--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There once was a miller with a daughter…" description: "\"There once was a miller with a daughter as lovely as a grape. He told the king that she could spin gold out of common straw. The king summoned the girl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/924/anne-sexton-645_brooklyn_there-once-was-a-miller-with-a-daughter_2738021.png" --- # There once was a miller with a daughter as lovely as a… ![“There once was a miller with a daughter as lovely as a grape. He told the king that she could spin gold out of common straw. The king summoned the girl and locked her in a room full of straw and told her to spin it into gold or she would die like a criminal. Poor grape with no one to pick…” quote by Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/924/anne-sexton-645_brooklyn_there-once-was-a-miller-with-a-daughter_2738021.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/924/anne-sexton-645_brooklyn_there-once-was-a-miller-with-a-daughter_2738021.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/924/anne-sexton-645_brooklyn_there-once-was-a-miller-with-a-daughter_2738021.png) > “There once was a miller with a daughter as lovely as a grape. He told the king that she could spin gold out of common straw. The king summoned the girl and locked her in a room full of straw and told her to spin it into gold or she would die like a criminal. Poor grape with no one to pick. Luscious and round and sleek. Poor thing. To die and never see Brooklyn. (Rumpelstiltskin)” [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes a tragic, fairy‑tale scenario where a girl is forced to perform impossible tasks under threat of death. **In simple terms:** Girl forced to spin gold or die. Key Takeaway Beware impossible demands. Themes fairy tale danger impossible tasks Mood melancholy dark humor Type literary folklore When to use this quote - childhood storytelling - moral lessons - creative writing Key Concepts exploitation survival hope Questions to Reflect On - What pressures force us into impossible choices? - How do we find agency in dire situations? A Different Perspective The narrative is a modern, humorous twist on the original tale. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brooklyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooklyn/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Criminals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criminals/) [Daughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daughter/) [Girl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girl/) [Gold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gold/) [Grape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grape/) [Kings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kings/) ## Related quotes > [What grape to keep its place in the sun, taught our ancestors to make wine?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyril-connolly/what-grape-to-keep-its-place-in-the-sun-taught-our-ancestors-to-make/) [Cyril Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyril-connolly/) > [The most savory grape, the one that produces the wines with best texture and aroma, the sweetest and most generous, doesn't grow in rich…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/the-most-savory-grape-the-one-that-produces-the-wines-with-best/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) > [The grape becomes tinted from the grape it comes in contact with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/the-grape-becomes-tinted-from-the-grape-it-comes-in-contact-with/) [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) > [Don't long for the unripe grape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/don-t-long-for-the-unripe-grape/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Art compares to nature like wine to the grape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-grillparzer/art-compares-to-nature-like-wine-to-the-grape/) [Franz Grillparzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-grillparzer/) > [The culture of the hop ... so analagous to the culture and uses of the grape, may afford a theme for future poets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/the-culture-of-the-hop-so-analagous-to-the-culture-and-uses-of-the/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Nico leaned over and plucked a grape. Probably that was the guy’s entire diet for the day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/nico-leaned-over-and-plucked-a-grape-probably-that-was-the-guy-s/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) > [“The grapes are smaller than I’m used to, and the skin is slightly textured. Is that dirt? I dip my napkin in water and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-perkins/the-grapes-are-smaller-than-i-m-used-to-and-the-skin-is-slightly/) [Stephanie Perkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-perkins/) > [ The grape gains its purple tinge by looking at another grape. \[Lat., Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/the-grape-gains-its-purple-tinge-by-looking-at-another-grape-lat/) [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) > [It's just that the grape has me down.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bukowski/it-s-just-that-the-grape-has-me-down/) [Charles Bukowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bukowski/) > [Beulah, peel me a grape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mae-west/beulah-peel-me-a-grape/) [Mae West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mae-west/) > [What is wine? It is the grape present in another form; its essence is there, though the fruit which produced it grew thousands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-lover/what-is-wine-it-is-the-grape-present-in-another-form-its-essence-is/) [Samuel Lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-lover/) > [Bring me wine, but wine which never grew In the belly of the grape](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/bring-me-wine-but-wine-which-never-grew-in-the-belly-of-the-grape/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [I am certain that the good Lord never intended grapes to be made into grape jelly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fiorello-h-la-guardia/i-am-certain-that-the-good-lord-never-intended-grapes-to-be-made-into/) [Fiorello H. La Guardia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fiorello-h-la-guardia/) > [It all went a bit grape-shaped.