Rumpelstiltskin
Told by The Brothers GrimmGermanyTale type ATU 500
- Age
- 5 to 10
- Reading time
- 9 minutes
- Scariness
- 2 of 5A villain, never frightening on the page
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The story
There was a miller who talked too much, and a daughter who had to live with it.
He was not a bad man. He was the sort of man who cannot bear a silence in a conversation, and who fills it with whatever will make the other person look at him. Most of the time this cost nobody anything.
Then one afternoon he found himself standing in front of the king.
The king asked him how the mill was doing. The miller said it was doing well. The king said nothing, in the particular way that important people say nothing, and the silence went on a little too long, and the miller heard himself say that he had a daughter who could spin straw into gold.
He had no idea why he said it. He thought about it for the rest of his life.
The king was extremely interested. The king was, in fact, the only person in the kingdom who could act on it, which is the trouble with saying things in front of kings.
They fetched her that evening.
She was put in a room with a heap of straw in it and a spinning wheel in the corner, and the king explained, pleasantly enough, that if the straw was not gold by morning she would be killed. Then he locked the door and went to bed.
She sat down on the floor. She did not know how to spin straw into gold. She did not know anybody who did. She had not been asked whether she wanted to try.
"That's a lot of straw," said somebody.
There was a small man in the room. She had not heard the door.
"I can do it," he said. "What will you give me?"
She gave him the necklace off her neck, which was glass beads and worth almost nothing, and he took it as though it were the correct price and sat down at the wheel.
The wheel went round. The straw went in and the gold came out, and it took all night, and he did not speak once while he worked.
In the morning the king looked at a room full of gold and said, in a thoughtful voice, that there was a bigger room along the corridor.
The second night she gave him the ring off her finger. Glass again. He took it exactly as seriously as the necklace.
On the third night the room was the biggest yet, and the king had made her an offer on his way out. If she filled this one, he would marry her. If she did not, the other thing.
The small man came, and she had nothing left.
"Nothing at all?" he said.
"Nothing at all."
He thought about it. Then he said that she could promise him her first child, when she had one.
She should have said no. She was seventeen, she was locked in, she had been threatened with death three nights running, and a first child was a thing that belonged to somebody she could not imagine being. She said yes.
He spun until dawn, and he did not speak while he worked, and in the morning the king married her.
She was a good queen, as it turned out. She was patient with people, having recently learned what it is like to be at somebody's mercy.
A year later she had a son.
She had forgotten. That is the honest truth of it. Nobody had come, nothing had happened, and it had gone the way promises go when they have no one to keep reminding you.
He came into the nursery on the third evening, and stood by the crib, and did not touch it.
"You know why I'm here," he said.
She offered him the treasury. All of it. He looked genuinely puzzled, and said that a living thing was worth more than all the gold in the kingdom, which is one of the few things in the whole story that anybody says and means.
Then he looked at her face for a while, and something in him gave slightly.
"Three days," he said. "If you can tell me my name, we're finished. You can keep him."
She sent riders out. She collected every name in the country. On the first evening she tried Caspar, and Melchior, and Balthazar, and everything else the messengers had brought back, and he said no to all of them and seemed almost sorry.
On the second evening she tried the strange ones. Shortribs. Sheepshanks. Laceleg. She was making them up by the end. He said no, and no, and no.
On the third day one of her men came back from a place two days' ride away, at the edge of a wood under a high hill, and said he had found nothing at all except one very small house with a fire in front of it, and a little man hopping round the fire on one leg, singing.
He repeated the song. He had a good memory and he had thought it was funny.
The song said that tomorrow the child was coming, and that nobody would ever guess, and it said the name twice, because he was pleased with it.
That evening the small man came in and asked her, and she made it last.
"Is it Conrad?"
No.
"Is it Harry?"
No, he said, and he was already smiling.
"Then is it," she said, "Rumpelstiltskin?"
He stopped smiling.
He did not scream and he did not curse her. He stood in the middle of the nursery, in front of a woman who had won, and looked at the floor for a long moment. Then he said, quietly, that somebody had told her, and that it was not fair, and he walked out.
He went down the stairs and out through the courtyard and away, and he never came back, and nobody in that kingdom ever saw him again.
Here is the thing worth noticing. The miller lied. The king threatened to kill a girl three times over a story he had been told at a party. And of the three men in this tale, the only one who said exactly what he would do, and did exactly that, and kept to the deal he offered even when it lost him everything, was the little man everybody remembers as the villain.
What is the moral of Rumpelstiltskin?
