Rumpelstiltskin (fairy tale)

Rumpelstiltskin is a folk tale about a creature, usually a short, human-like being similar to a goblin, who offers to give up collecting on a debt if the debtor discovers his name. The story is found in many cultures and under a variety of character names. The most well-known versions are those published by the Brothers Grimm in the early nineteenth century.

Rumpelstiltskin stories have been told, retold, and adapted many times. The character goes by various names and makes many deals—often for the hand of a woman in marriage or her first-born child. The common theme is the requirement that a person, usually a woman, discovers his highly unusual name by an imposed deadline to escape the consequences of an agreement that she or a family member has made. Versions may be comical or suspenseful, while some appear to be morality tales. The dealmaker may be a small man or goblin, or, as in the case of the Tom Tit Tot English fairytales, a furry creature with a tail. He may seem mischievous or malevolent. Rumpelstiltskin tales and other examples of folklore provide insight into the cultures that produced them.

Background

Folklore consists of fictional tales of people and/or animals that arose through oral storytelling. They often involve a character whose ordinary life is upended by a challenge. Solving the problem or conflict frequently involves a moral story or message. Animal stories, fables, fairytales myths, and tall tales are all types of folklore.

Because folklore was shared orally, it developed according to a number of themes, which had to be fairly easy to remember and pass along. Characters often fell into categories and tropes, such as the magical helper, to make them readily identifiable. Tricksters such as Rumpelstiltskin are common throughout folklore.

Rumpelstiltskin stories are categorized as “Name of the Helper” folktales. Folklore is classified using the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU). This was developed in 1910 by Antti Aarne, revised and translated from the German by American folklorist Stith Thompson in 1928, and updated and expanded in 2004 by Hans-Jörg Uther. Rumpelstiltskin or “Name of the Helper” stories are ATU 500, one of the supernatural helper categories from 500 to 559.

When the Brothers Grimm collected folktales and began publishing them in 1812, these stories were already millennia old. For example, Rumpelstiltskin is believed to be about four thousand years old. Humans at that time were living in simple societies toward the end of the Bronze Age. People lived in villages or tribes and rarely saw outsiders, so cultural identity was necessary for them to work together. Sharing stories that reinforced the community’s beliefs, traditions, and values helped reduce conflicts and increase a sense of cooperation. They could also be used to point out a community member’s shortcomings without directly confronting the person.

Characters in folktales frequently must make a choice. This action leads directly to consequences that are obvious to listeners. In this way, societies created instructions for how members were expected to live. In modern times, folktales help individuals learn about other cultures.

Overview

The German version the Grimms recorded calls the little trickster Rumpelstilzchen, which translates as “little rattle stilt.” This is a reference to a goblin that was believed to rattle posts to make noise. Other cultures call him Tom Tit Tot (England), Ruidoquedito (South America), or Gilitrutt (Iceland), among other names. Whuppity Stoorie (Scotland) is a female fairy.

The most common plot involves a miller, his daughter, a greedy king, and Rumpelstiltskin, by this or another name. The miller brags to the king that his daughter can spin gold out of straw. The king takes her to his castle and locks her in a room full of straw, warning her that if it is not turned into gold by morning, she will die. A strange little man arrives unexpectedly and offers to spin the straw into gold for her if she gives him a gift. The miller’s daughter gives him a necklace, he spins the gold, and he leaves. In the morning, the king is pleased by the wealth of gold, but because he is greedy, he locks her up again and the scenario repeats. She exchanges a ring for spun gold. Again, the king is pleased, but locks her up a third time with a promise that he will marry her if she spins a mountain of straw into gold. This time, Rumpelstiltskin wants her firstborn child, and she agrees. A year later, the queen gives birth and Rumpelstiltskin returns. She begs him to let her keep the child. He offers her three days to guess his name. If she does, she can keep the baby. The queen sends messengers to learn his name but is unsuccessful on days one and two. On the third day, a messenger tells the queen that he saw a strange man dancing around a fire singing a song in which he reveals his name. Rumpelstiltskin is gleeful when he arrives but becomes enraged when the queen shouts out his true name. He stamps his foot so hard he splits in two and is never heard from again.

Some versions of the story fall short of teaching values. For example, in many cases, the mother of a girl described as lazy lies to a wealthy man, claiming that her daughter is remarkably industrious. Sometimes the girl herself spies on the goblin to discover his name. She earns a life of leisure without lasting consequences for laziness. Rumpelstiltskin initially appears to be completely malevolent, but like all people, he has a complex or at least a dual nature, offering both assistance and menace.

Trios feature prominently in most versions: The girl is betrayed by her parent, husband, and Rumpelstiltskin; she spends three days in captivity; she must hand over three gifts for assistance; and she has three days or guesses to tell Rumpelstiltskin his name. Threes are common in folktales: Goldilocks samples three of everything before she encounters the three bears, for example, and the Big Bad Wolf confronts the Three Little Pigs. Three is the simplest recognizable shape. Humans evolved to look for and recognize shapes and patterns in events. In storytelling, three provides opportunities for tension and conflict.

Bibliography

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Ashliman, D.L., ed./trans. “The Name of the Helper.” University of Pittsburgh, 2017, www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0500.html. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

Ayers, Rachel. “Five Retellings of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’—A Very Odd Story, Indeed.” Tor, 1 Oct. 2020, www.tor.com/2020/10/01/five-retellings-of-rumpelstiltskin-a-very-odd-story-indeed/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

Flood, Alison. “Fairytales Much Older than Previously Thought, Say Researchers.” The Guardian, 20 Jan. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/20/fairytales-much-older-than-previously-thought-say-researchers. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

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Larrington, Carolyne. “Where Do Myths, Legends and Folktales Come From?” The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH), 15 Mar. 2019, www.torch.ox.ac.uk/article/where-do-myths-legends-and-folktales-come-from. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

Matwiejczyk, Justyna. “The Power of Three’ in Fairy Tales: A Recipe for a Great Story Lesson.” World of Better Learning, 25 Feb. 2020, www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2020/02/25/power-of-three-fairy-tales/#:~:text=Three%20is%20the%20smallest%20recognisable,survive%20in%20the%20oral%20tradition. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

“Rumpelstiltskin.” Grimms’ Fairy Tales, www.grimmstories.com/language.php?grimm=055&l=en&r=de. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.

Tearle, Oliver. “A Summary and Analysis of the ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ Fairy Tale.” Interesting Literature, 2017, interestingliterature.com/2017/01/a-summary-and-analysis-of-the-rumpelstiltskin-fairy-tale/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.