Rumpelstiltskin is the titular main antagonist of the Brothers Grimm fairytale of the same name. He is a magical dwarf (or goblin, or imp)-like creature who aided a girl in weaving thread into gold but demanded the heavy price of her firstborn child in payment. Of course when the time came to surrender the child, the mother pleaded with the little man to take anything he wanted except her child but he refused unless she could reveal his true name. When she ultimately did so the dwarf flew into a rage (of varying strengths depending on the versions) and was never seen again. The value and power of using personal names and titles is well established in psychology, management, teaching and trial law. It is often referred to as the "Rumpelstiltskin Principle".
Myths and Legends[]
In order to appear superior, a miller lies to the king, telling him that his daughter can spin straw into gold (some versions make the miller's daughter blonde and describe the "straw-into-gold" claim as a careless boast the miller makes about the way his daughter's straw-like blond hair takes on a gold-like lustre when sunshine strikes it). The king calls for the girl, shuts her in a tower room filled with straw and a spinning wheel, and demands she spin the straw into gold by morning or he will cut off her head (other versions have the king threatening to lock her up in a dungeon forever). When she has given up all hope, an imp-like creature appears in the room and spins the straw into gold in return for her necklace (since he only comes to people seeking a deal/trade). When next morning the king takes the girl to a larger room filled with straw to repeat the feat, the imp once again spins, in return for the girl's ring. On the third day, when the girl has been taken to an even larger room filled with straw and told by the king that he will marry her if she can fill this room with gold or execute her if she cannot, the girl has nothing left with which to pay the strange creature. He extracts from her a promise that she will give him her firstborn child and so he spins the straw into gold a final time (In some versions, the imp appears and begins to turn the straw into gold, paying no heed to the girl's pro s that she has nothing to pay him with; when he finishes the task, he states that the price is her first child, and the horrified girl objects because she never agreed to this arrangement).
The king keeps his promise to marry the miller's daughter, but when their first child is born, the imp returns to claim his payment: "Now give me what you promised." She offers him all the wealth she has to keep the child, but the imp has no interest in her riches.
He finally consents to give up his claim to the child if she can guess his name within three days (some versions have the imp limiting the number of daily guesses to three and hence the total number of guesses allowed to a maximum of nine).
Her many guesses fail, but before the final night, she wanders into the woods (in some versions, she sends a servant into the woods instead of going herself in order to keep the king's suspicions at bay), searching for him and comes across his remote mountain cottage and watches, unseen, as he hops about his fire and sings. In his song's lyrics, "tonight tonight, my plans I make, tomorrow tomorrow, the baby I take. The queen will never win the game, for Rumpelstiltskin is my name'", he reveals his name.
When the imp comes to the queen on the third day, after first feigning ignorance, she reveals his name, Rumpelstiltskin, and he loses his temper and their bargain. Versions vary about whether he accuses the devil or witches of having revealed his name to the queen. In the 1812 edition of the Brothers Grimm tales, Rumpelstiltskin then "ran away angrily, and never came back". The ending was revised in an 1857 edition to a more gruesome ending wherein Rumpelstiltskin "in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two". Other versions have Rumpelstiltskin driving his right foot so far into the ground that he creates a chasm and falls into it, never to be seen again. In the oral version originally collected by the Brothers Grimm, Rumpelstiltskin flies out of the window on a cooking ladle.
Variations Depending on Region[]
The same story pattern appears in numerous other cultures: Tom Tit Tot in England (from English Fairy Tales, 1890, by Joseph Jacobs); The Lazy Beauty and her Aunts in Ireland (from The Fireside Stories of Ireland, 1870 by Patrick Kennedy); Whuppity Stoorie in Scotland (from Robert Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland, 1826); Gilitrutt in Iceland; جعيدان (Joaidane "He who talks too much") in Arabic; Хламушка (Khlamushka "Junker") in Russia; Rumplcimprcampr, Rampelník or Martin Zvonek in the Czech Republic; Martinko Klingáč in Slovakia; Ruidoquedito ("Little noise") in South America; Pancimanci in Hungary (from A Csodafurulya, 1955, by Emil Kolozsvári Grandpierre, based on the 19th century folktale collection by László Arany); Daiku to Oniroku (大工と鬼六 "A carpenter and the ogre") in Japan and Myrmidon in France. All these tales are Aarne–Thompson type 500, "The Name of the Helper". The Cornish tale of Duffy and the Devil plays out an essentially similar plot featuring a "devil" named Terry-top.
Modern Depictions[]
Literature[]
- Anne Sexton wrote an adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale as a poem called "Rumpelstiltskin" in her collection Transformations (1971), a book in which she re-envisions sixteen of the Grimm's Fairy tales.
- Jonathan Carroll's novel Sleeping in Flame (1988) is a modern variant on the story, which refers explicitly to the Grimms' version.
- In Diane Stanley's short fiction, Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter (1997), Rumpelstiltskin falls in love with and marries the miller's daughter and helps her escape from the king. The main character turns out to be their only daughter, Hope.
- The Rumpelstiltskin Problem (2001) by Vivian Vande Velde.
- In John Katzenbach's novel The Analyst (2002), a man who calls himself Rumplestiltskin threatens a New York psychoanalyst.
- Saviour Pirotta's "Guess My Name", published in Once Upon a World (2004), is a retelling of the Welsh version of the story.
- Michael Buckley's The Sisters Grimm (2005–2012) series has Rumplestiltskin as the main villain for the second book, Unusual Suspects.
- Elizabeth C. Bunce's novel A Curse Dark as Gold (2008) was inspired by the story of Rumpelstiltskin. The miller's daughter is written as a strong female character determined to save the failing mill and the town that depends on it.
- The Croning (2012) by Laird Barron.
- Rumpel Stiltskin is the main character in J. A. Kazimer's book Curses! (2012).
- In Shelley Chappell's short fiction, Ranpasatusan. A Retelling of Rumpelstiltskin (2014) the miller's daughter is a minstrel's daughter who travels to Japan.
- In the book Land of Stories by Chris Colfer, Rumpelstiltskin appears as the eighth of the dwarves from "Snow White".
- In Tom Holt's novel, The Good, the Bad and the Smug (2015), a former commodities trader escapes to a fantasy world and becomes Rumpelstiltskin.
- Michael Cunningham's short story "Little Man" (in A Wild Swan and Other Tales, 2015) is a retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin story told from Rumpelstiltskin's point of view.