Once upon a time there lived in a village a young girl, who with her father, went through life by pinching and scraping. I guess they were living so long by the skin of their teeth; the father soon had bats on his belfry. He started telling his neighbors this cock and bull story of how his daughter could spin straw into gold. Though it was as plain as pikestaff that humans can’t do such a thing, they took it hook, line and sinker.

So much, even the king believed.

After the father changed hands with the king for his daughter, the king took her to a chamber full of straw (the man works fast) and said, “If you don’t spin all this straw into gold by the next day, it’s curtains for you.”