Week 13 Extra Credit Reading: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Part A

 These notes are based off Rumpelstiltskin which is from The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L Ashliman.

• This was my favorite story when I was a kid. I read a bunch of different versions from the library and watched versions of it on TV. 
• It just so fun. The depictions of the little Rumpelstiltskin man are so great. 
• After reading this translation, I understand the changes that people have made in their retellings. 
• The most common change is the addition of the prince! In this story, the king is the one who marries the maiden. 
• In the retellings, there's a prince that tries to help the princess. He gives her advice, and he's the one that figures out the name of Rumpelstiltskin.  It makes the story cute and a bit less creepy. It adds the love element. 
• I would follow these changes if I wrote my own version of this story.
• The moral of the story is probably, "don't lie". This whole mess happens because the miller lies about his daughter being able to spin straw into gold. 
• The king (obviously) doesn't believe him, so he takes the miller's daughter in order to prove the lie
• He puts her in a room of straw and demands that she spins all of the straw to gold. Or else she will die
• Right when she starts to freak out, in comes a little man (there's not a description of him)
• I could add one!
• I wonder how he knows what is going on
• Maybe he's like a fairy or something
• Anyway, here is where where the trouble starts!
• He offers to spin the straw to gold in exchange for something
• The first time is a necklace
• Is the baby thing his plan the whole time? 
• Maybe the message of the story is to not make strange deals with strange men
• They make the deal, and the man spins the straw to gold.
• The king comes back and is so happy, BUT he is greedy for more gold
• Now he brings her to an even bigger room, filled with even more straw
• Here comes the little man again! He is for sure a magic being
• This time they trade a ring, and the man agrees to the deal
• When the king arrives, he takes her to an even bigger room! 
• This is the last time
• When the man comes again, the daughter has nothing left to offer
• "Then promise me, after you are queen, your first child"
• The daughter agrees 
• When the king comes again, he marries her, in hopes that she will make him rich
• A year later, she has the baby! She almost forgets about the little man, but he appears!
• She tries to offer him riches and wealth, but he refuses. He wants the baby (to eat)
• not directly stated, but implied
• She cries and he takes pity. The deal is that if she can guess his name, he will not take the baby 
• He has such a weird name that he knows that it'll be impossible to guess
• The queen thinks of all the names
• He gives her 3 days and 3 guesses
• For 2 days she tries, but cannot guess. 
• She sends a messenger (in the retellings, it's usually the prince)
• The messenger sees the little man jumping around a fire and singing
•  Today I'll bake; tomorrow I'll brew,
  Then I'll fetch the queen's new child;
  It is good that no one knows,
  Rumpelstiltskin is my name.
• When the queen guesses the name, Rump stamps and creates a whole in the ground. He then rips himself in half (that part is usually left out of the kids version...)
• It would be cool to either focus the story on Rump or maybe the messenger (how he discovers the secret)

Image Information: 

Rumplestiltskin 

Illustration from Andrew Lang's Fairy Tale book

Found on: Wikipedia