Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale from the collection of the brothers Grimm. It's classified as KHM 55 and can be found in different versions in many areas of the world. Essentially, it's a story about a challenge in the form of an impossible task, initiated by an incompetent father, and solved by a supernatural helper just to be exposed to another danger.
Let's walk through it with six black and white drawings by Franz Stassen.
A king comes by a miller and stops. Miller gets a lifetime opportunity to talk with such a noble person and starts bragging. He doesn't care what is true, what exaggeration, and what a straight lie. He just goes on and on.
He said nothing until the miller started claiming his daughter was so skillful she could spindle straw into gold. The king suddenly becomes interested. If he could get a lot of gold, most of his problems would be solved. Yes, kings have problems too.
So the king demands the presentation. Miller's daughter should spindle straw into gold. If she succeeds, he will marry her. Let's be honest. Every girl makes a better match if she enters matrimony with something of material value, right?
And if she fails? If she couldn't transform a full barn of straw into gold? King promises her death. But don't worry, she has a full night to do the task.
The girl was crying knowing she had no chance to fulfill an obligation given by her stupid father when a strange little man popped up. After a few words, he promises to change straw into gold if she gives him something in return.
She gives him something and the problem is solved. But the next evening king wants more. He is not just powerful, he is a greedy man as well. The girl cries again and the little man helps for the second time.
And there is a third time too. But in this case, the girl doesn't have anything to give to the little man. So he demands from her something she will get in the future - her firstborn.
The miller's daughter is in dilemma. Refuse the offer and die in a few hours or promise she doesn't have and maybe she even won't have? So she promises her child and he changes another barn of straw into gold.
The king married the girl and they soon got a baby boy. Miller's daughter who became a queen forgets about her promise and the little man.
He doesn't. He pops up again when she is alone with the kid and demands what belongs to him. The queen promises to give him something else instead but the little man is relentless. He wants the baby and that's final.
After a while, the queen succeeds in convincing him at least in a short delay. She can keep the kid for three more days and if she discovers the little man's name by the end of the third day, she is relieved from her promise, so the baby can stay with her for good.
The little man is sure that is is incapable of finding his name. After all, she couldn't spin a single straw into gold, couldn't she?
For three days, the whole kingdom tried to collect as many names as possible. All the usual names were useless. All unusual names were useless too. The queen was desperate. She knew she had one chance only. There was just one boy from the castle who didn't return from his expedition.
Luckily he came across the strange scene - a little man dancing and singing about how smart is he and how impossible is for anybody to find that his name is - Rumpelstiltskin!
Yes, this was the very same little man who wanted a little prince for himself. The boy rushes back to the castle and informs the queen about his findings.
When the queen tells Rumpeltiltskin's name, the little man becomes so angry he breaks into the ground. Nobody hears about him anymore. We just know his name.
Rumpelstiltskin.
Remember it. Just in case.
***
Note: Franz Stassen was a master of line drawing. If you prefer simpler illustration, but in colors, you may find interesting Gilbert Penrose James' illustrations of Rumpelstiltskin.
Enjoy!
