By the last light of the day she hurried to the castle. She only just arrived in time, had it been a few minutes later the drawbridge would have been raised. The heavy gates creaked open as she was given entry. For once luck was with her as the King would see only one more supplicant and she was the one. She was shown into the Great Hall of Justice. There the King sat on his throne looking ever so regal.

Immediately she fell to her knees with her head on the ground and started wailing. Tears were streaming down her face making a puddle on the floor. The sobs became louder and louder, echoing throughout the hall.

The King sat there astonished. He was totally flummoxed. Who in the name of all the Gods was this ugly creature. Never in his life had he seen anything like this. Admittedly, he had led a sheltered life, never venturing past the castle walls, but this thing, it was the height of ugliness. Even his pigs seemed pretty in comparison.

“Please your Great and Noble King, our Lord and Master, The most Supreme Ruler, please help me. I have no home and I am starving.” By this time her hunger pangs were most excruciating. She had gone for four hours without food. “I will do anything that you might require. Please give me food, I will do anything.”

The King was getting more and more disgusted with this creature. He was ready to have her thrown over the castle walls. He did not even want her in his dungeons.

“Bah! Unless you can turn straw into gold you are no use to me.” This statement he thought was rather funny. He let out a small laugh. The Ladies of the court laughed. The nobles of the court laughed, the knights laughed and the Jester laughed and capered about.

By now she was so desperate for food that she was willing to say and promise anything. “Your Royal Highness, I can spin you the finest gold out of straw. Anything at all for you my Lord. I will spin any amount you want but I am too weak. If only you give me food your Graciousness I will do it for you.”

“Did you say that you can spin me gold out of straw?’

Suddenly there was instant silence in the Great Hall. The Miller’s daughter was too concerned to notice what was happening, to realise what deadly ground she was treading on.

“Oh yes, your Absolute Greatness. If only you will feed me I will do it for you.”

This was too much for the King. The thought of gold dominated his thinking. He ordered her to be fed with the finest foods available. If she was going to spin gold for him tonight she would need all her strength.

She dined like never before. Plate after plate of delicacies were placed before her. Plate after plate disappeared into her gargantuan body. The amount of food she consumed would have made five strong men flinch, however, she did it without stopping. When she was sated she lounged back and let out a belch so loud it reverberated throughout the castle.