In defense of the Folkloric Rumpelstiltskin
In defense of the Folkloric Rumpelstiltskin:
I used to think everyone knew the story of Rumpelstiltskin. It’s so basic. For those who don’t know the tale here it is in a nutshell.
(Or you can watch this animated version here.)
You have this miller who boasts that his daughter is so perfect she can spin straw into gold so the king drags her to a tower and forces her to stay the night. He says if she doesn’t spin the straw into gold he will have her put death. Once alone she weeps and a strange little man-like creature with a limp to his right foot appears and offers to spin the straw into gold for a price.
(Side note: Yes, he has the same limp Rumpelstiltskin in human form had in the first season of Once Upon a Time. I kind of wish he kept it even in Imp mode. You don’t see too many disabled yet magically powerful characters outside of Doctor Strange’s damaged hands.)
She pays with a necklace or a ring that belonged to her mother. The next night she’s made to do it again and she makes a similar payment.
The third night she’s given a very large room filled with straw and the king demands she do this but this time if she succeeds he’ll marry her (in some later versions it’s marriage to his son instead considering he was threatening to kill her…) This time the imp asks for her first born child.
For whatever reason she’s not sure she’ll ever have a child (she may have thought herself infertile) and agrees. She marries the king and bears a son. The imp returns for the baby after he has been nursed but the Queen does not want to give him up. She cries and the imp takes pity on her (the wording that he takes pity on her is even in the Grimm version, this is not up for interpretation). And he gives her three nights to guess his name.
Just before the third night one of the Queen’s men (or her father or The Queen herself) spies the imp twirling and singing in front of a fire near his cottage in the woods where he gloats that his name is Rumpelstiltskin.
So of course the Queen guesses his name and gets to keep her baby.
Now here’s where I defend the little bastard. One of my favorite defenses of Rumpelstiltskin actually comes up in the 1963 Science fiction novel The man who fell to Earth by Walter Tevis. The novel was later adapted into the movie starring David Bowie and has a sequel play (created by David Bowie) called Lazarus.
In The man who fell to Earth novel there is an alien protagonist named Thomas Jerome Newton who comes to Earth and takes a position as inventor who runs a major corporation. His plan is to ferry his people (from their dying world) and they can take positions of power here on Earth, partly to save themselves and party to stop Earth from meeting the self destruction their world did because of squandering their natural resources, pollution and petty wars.
A chemistry professor named Nathan Bryce learns Newton’s secret and confronts Newton. Newton compares himself to Rumpelstiltskin to which Bryce replies “But Rumpelstitlskin wanted to take the queen’s baby!” And Newton replies with “Yes, but without Rumpelstiltskin there would be no baby or Queen for that matter.”
Now on to my defense…
First… Rumpelstiltskin is NOT the wicked witch in the Gingerbread house. He is not Baba Yaga. He is not an Ogre. He is a faery. Contrary to many assumptions (due to English translations) he is not a dwarf.
He is a Manikin to be precise. Manikin is a now archaic term meaning a slightly smaller than human man-like being. The word imp (before people started to associate it with demons) had a similar meaning. Essentially it’s a slightly small but otherwise human-sized faery without wings.
The Rumpelstiltskin story has it’s roots over four thousand years ago. Over time the imp’s name has changed but the basic story remains the same. According to The Classic Fairy Tales by Iona and Peter Opie the basis for the odd name comes from the belief that faeries can easily be summoned by those who know their true names. Names have power. And if you call a faery by name (particularly three times) you might invoke them to come. You can banish a faery the same way. So to protect themselves from this faeries are given very complex or unusual names that you are not likely to hear in the human world. Tom Tit Tot is the English variation of Rumpelstiltskin and the original German is Rumpelstilzchen (Regina’s mispronunciation when she first summoned him in Once Upon a Time was actually an Easter Egg for the actual German).
Here is a simple truth, most faeries (even dark faeries) are fiercely protective of children. This is why Maleficent’s curse against Aurora was not until she was in her teens.
Rumpelstiltskin never wanted to kill or eat the baby prince. He wanted to raise the child and possibly turn the child into a faery creature like himself. That’s what faeries and the like usually did with taken babies.
“Before your baby brother becomes one of us forever…” to quote The Goblin King, Jareth, in Labyrinth.
And there’s a clue in his own song lyrics.
“Today I brew, tomorrow I bake, And then the Prince child I will take. For no one knows my little game, That Rumpelstiltskin is my name.”