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-mcateer/it-all-went-a-bit-grape-shaped/) [Jason McAteer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-mcateer/) ## More by Anne Sexton > [Blind with love, my daughter has cried nightly for horses, those long-necked marchers and churners that she has mastered, any and all, reigning them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/blind-with-love-my-daughter-has-cried-nightly-for-horses-those-long/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I am crazy as hell, but I know it. And knowing it is a kind of sanity that makes the sickness worse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-am-crazy-as-hell-but-i-know-it-and-knowing-it-is-a-kind-of-sanity/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [And what of the dead? They lie without shoes in the stone boats. They are more like stone than the sea would be if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/and-what-of-the-dead-they-lie-without-shoes-in-the-stone-boats-they/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [The Witch's Life" When I was a child there was an old woman in our neighborhood whom we called The Witch. All day she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/the-witch-s-life-when-i-was-a-child-there-was-an-old-woman-in-our/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I have forgiven all the old actors for dying. A new one comes on with the same lines, like large white growths, in his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-have-forgiven-all-the-old-actors-for-dying-a-new-one-comes-on-with/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“From the Garden” Come, my beloved, consider the lilies. We are of little faith. We talk too much. 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Out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-want-to-kiss-god-on-his-nose-and-watch-him-sneeze-and-so-do-you-not/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I, in my brand new body, which was not a woman's yet, told the stars my questions and thought God could really see the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-in-my-brand-new-body-which-was-not-a-woman-s-yet-told-the-stars-my/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Father, you died once, salted down at fifty-nine, packed down like a big snow angel, wasn't that enough?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/father-you-died-once-salted-down-at-fifty-nine-packed-down-like-a-big/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [When I'm writing, I know I'm doing the thing I was born to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/when-i-m-writing-i-know-i-m-doing-the-thing-i-was-born-to-do/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after, like two dolls in a museum case never bothered by diapers or dust, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/cinderella-and-the-prince-lived-they-say-happily-ever-after-like-two/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Quite collected at cocktail parties, meanwhile in my head I'm undergoing open-heart surgery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/quite-collected-at-cocktail-parties-meanwhile-in-my-head-i-m/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [I cannot walk an inch / without trying to walk to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/i-cannot-walk-an-inch-without-trying-to-walk-to-god/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [Now that I have written many words, and let out so many loves, for so many, and been altogether what I always was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/now-that-i-have-written-many-words-and-let-out-so-many-loves-for-so/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) [Explore all 428 Anne Sexton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) ## More Brooklyn quotes > [Mike Tyson is the most complex person I've ever met in my life. 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Digging out there in the dirt is a joy for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siri-hustvedt/i-love-the-little-garden-in-the-back-of-my-family-s-brownstone-in/) [Siri Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/siri-hustvedt/) > [Brooklyn, where I grew up, is a competitive burg - there's always a pretty boy around the corner there, and you gotta look better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theophilus-london/brooklyn-where-i-grew-up-is-a-competitive-burg-there-s-always-a/) [Theophilus London](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theophilus-london/) > [Coming from Haiti and growing up in Brooklyn, there's a lot of European influence when I get dressed up. I wear a lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wyclef-jean/coming-from-haiti-and-growing-up-in-brooklyn-there-s-a-lot-of/) [Wyclef Jean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wyclef-jean/) > [No, I ain't a star - I'm just a kid from Brooklyn, living his dream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/astro/no-i-ain-t-a-star-i-m-just-a-kid-from-brooklyn-living-his-dream/) [Astro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/astro/) > [Brooklyn is not the easiest place to grow up in, although I wouldn't change that experience for anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-diamond/brooklyn-is-not-the-easiest-place-to-grow-up-in-although-i-wouldn-t/) [Neil Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-diamond/) > [My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-mccourt/my-childhood-here-was-very-limited-so-it-was-a-long-long-time-before/) [Frank McCourt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-mccourt/) > [My father grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., with my grandparents. In Norwegian my name is pronounced 'Yoo' but my father used to call me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jo-nesbo/my-father-grew-up-in-brooklyn-n-y-with-my-grandparents-in-norwegian/) [Jo Nesbo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jo-nesbo/) > [Comparing the Brooklyn that I know with Manhattan is like comparing a comfortable and complacent duenna to her more brilliant and neurotic sister.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carson-mccullers/comparing-the-brooklyn-that-i-know-with-manhattan-is-like-comparing-a/) [Carson McCullers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carson-mccullers/) > [We wept, Brooklyn was a lovely place to hit. 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