother had never been away from the neighborhood and was not able to get rid of some fear when she thought of the long journey her husband must take.  At the same time, however, she could not but feel pride and satisfaction that it was her husband who was the first man in all that region to go to the rich city where the king and the nobles lived, and where there were so many beautiful and marvelous things to be seen.

At last, when the good wife knew that her husband would return, she dressed her child gaily in the best clothes she had and herself in the blue dress that she knew he liked very much.