Rumpelstiltskin (sometimes spelled as Rumplestiltskin) is a fairy tale popularly associated with Germany (where he is known as Rumpelstilzchen). The tale was one collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales. According to researchers at Durham University and the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the story originated around 4,000 years ago.
In order to make himself appear superior, a miller lies to the king, telling him that his daughter can spinstraw 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 blonde 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 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 protests 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. Her many guesses fail, but before the final night, she wanders into the woods (some versions she sent a servant in the woods instead of going herself 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. 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.
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 a 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.
Variants
The same story pattern appears in numerous other cultures: Tom Tit Tot in England (from English Tales by Joseph Jacobs), Whuppity Stoorie in Scotland (from Robert Chambers's Popular Rhymes of Scotland), Gilitrutt in Iceland, Joaidane جعيدان in Arabic (he who talks too much), Khlamushka Хламушка (junker) in Russia, Rumplcimprcampr, Rampelník or Martin Zvonek in the Czech Republic, Martinko Klingáč in Slovakia, Ruidoquedito (meaning "little noise") in South America, Pancimanci in Hungary (from A Csodafurulya by Kolozsvari Grandpierre Emil), Cvilidreta (whine-screamer) in Serbia and Croatia, Tremotino in Italy, Ootz-li Gootz-li עוּץ-לי גוּץ-לי in Israel (a compact and rhymy touch to the original sentence and meaning of the story, "My adviser my midget"), Daiku to Oniroku (a carpenter and Oniroku (the ogre)), "大工と鬼六" in Japan and "Myrmidon" in France.
These tales are Aarne–Thompson type 500, The Name of the Helper.
Another of the Grimm's tales revolves about a girl trapped by false claims about her spinning abilities, The Three Spinners. However, the three women who assist that girl do not demand her firstborn, but instead ask that she invite them to her wedding and say that they are relatives of hers. She complies, and when the three appear at the wedding, amazing the king with their ugliness, they tell the king that their various deformities (an overgrown thumb in one, a pendulous lip in the second, an enormous foot in the third) are the result of their years of spinning. The horrified king decrees that the bride will spin no more. In contrast to Rumpelstiltskin's self-seeking, therefore, these helpers ask only the "payment" of extending their benevolence to the heroine, and ensure that she will not need their help again. In one Italian variant, the girl must discover their names, as with Rumpelstiltskin, but not for the same reason: she must use their names to invite them, and she has forgotten them.
Name origins
The name Rumpelstilzchen in German means literally "little rattle stilt". (A stilt is a post or pole which provides support for a structure.) A rumpelstilt or rumpelstilz was the name of a type of goblin, also called a pophart or poppart, that makes noises by rattling posts and rapping on planks. The meaning is similar to rumpelgeist ("rattle ghost") or poltergeist, a mischievous spirit that clatters and moves household objects. (Other related concepts are mummarts or boggarts and hobs, which are mischievous household spirits that disguise themselves.) The ending -chen is a German diminutive cognate to English -kin.
The earliest known mention of Rumpelstiltskin occurs in Johann Fischart's Geschichtklitterung, or Gargantua of 1577 (a loose adaptation of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel) which refers to an "amusement" for children, one named "Rumpele stilt or the Poppart".
Names used in translations
Translations of the original Grimm fairy tale (KHM 55) into various languages have generally substituted different names for the dwarf, whose name is Rumpelstilzchen in the original.