Be careful what you say to fill a silence.
Almost every retelling treats the little man as the villain, and it is worth noticing how little he actually does wrong. He states his price in advance, he delivers exactly what he promises, he offers a way out that he did not have to offer, and he honours it when he loses. The miller lies to impress a king. The king threatens to kill a girl three nights running over a rumour. Neither of them is punished, and the story quietly lets you spot that for yourself rather than telling you.
Talk about it
- The miller only said it to fill an awkward silence. Does that make it better or worse?
- Was it fair to hold the queen to a promise she made while she was locked in a room?
- The little man could have taken the child and said nothing. Why do you think he offered her the three days?
- Who behaves worst in this story: the miller, the king, or the little man?
- Why do you think knowing somebody's name feels so powerful?
Who is in the story
The Miller's Daughter
protagonist · human
A young woman who is handed a death sentence because of something her father said at a party.
Rumpelstiltskin
antagonist · imp
A small man who appears in locked rooms, does exactly what he says he will, and is remembered as the villain.
The King
antagonist · human
A pleasant man who threatens to kill a stranger three nights running and then marries her.
The Messenger
helper · human
A rider who found nothing at all, and mentioned it anyway because he thought it was funny.
The Miller
supporting · human
Not a bad man. A man who cannot leave a silence alone, standing in the worst possible room.
In a nutshell
A miller cannot bear an awkward silence in front of a king, so he claims his daughter can spin straw into gold. She cannot. A small man can, and his price goes up each night until it is her first child. The tale everybody remembers as being about a wicked imp is really about the two men who never face any consequences at all.
Scene by scene
20 moments from the tale.
- Scene 1The Millordinary
A man who talks too much
A working watermill on an ordinary afternoon. The miller tells anybody within reach how well the mill is doing. His daughter carries the sacks and lets him get on with it, because up to now this habit of his has cost nobody anything.
He was not a bad man. He simply could not leave a silence alone.
- Scene 2The Millquietly disastrous
The king asked how the mill was doing
The king comes to the mill and asks a polite question. The miller answers it. Then the king says nothing in the particular way that important people say nothing, and the miller hears his own voice offering a daughter who can spin straw into gold.
A pause. Then a sentence with no way back out of it.
- Scene 3The Millabrupt
They fetched her that evening
That same evening the king's men arrive at the mill. There is no argument and no explanation, only a message and a horse waiting. She unties her apron, folds it, and goes.
Nobody asked her anything. They only told her when.
- Scene 4The Straw Roomcold
A heap of straw and a locked door
She is put in a stone room with straw heaped across the floor and a spinning wheel in the corner. The king explains what he expects by morning in the tone of a man arranging a delivery, then he locks the door and goes to bed.
A room, a wheel, a heap of straw, and a morning coming.
- Scene 5The Straw Roomstartling
That is a lot of straw
She sits down on the floor, because she cannot spin straw into gold and does not know anybody who can. Then somebody remarks on the quantity of straw, and there is a small man standing by the wheel who was not there before.
There was a small man in the room. She had not heard the door.
- Scene 6The Straw Roomwry
The correct price
She has one thing on her and it is a string of glass beads worth almost nothing. She gives him that. He accepts it as the correct fee, without comment, and sits down at the wheel.
Glass beads. He took them as though they were worth something.
- Scene 7The Straw Roomhushed
The wheel went round
He works. Straw goes into the wheel and thread of gold comes off it, and this goes on for the whole of the night. He does not speak once while he is working and she does not interrupt him.
Straw in. Gold out. All night, and not one word.
- Scene 8The Straw Roomchilling
A bigger room along the corridor
In the morning the king comes back to a room stacked with gold. He looks at it, thinks about it, and observes that there is a bigger room further along the corridor.
He looked at a room full of gold and thought about square footage.
- Scene 9The Straw Roomresigned
The ring off her finger
The second room is larger and the second payment is a ring off her finger, which is glass like the necklace. He treats it as a proper fee, sits down, and spins until it is done.
Glass again. He took it exactly as seriously as the beads.
- Scene 10The Straw Roomgrim
The offer on his way out
The third room is the largest of them all. On his way out the king makes her an offer. If she fills this one, he will marry her. He mentions it in passing, as a bonus, and shuts the door.
The biggest room yet, and a proposal delivered on the way past.
- Scene 11The Straw Roompivotal
Nothing at all
The small man comes on the third night and she has nothing to pay him with. He thinks about it for a while, and then suggests her first child, when she has one. She is seventeen and locked in, and she says yes.
