Once upon a time, in a beautiful forest, lived a miller, his wife, and daughter.  The miller had fallen on hard times, and had nothing left of monetary value, except for his old mill stone which he stored in the shed.

One day, he was out chopping wood, when he was approached by an old man....  The man told him, that he does not have to work so hard chopping wood, that he could make him a very wealthy man, if he would make an exhange with him.

The miller asked, "what could I possibly have that would be of value to you?  All I have is my old mill stone in the shed."  Then the old man pointed to his flowering apple tree in the distance, and said, "I want what is over there".  The man thought, surely I can plant another apple tree, and agreed to the deal.

The old man said that he would be back in 3 years to collect what was his, and vanished.  

The miller's wife came running out, yelling "husband!  what is happening?  all of the raggedy old furniture has turned to beautiful velvet and gold.  My old worn out dress has turned to the finest silk gown...and even as she spoke, beautiful rings of gold and jewels appeared on her hands.  

The miller too, had been transformed in his appearance.  The wife asked how this could be possible, and the old miller told her that he met an old man in the woods, who promised them great wealth in exchange for what was over there, and pointed to the flowering apple tree.

The wife was in shock!  "That was the devil that approached you and made that deal!  Our daughter is under that apple tree!  He wants to take our daughter!"

Both parents were horrified and ran back to their now beautiful castle, and mourned at the terrible deal the father had made with the devil.  They knew that in 3 years, the devil would be back to collect their daughter.