For some languages, a name was chosen that comes close in sound to the German name: Rumpelstiltskin in English, Repelsteeltje in Dutch, Rumpelstichen in Portuguese. He is known as Päronskaft in Swedish (literally "Pear stalk"); the sense of stilt or stalk of the second part is retained. In Danish and Norwegian, he is known as Rumleskaft (literally "Rumble shank"); In other languages an entirely different and generally meaningless name was selected, such as Barbichu, Broumpristoche, Grigrigredinmenufretin, Outroupistache, Tracassin or Perlimpinpin in various translations to French. Turkish translations use "Hariparibuşki Baripinpon" (doesn't mean anything. It was named just because the name was complicated.) Polish translations use Titelitury or Rumpelsztyk; Greek translations use Κουτσοκαλιγέρης; Czech translations use Rumplcimprcampr or Rampelník; Slovak translations use Martinko Klingáč; and Finnish ones Tittelintuure. Italian has Tremotino (which loosely means Little Earthquake), Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian Cvilidreta, and Hebrew עוץ לי גוץ לי (Ootz-li Gootz-li), a name chosen by the poet Avraham Shlonsky when using the fairy tale as the basis of a children's musical, now a classic among Hebrew children's plays. In Spain, the character's name is Rumpelstinski and Rumpelestíjeles. Urdu versions of the tale used the name Tees Mar Khan for the imp.
Literature
The Croning by Laird Barron.
The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde.
The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber.
Rumpelstiltskin appeared in "The Book of Lost Things" with the nickname "Crooked Man".
In Diane Stanley's short fiction, Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter, 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.
In Shelley Chappell's short fiction, Ranpasatusan the miller's daughter is a minstrel's daughter who travels to Japan.
Elizabeth C. Bunce's novel A Curse Dark as Gold 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.
Susanna Clarke's On Lickerish Hill, found in The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, is a version of Tom Tit Tot.
Saviour Pirotta's "Guess My Name", published in the "Once Upon a World" series, is a retelling of the Welsh version of the story.
Rumplestiltskin makes a brief appearance at the beginning of Red Hood's Revenge, the third in Jim C. Hines's Princesses series, starring Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White as active heroines. He has abducted several children by luring princes in with promises of marriage to the children who can spin straw into gold; he is captured by the three heroines, but is subsequently killed by Roudette, the adult Little Red Riding Hood, now an efficient and deadly assassin, while being sent to Fairytown to answer for his crimes.
In Walter Tevis's science fiction novel The Man Who Fell To Earth, Thomas Newton tells Nathan Bryce "My name is Rumplestiltskin." [sic]
Jonathan Carroll's novel Sleeping in Flame is a modern variant on the story, which refers explicitly to the Grimms' version.
In George Orwell's novel 1984, a character of the Ingsoc party is described as being a "Rumpelstiltskin figure" (Ch.IX, p. 188).
In Einstein's Mistakes, Hans Ohanian characterizes the physicist Isaac Newton as a Rumpelstiltskin-like character, because he kept his great discoveries in gravity and light to himself for many years.
In John Katzenbach's novel The Analyst, a man who calls himself Rumplestiltskin threatens a New York psychoanalyst, "In two weeks, Starks must guess his tormentor’s identity. If Starks succeeds, he goes free. If he fails, Rumplestiltskin will destroy, one by one, fifty-two of Dr. Starks’ loved ones—unless the good doctor agrees to kill himself".
Breeana Puttroff, author of the Dusk Gate Chronicles series, was scheduled in 2014 to publish book Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter, in which Rumpelstiltskin's story is told from another point of view, where the king makes the queen spin gold and Rumplestiltskin is not the villain.
Rumpel Stiltskin is the main character in J. A. Kazimer's book Curses!
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.
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" is a retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin story told from Rumpelstiltskin's point of view.
The Sisters Grimm series has Rumplestiltskin as the main villain for the second book, Unusual Suspects. He is the counselor for the only Elementary School in Fairy Port Landing, and he feeds off the emotions of those around him (the negative, the better, rage is his favorite). He made deals with three parents (Beauty/Beast, Princess/Frog, Ms. Muffet/Spider all gave away their firstborns to Rumplestilskin for a fake lottery winning). Apparently, in this version, Rumple stores all the rage and hatred and releases it by exploding.
Rumpelstiltskin appears in three 1976 fairy tales, Rumpelstilzchen (English version as "Rumpelstiltskin") by Rosemarie Künzler-Behncke, Neues vom Rumpelstilzchen (English version as "Update on Rumpelstiltskin") by Richard Bletschacher, and Das Rumpelstilzchen hat mir immer leid getan (English version as "I Always Felt Sorry for Rumpelstiltskin") by Irmela Brender, which are part of the children's book Update on Rumpelstiltskin and other Fairy Tales by 43 Authors, which is compiled by Hans-Joachim Gelberg, illustrated by Willi Glasauer, and published by Beltz & Gelberg.