She had nothing left. So he named something she did not have yet.
- Scene 12The Straw Roomhollow
In the morning the king married her
The small man works through to dawn without a word, as before. The king arrives to a third room of gold, is delighted, and keeps his side of the arrangement. She is married that morning in the clothes she came in.
He spun until dawn. Then somebody else got the reward.
- Scene 13The Nurserypeaceful
A year later, a son
She turns out to be a good queen, patient with people, having recently learned what being at somebody's mercy feels like. A year passes and she has a son. Nobody comes, nothing happens, and the promise goes the way promises go when there is no one to keep reminding you.
She had forgotten. That is the honest truth of it.
- Scene 14The Nurserytense
He did not touch the crib
He comes into the nursery on the third evening and stands beside the crib without laying a finger on it. He does not have to say very much. She knows exactly who he is and what the arrangement was.
He stood by the crib on the third evening. He kept his hands to himself.
- Scene 15The Nurseryunexpectedly tender
Worth more than all the gold in the kingdom
She offers him the whole treasury, every coin of it. He is honestly baffled by the suggestion and says that a living thing is worth more than all the gold in the kingdom. Then he looks at her face for a while, and holds up three fingers.
She offered him the treasury. He looked genuinely puzzled.
- Scene 16The Nurseryfrantic
Every name in the country
She sends riders out in every direction with orders to write down names. They come back with lists, and more lists, and she reads them by the crib while there is still light to read by.
Three days. So she sent for every name there was.
- Scene 17The Nurserywearing thin
No, and no, and no
On the first evening she works through everything the riders brought back. On the second she tries the strange ones, and then invents some. He says no to all of them, and seems almost sorry about it.
Shortribs. Sheepshanks. Laceleg. She was making them up by the end.
- Scene 18The Cottage on the Hilldelighted
A little man hopping round a fire
One of her men rides two days to the edge of a wood under a high hill and finds nothing there at all except one very small house with a fire in front of it, and a little man hopping round the fire on one leg, singing. The song has the name in it. Twice.
He was so pleased with the name that he sang it twice.
- Scene 19The Nurserytriumphant
Then is it Rumpelstiltskin
That evening he comes in and asks, and she makes it last. Is it Conrad. Is it Harry. He is smiling by the second one. Then she asks the third question, and he stops smiling.
She knew. She asked two wrong ones first, and made it last.
- Scene 20The Nurseryquietly sad
He walked out
He stands in the middle of the nursery in front of a woman who has beaten him, and looks at the floor for a long moment. Then he says quietly that somebody must have told her, and that it was not fair, and he walks out and down the stairs and away.
He did not scream and he did not curse her. He said it was not fair.
Where it happens
The Cottage on the Hill
cottage
One very small house at the edge of a wood under a high hill, two days' ride away.
The Mill
mill
A working watermill where a man who talks too much makes flour and, once, a catastrophe.
The Nursery
bedroom
A warm room at the top of the palace with a crib in it, and a promise coming due.
The Straw Room
chamber
A locked stone room with a heap of straw, a spinning wheel, and a deadline.
How they are connected
The Miller's DaughterRumpelstiltskinrival
The only relationship in the story where both people are honest with each other.
The MillerThe Miller's Daughterfamily
He says one sentence about her and then vanishes from her life entirely.
The KingThe Miller's Daughterrival
He threatens to kill her three times and then marries her, and the story does not treat this as strange.
The Miller's DaughterThe Messengerally
She sends out dozens of riders for names, and the one who saves her comes back with none.
Things you might not know
In the first edition of 1812 Rumpelstiltskin simply runs away angrily and never comes back. The famous ending where he tears himself in two was added by the Grimms for the 1857 edition, forty-five years later.
In the oldest oral version the Grimms collected, he does not stamp or tear at all. He flies out of the window on a cooking ladle.
The name means roughly little rattle stilt. It comes from a children's game mentioned in Johann Fischart's Geschichtklitterung of 1577, called Rumpele stilt oder der Poppart, and it is related to the word poltergeist, a rumble-ghost.
Psychologists, managers and trial lawyers use the phrase the Rumpelstiltskin principle for the power of using somebody's actual name. It comes from the very old belief that knowing a true name gives you power over its owner.
Researchers at Durham University and NOVA University Lisbon have argued that the roots of this story go back around four thousand years, which would make it far older than the German language it was written down in.
The same tale is told all over the world with different names for the helper: Tom Tit Tot in England, Whuppity Stoorie in Scotland, Gilitrutt in Iceland, Cvilidreta in Croatia, