Title: Rumpelstiltskin
Publishing information: Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales, Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1993,
Reading level: All ages
Number of pages: 235-238
Genre: Fairy Tale
Summary of Plot: A Miller tells the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The greedy king tells the Miller’s daughter to spin all the straw in the room into gold, or she would die. The first night the girl is helped out by a little man, for the price of her gold necklace. The king is pleased and puts the girl in a larger room of straw. The little man comes back and helps her with the payment of a gold ring. One more night and the process is repeated, but the Miller’s daughter has nothing to pay with. The little man makes her promise that he could have her first born child. The deal is made and the straw turned into gold. The King marries the Miller’s daughter, and a year later they have a child. The little man comes back to claim the child. The Miller’s daughter is given three days to guess the little man’s name, or she loses her child. She searches everywhere for unique names, but cannot guess it. The night before the third day a messenger over hears the little man say his name is Rumplestiltskin. When the Miller’s Daughter names the little man, he stumps his foot into the ground and falls through.
Reaction to this book: I remember reading this story as a kids and being confused on what the moral of the story is. I still have no idea what it could be. Are we learning from the Miller’s daughter? She lies about being able to spin gold into straw, and she is rewarded for the lie. The Little man makes a unfair deal and pays for that in the end. I think that the story is a fun one to tell, the repetition of three, and the chant of “that is not my name”, and song the little man sings revealing his name.
Recommendation: I think everyone should know the fairy tales, and everyone should read them.
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