Comics
Rumpelstiltskin appears in issue 4 of The Muppet Show that was a part of "The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson" arc.
The tale is adapted in the fourth issue of Zenescope's series Grimm Fairy Tales, but it is given an alternative, more tragic ending.
The Priest from the Dark Horse series The Goon is actually Rumpelstiltskin, having escaped from the hell he was cast into he attempts the wrestle control of the town away from The Goon.
Music
The song "Split Myself in Two" by the Meat Puppets is inspired and loosely based on the tale.
"Rumplestiltskin" is a song by the Columbus, Ohio underground band Earwig from their album Gibson Under Mountain.
Rumplestiltskin's Resolve is an album by folk-rock musician Shawn Phillips.
The third movement of Robert Schumann's Märchenbilder is inspired by the story.
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder is a thrash band from Pennsylvania signed to Relapse Records.
Stiltskin is a Scottish rock band, notable for the fact that one of its band members, Ray Wilson, was temporarily a lead vocalist of progressive rock band Genesis.
The industrial metal band Megaherz released a song named "I.M. Rumpelstilzchen" on their album Herzwerk II, which quotes the original German fairy tale.
"Rumpofsteelskin" is a song by funk band Parliament from the album Motor Booty Affair. The song title is reminiscent of the fairy tale's title.
Sir Mix-a-Lot sings of a "rump-o-smooth-skin" in the song "Baby Got Back" from the album "Mack Daddy".
"Rumplestiltskin" is a punk retelling of the fairy tale by John Otway.
The ballet "Rumpelstiltskin" by the British composer David Sawer is based on the tale.
Eminem mentions Rumpelstiltskin in "The Monster" stating "Turn nothing into something, still can make that, straw into gold, chump. I will spin Rumpelstiltskin in a haystack."
"Rumplestiltskin," a retelling of the tale in song by Brian Dewan from his album The Operating Theatre.
Television
In the ABC television series Once Upon a Time, Rumplestiltskin (also known as Mr. Gold) is played by Robert Carlyle and is one of the central characters and is shown as a malevolent trickster who can spin straw into gold and enjoys making deals with those he comes across. Throughout the first seasons he concentrates on searching for his son, Bae. An expert on black magic and the dark arts (known as the Dark One) this man has wizardly powers to make him a fair match for anyone in the land - even the Evil Queen. The miller's daughter (the Evil Queen's mother) Cora eventually becomes the Queen of Hearts. In the course of the series, he is also revealed to have taken on the role of Cinderella's fairy 'godmother', and is also essentially the Beast, falling in love with Belle after he demanded her as a price for saving her kingdom from a war. In the season three episode Think Lovely Thoughts, he is revealed to be the son of a man named Malcom, who became Peter Pan. After marrying Belle, Rumpelstiltskin doubles as 'the Beast.' After Belle banishes him from Storybrooke, his own nature turns against him, prompting him to ally with various other villains to try and ensure their own happy endings. He is briefly purified of his darkness when it is revealed that he is dying of the dark magic in his heart, but despite Emma attempting to help him become a hero while she takes on the Dark One role, he eventually reclaims his powers, and he goes way too far from being a beast. In the sixth season, Rumplestiltskin's mother is revealed to be the Black Fairy, who had abandoned him and Malcom after choosing power over love. In the same season, he has a son with Belle named Gideon.
Rumpelstiltskin appears in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child voiced by Robert Townsend.
Rumpelstiltskin was featured in NBC's Grimm, where the tale is the inspiration for the Season 2 episode "Nameless". He is a type of creature ('Wesen') called a 'Fuchsteufelwild'. The episode featured a Fuchsteufelwild named "Trinket Lipslums" (an anagram of "Rumpelstiltskin"), who is revealed to have helped a team of video game programmers finish an enormously popular MMORPG. The programmers omitted him from the game's credits since they could not recall his name, so Lipslums starts hunting them down one by one; as in the original tale, much of the story centers around determining the character's name.