The alternate translation of the verse is this:
“Today do I bake. Tomorrow I brew. The day after that the queen’s child comes in; And oh! I am glad that nobody knew That the name I am called is Rumpelstiltskin.”
Both versions have one thing in common. He never talks about killing or eating the child. In fact he talks about brewing and baking in preparation for the child. He’s singing about feeding and nurturing the child, not killing him. He specifically speaks of brewing one night, baking the next and THEN bringing the child home.
He never once even suggests eating the child. I don’t know why so many modern readers leapt to this conclusion other than that they maybe trusted a bad B 1990s horror film. It’s not even suggested in the story, just that he would take the baby.
The second part of my defense of him comes from the fact that he pitied the Queen and that’s why he gave her the three nights to guess his name. We’re specifically told in both the Grimm version and the pre-Grimm version of the story that he took pity on the Queen. That is why he gave her three days to guess his name. Even in the Grimm version (where he is portrayed quite wickedly) it specifically says he took pity on her.
Honestly, I think he lost on purpose. Think about it. He had no audience. He had absolutely no reason to twirl around outside his house and repeat his own name in song for three nights in a row. I think he was letting her win but he was too proud to just forgo the bargain.
The ending of the original pre-Brothers Grimm version has him fly out of the castle from a window on an over-sized soup ladle, much like a witch. He essentially shrugs and flies off and that’s that.
It’s only when the Brothers Grimm got a hold of it that he started to stomp his foot and go “The witches told you!” or in other translations “The Devil told you!” and get one foot stuck and then accidentally rip himself in two (or in some cases fall through a crack into Hell).
And honestly I kind of don’t blame the imp for wanting to raise the young prince. Think how horrible that father must be (The King) that he bullied and threatened a girl to spin straw into gold and then made the third night’s “prize” being marriage to him. That child might be better off raised by faeries.
The defense rests.
Yeah, I’ll never understand why Rumpelstiltskin is a “bad guy”, it pops up in every retelling. Obviously, people didn’t get it. The real villain is the king. Oh, and Raistlin Majere is another disabled sorcerer who shares some similarities to Rumple.
It’s odd that the Once Upon a Time writers were quick to use name guesses from the original faery tale as an Easter Egg (When Hordor catches him on the road in Desperate Souls) and they even get the right legged limp and have Regina accidentally pronounce the original German version of the name (Rumpelstilzchen). And more recently acknowledged his faery roots. They got all these tidbits right but never considered who the real villain of the story might be.
Well, there is significant evidence that A&E didn’t write season 1 and with that said I really don’t think their Rumple is their own creation. He’s way too three dimensional to be their original creation, imo.
THIS THIS THIS THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOUU ! The fandom is determined to erase Rumplestilskin for the beast and it infuriates me so fucking hard
I’m glad you like the post. And yes, everyone takes for granted that the character in the fairy tale is the villain because that’s what they’re told instead of actually reading the content objectively for themselves. Shrek Fourever After didn’t help. The version in Happily ne’ver after is probably slightly more accurate.
Did you see Gollums actor is directing and writing a live action Rumplestiltskin movie ?! I’m so stoked about it ! And I hope NO Rumbellers go to show how shallow they are in thier demand for beauty and the beast Over Rumplestiltskin
I just hope it’s not like that awful and irresponsible 1995 movie that is essentially a knock-off of Leprechaun. And there are people out there so ignorant of the classic fairy tale that they actually thought the version in that movie matched the story. I kid you not. I came across some on the Once Upon a Time Addicts group on Facebook (before I got myself banned for arguing with an admin about Gideon). Not to mention people who thought he was invented for Once Upon a Time (How do you avoid one of the most well known fairy tales in history just because there’s no Disney film!?) and those that thought he wanted to eat the prince. Seriously how did they come up with this idea!?
Disney was supposedly developing a version with a sympathetic version of Rumpelstiltskin to be called “The Name Game” but I guess that project was quietly dropped. They’re usually not secretive about the projects they want to do.
@ofdragon0wls I’ve actually seen some Rumbellers ( an extremely small amount) subtly trash the new live action BatB because Emma Watson is playing Belle…and not Emilie… :|
I shit you not.
Wow I just really love this post. How do so many idiots not know the actual story of Rumpelstiltskin? It's like the oldest thing ever!
I also kind of wish they will stop making ouat Rumple labeled a beast and just go back to being more about Rumpelstiltskin. That's HIS story. I'm glad they've covered the fairy thing so far...
