Rumpelstiltskin


 * [[image:Rumpelstiltskin.jpg]] || * ====The earliest version: 1575-1590. ====
 * ====The 363rd amusement given in the book is titled "Rumpele stilt oder der Poppart." ====
 * ====Many version exist throughout the world - where Rumpelstiltskin is known as====
 * Tom-a-Trot, Terrytop, Whuppity Storie


 * ==Themes include:==
 * ===Don't Boast or Lie===
 * ===Talent over Beauty===
 * ===Keep Your Promises===
 * ===Power of Names===
 * ===Greed===
 * ===True Treasure===

|| Reference source: [|SurLaLune's Fairy Tale]
 * || Back to Media Orientation  ||
 * [[image:mwm19818.jpg width="360" height="315"]]

Image Credit: [|Anton Mauv]

Boasting

 * A father or mother is caught boasting, **
 * sometimes the parent is caught in a lie, **
 * sometimes to help their daughter marry better. **

Image Credit: [|Margaret Evans Price]

Gold & Greed

 * Straw is **
 * ordinary. But GOLD meant wealth and power. This would allow the King to marry a peasant and shows the king to be greedy. **

Image Credit: [|George R. Halket] [|t] **Talent Over Beauty**
 * Making something our of nothing. Like spinning a story. ** ||  ||
 * The King or wealthy man does not want the daughter because of beauty, but because of her special talent - spinning straw into gold. In some versions the girl is lazy and doesn't even know how to spin flaxen into clothes **
 * - a necessary skill for women back then. **

Image Credit: [| Margaret Evan Price]

**You Will Die**

 * The girl even though it is not really her lie [her parent] or fault **
 * [except laziness] will die for making the King look like a fool. **

||  || Image Credit: [|Anne Anderson]
 * [[image:anderson_rumple1.jpg width="324" height="465"]]

** The Little Man - a helper comes. **

 * Rumpelstiltskin is small, but he is a helper - he hears the girl's cry and offers help. In most versions he bargains, but early version he just helps. In some versions he actually is in love with the daughter. **** Rumple also may realize how greedy the King is and how the marriage to be is based on a lie. **

Image Credit: [|Dinah Maris Mulock Craik]
 * No, a living creature is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.**

**Irony - True Treasure**

 * Now the queen can afford to pay him with wonderful treasures, however she is bound to her contract. Rumpelstiltskin was manipulating her and probably always wanted a child which he found priceless. ** ||  || [[image:909_31_2026---Number-three_web.jpg width="304" height="187" align="center"]]

**Three**

 * Three in stories also represents the beginning, middle and end. **** It gives a pattern, rhythm and suspense. Some believe it to be religious. **
 * **Rumple helps her over 3 nights**
 * **She is allowed 3 days to discover his name.**

Image Credit: [|Charles Folkard] **Give Me Your Child** ** The daughter sees no way out, after giving everything she can she PROMISES to give her child. Hoping the promise will be forgotten, but they never are. **** A promise was a contract and royalty were bound to keep their promises. But this is one of the few tales that the bargain is broken. ** ||  || Image Credit: [|Andrew Lang]
 * [[image:ford_rumple1.jpg width="285" height="404" align="center"]]

Empathy - Rumpelstiltskin Feels For Her
Image Credit: [|Paul Hey]
 * He gives her a way out, he feels for as the daughter and the queen . The contract can be broken if she discovers his name. ** ||  || [[image:heypaulrumple.jpg width="310" height="415"]]

The Power of Names

 * If you know the name, you hold power of that person. In some cultures children were taught to give a false name, and keep their real name a secret. We do this today, online protecting the name of children. ** ||  ||