In an episode of the TV show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine titled "If Wishes Were Horses", Miles O'Brien reads his daughter the story of Rumpelstiltskin at bedtime and then leaves her room. She comes out shortly afterward to inform her father that Rumpelstiltskin is in the room with her. O'Brien assumes that it is just her imagination and goes into the room with her only to discover that Rumpelstiltskin is indeed in her room. At the end of the episode it is revealed that Rumpelstiltskin (along with various other manifestations) are in fact aliens that were studying imagination.
In the TV show Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, the second episode, aired originally in 1982, titled "Rumpelstiltskin", stars Hervé Villechaize as Rumpelstiltskin, Ned Beatty as the king, and Shelley Duvall as the miller's daughter.
The fairy tale was spoofed in the Fractured Fairy Tales segment of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show.
In the German TV series Spuk unterm Riesenrad, Rumpelstiltskin is the only one of the three evil, living dummies (witch, giant, and Rumpelstiltskin) who doesn't turn good at the end and is frozen by a policeman with a fire extinguisher. He also tries to take over Burg Falkenstein by blackmailing the owner with a fire.
The German TV aired in 2009 an adaptation of the original story of the Grimm Brothers. Rumpelstiltskin was played by Robert Stadlober. According to the film makers: "We did not want overgrown dwarf, but a prince of the forest, and Stadlober is exactly the right thing." In this adaptation the title character was not created as the usual evil man "who comes out of the woods to do evil", but also shows the human side ". Their Rumpelstiltskin has a desire, namely, to have a man around. The filming location was the same Schloss Bürresheim, which appears as Castle Grunewald in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.
The character "Rumpledkiltskin" appears in the animated series Courage The Cowardly Dog as the title character. Rumpledkiltskin tricks Muriel and Courage into traveling to Scotland, where he reveals himself and forces Muriel to weave 5,000 quilts. At the end of the episode, his real name is revealed and he gains a change of heart.
Rumpelstiltskin appears in the animated television series Winx Club, in Season 6 episodes "The Music Café", "The Anthem" and "Acheron". Rumpelstiltskin is, according to both Selina and Daphne, the most cunning, most stubborn, and most brilliant dwarf. He lives in the clearing of Alfea. He is also very tricky but follows the agreements he makes with others. Due to being exposed in Alfea, he had learnt powerful enchantments when he lived there.
In season 3 of the U.S. television series, The Closer, in the episode entitled "The Round File", the case involves an old man who confesses to the murder of seven people but who will not give the detectives his name and forces them to discover it on their own. As a result, the squad refers to him as Rumpelstiltskin throughout the episode. The story of the fairy tale itself is referenced several times.
In the Happy Tree Friends episode, entitled "Dunce Upon a Time", Petunia was spinning straw into gold within a castle, bearing a strong resemblance, while the rest of the episode bore a strong resemblance to the fairytale, Jack and the Beanstalk.
Film
A 1940 live action film produced in Nazi Germany, directed by Alf Zengerling starring Paul Walker as the title character.
A 1955 live action film produced in West-Germany, but also released in the U.S. by K. Gordon Murray in 1965 and re-released by Paramount Pictures in 1974, directed by Herbert B. Fredersdorf starring Werner Krüger as the title character. The film is still aired on German Television.
In 1962's The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, a dream sequence featured Rumpelstiltskin (played by Arnold Stang) alongside other Grimm characters such as Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Tom Thumb.
Rumpelstiltskin is one of the fairy tales featured in the direct-to-video film Muppet Classic Theater where the character was played by Gonzo the Great.
Rumpelstiltskin (voiced by Conrad Vernon) makes an appearance in Shrek the Third as a member of the gang of fairy tale villains Prince Charming rounds up in an attempt to take over Far, Far Away. Prince Charming mispronounces his name as "frumpypigskin".
