Once a very long time ago there was a young King named Frodo. He loved gold more than anything else in the world. One day, as he walked through one of his villages, he chanced to hear a miller boasting loudly of his daughter's ability to spin straw to gold. Intrigued by the man's words, he ordered the miller's daughter to be brought to his castle.
The girl, named Rosie, was a very pretty girl, and very deft with a spinning wheel. Alas, she could not truly spin straw to gold, and she was afraid of what the King might do to her. Frodo led her to a room filled to the ceiling with straw, with only a little space for a spinning wheel cleared out. He turned to Rosie and proclaimed that she must have all the straw spun to gold by morning, or he would kill her. If, however, she had done that, he would marry her.
Rosie threw herself down and wept as the heavy door was locked. She was doomed to die in the morning, for how could anyone spin straw to gold. A cough at her back made her lift her head.
She blinked in surprise. There before her stood a handsome young man, who smiled and brushed her tears away. "I will spin the straw to gold," he said, "if in exchange you give me your little ring." Sure that it was some trick, Rosie agreed and gave it to him. To her astonishment, the young man sat down at the spinning wheel and began spinning. Straw went in one end and gold came out the other.
The next morning, Rosie awoke to find all the straw gold, and the young man gone. The King was most surprised, but then greed entered his mind and he brought her to an even larger room, filled with even more straw. If she spun all of that, he said, he would marry her. If she could not, she would die.
Rosie wept bitter tears once again, and as before, the young man appeared and comforted her. "If I spin this for you," he said, looking a little bit nervous, "you must give me your little necklace." Rosie agreed and gave it to him. When she awoke the next morning, the straw was gold as before.
King Frodo was ecstatic. He had a woman who could spin gold from straw, which pleased him to no end. He allowed Rosie out and dined with her, learning more about her than just her extraordinary talent. But the greed overtook him again, and he ordered a room even larger than the last two to be filled with straw. He locked Rosie inside with the same promise/threat, and Rosie was filled with despair.
She did not cry this time, and when the young man appeared, she looked sadly at him. "I have nothing more to give you," she said quietly. "You have my mother's necklace and my gammer's gold ring, and I have nothing more to offer."
The young man knelt beside her and took her hand. "There is yourself," he replied, and kissed her forehead. "Come live always with me."
Before she could reply, the door creaked open, and King Frodo rushed into the room. He had suspected something, and now he knew the truth. "No!" he proclaimed. "Both of you must stay here with me, and live in my castle."
Rosie and the young man exchanged glances. "No," they said together, then they both vanished. King Frodo was left alone in the huge chamber of straw, and he wept.
Determined to find them again, King Frodo gave up his throne and wandered the wide world, searching for any sign of the two. Everywhere he went, no one had seen or heard of them, and Frodo was filled with despair. Slowly, his heart turned from loving gold and began to love only them, and he searched ever onward.
Many years later, when he had almost given up all hope, Frodo heard children laughing. He followed the sound and arrived at a splendid cottage, deep in a mystical woods. The children stopped and stared at him, and Frodo stared back, for they looked like tiny versions of the boys and girl he loved.
Rosie came out of the house, followed by the young man. They smiled when they saw Frodo, and Rosie nudged her husband. "What did I tell you, Sam?"
Sam took his hand and smiled. "What took you so long?"
Frodo laughed until he cried. "I don't know," he said, and Rosie kissed him.
"You're here now, and that's all that matters," she said. And it was.
~