| Rumpelstiltskin The story of Rumpelstiltskin comes from Germany and is one of the original fairy tales told in Grimm’s 1812 first edition book. His name implies the mushroom in several ways. The authors of The Hidden World write on the linguistic connections: “He is a small creature (diminutive -kin, -chen), a piece of ‘lumber,’ (Gerumpel), hence botanical, with a single leg (Steltzen): ‘little lumber stilt.’ And when he was spied upon singing, he was dancing upon one leg. (1) The basis of the story is the miller’s daughter who is supposed to be able to spin straw into gold. The miller boasted of her “talents” one day and the greedy king upon hearing this, confined her into his quarters and forced her to spin straw into gold to save her own life. As she sat there resigned to sorrow a “hobgoblin” appeared from behind a door and questioned her sadness. Upon hearing her fate, the hobgoblin asked her what she would give in exchange for this wish to turn the straw into gold and the young girl replied that she would give her necklace. Agreeing to this, the hobgoblin turned the straw into gold and the next day the king was so pleased and still so greedy he required her to do it again, this time with more than before. Again, she sat and wept and again the hobgoblin appeared and asked her what she would give if he were fulfill her wish. This time, she told him she would give him her ring and it was agreed upon and the hobgoblin spun the straw into gold and the next day the king was pleased. Being a greedy king as he was, he told her, she still cannot leave, this time if she was to succeed in spinning this new batch of straw into gold, he would make her queen of the land. Again, she was locked away, and this was the third time, mind you. The hobgoblin came in and asked her: ”What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?” “I have nothing left,” said she. “Then say you will give me,” said the little man, “the first little child that you may have when you are queen.” “That may never be,” thought the miller’s daughter: and as she knew no other way to get her task done, she said she would do what he asked. Round went the wheel again to the old song, and the manikin once more spun the heap into gold. The king came in the morning, and, finding all he wanted, was forced to keep his word; so he married the miller’s daughter, and she really became queen.” When the day arrived for her to give birth the hobgoblin wanted the child and she told him she would do anything in the world to save her child, so he gave her the chance if she could know and say the hobgoblin’s name. The first two days arrived and she tried all kinds of names, and then: “The third day one of the messengers came back, and said, ‘I have travelled two days without hearing of any other names; but yesterday, as I was climbing a high hill, among the trees of the forest where the fox and the hare bid each other good night, I saw a little hut; and before the hut burnt a fire; and round about the fire a funny little dwarf was dancing upon one leg, and singing: ‘Merrily the feast I'll make. Today I'll brew, tomorrow bake; Merrily I'll dance and sing, For next day will a stranger bring. Little does my lady dream Rumpelstiltskin is my name!’ |
When the queen heard this she jumped for joy, and as soon as her little friend came she sat down upon her throne, and called all her court round to enjoy the fun; and the nurse stood by her side with the baby in her arms, as if it was quite ready to be given up. Then the little man began to chuckle at the thought of having the poor child, to take home with him to his hut in the woods; and he cried out, ‘Now, lady, what is my name?’ ‘Is it JOHN?’ asked she. ‘No, madam!’ ‘Is it TOM?’ ‘No, madam!’ ‘Is it JEMMY?’ ‘It is not.’ ‘Can your name be RUMPELSTILTSKIN?’ said the lady slyly. ‘Some witch told you that!— some witch told you that!’ cried the little man, and dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into the floor, that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull it out.” This story is similar to how Prince Comical said a whole bunch of Gwendolyn’s names before he chanced upon the song she was singing. In the story of Princess Nobody, we also read about how the child was taken by the fairies, after a child was granted. Usually it’s some dwarf demanding the kin be given to them. As well, we have repeated the theme from Melusine, where Raymondin was not allowed to see her bathing on Saturdays or he would lose her forever. Beauty and the Beast The story of Beauty and the Beast was originally written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and first published in 1740 in La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins (The Young American and Marine Tales). The story was then rewritten and published by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 in Magasin des enfants (Children's Collection) and by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book of his Fairy Book series in 1889. (1) Hidden World, p. 67 |