The character has also appeared as the antagonist in the film Shrek Forever After, voiced by Walt Dohrn, manipulating Shrek into making a wish that would erase Shrek from existence after the ogre indirectly thwarted Rumpelstiltskin's chance to become the ruler of Far, Far Away (The king and queen had been about to make a deal with him to free their daughter Fiona from her prison before Shrek saved her in the first film). It is implied throughout the film that Rumpelstiltskin's deals have fallen out of favour in Shrek's world as people have learned to be more comfortable with who they are thanks to Shrek's example (such as Pinocchio rejecting the offer to become a real boy), and Shrek's friend Donkey also mentions that Rumpelstiltskin has changed the clauses in his deals as now everybody knows his name. Learning that he can undo Rumpelstiltskin's world if he receives True Love's Kiss with Fiona, Shrek seeks her out, but it nearly fails as this Fiona doesn't even know him, only for Shrek to receive her love and kiss as the sun rises after he risks his life to save her ogre army and defeat Rumpelstiltskin.
Rumpelstiltskin is one of the zombified characters during the Thriller parody.
Rumpelstiltskin appeared in Happily N'Ever After and its sequel, voiced by Michael McShane. In the first film, he is one of the fairy tale villains that side with Cinderella's wicked stepmother Frieda after she alters his story.
A 1987 live-action musical film, a fairly direct retelling of the fairy tale, starring Amy Irving as the miller's daughter and Billy Barty as the title character.
A 1996 supernatural horror B-movie where in Rumpelstiltskin is trapped in a jade rock for five hundred years until a woman is compelled to purchase the rock from an unusual antique shop. The woman makes a wish that her dead husband come back to life to see their child. Rumpelstiltskin grants her wish, bringing her husband back for one night, then tries to steal the baby from the mother with an attempt to eat the baby's soul. This movie stars Max Grodénchik (as Rumpelstiltskin), and Kim Johnston Ulrich (as the mother of the child).
Avengers Grimm - When Rumpelstiltskin destroys the Magic Mirror and escapes to the modern world, the four princesses of "Once Upon a Time"-Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Rapunzel-are sucked through the portal too. Well-trained and endowed with magical powers, the four women must fight Rumpelstiltskin and his army of thralls before he enslaves everyone on Earth. Casper Van Dien plays Rumpelstiltskin.
Rumpelstiltskin is featured as one of the fairy tale characters the Brothers Grimm encounter in Once Upon a Brothers Grimm; during his segment, the Brothers Grimm help the miller's daughter guess his name, and when she succeeds at the last possible moment he angrily shouts "A plague on all your houses!" before disappearing.
Musical
A musical adaptation of the same name opened Off-Broadway in 2011.
Rumpelstiltskin (musical)
Games
Rumpelstiltskin appears briefly in the Dark Parables sixth installment, Jack and the Sky Kingdom, as a stone imp, (having once been a stone idol animated by a sorcerer, and having since its captivity reverted back to stone). He also appears in the bonus chapter, "Rumpelstiltskin and the Queen", where having claimed the Sky Kingdom's new queen newborn daughter, the queen quests to reclaim her child. After the queen has subdued the imp, the Sky King, corrupted by the imp's magic, keeps the imp hostage to spin him more gold.
Rumpelstiltskin makes an appearance in the first game of the series King's Quest, by Roberta Williams. While there are variants to his name (in some versions, the name is spelled with a backwards alphabet, a = z, b = y, etc.; in others it is spelled backwards as Nikstlitslepmur), Rumpelstiltskin offers the knight Graham (hero of the story) a reward for guessing his name. When the task is complete, Rumpelstiltskin gives magic beans to Graham, allowing entrance to the land of the giants to acquire the treasure chest of gold, a main quest item in the game.
Psychology
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".
Brodsky, Stanley (2013). "The Rumpelstiltskin Principle". APA PsycNET. American Psychological Association.
Winston, Patrick (2009-08-16). "The Rumpelstiltskin Principle". M.I.T. Edu.
van Tilburg, Willem (1972). "Rumpelstiltskin: The magic of the right word". Academia.
