Part 4/12:
The story opens with the miller boasting that his daughter can spin straw into gold—a claim designed to impress the king. The king, enamored with gold, summons her and spins her into an impossible situation: she must turn straw into gold overnight or face death.
Left alone with her problem, the maiden is overwhelmed and begins crying. Miraculously, a mysterious little man—a dwarf—appears and offers to help in exchange for her necklace. She agrees, and he spins the straw into gold, saving her life. The story then escalates as the king, still greedy, sets her to do it again in an even larger room, promising marriage if she succeeds.