The queen was horrified at the thought of handing her beloved child over to the odd man and, thus, she attempted to bribe him with all of the riches of her new kingdom.
“No. I would
like what you promised me. All the riches in the world could not match the reward of a living thing,” he said.
The queen sobbed terribly and, because the little man felt sorry for
her, he walked back and forth across the room, deep in thought.
“Hmm… I know!” he said finally, with an odd grin on his face. “I will give you three days. If you can figure out what
my name is by the end of the third day, I will let you keep your child.”
The queen agreed immediately and watched as the little man skipped out of her room humming his funny tune.
That night the queen thought long and hard about all the names that she had heard throughout her life. She collected names from the servants in the castle. She sent out messengers to
scour the kingdom for more names. Her list grew and grew.
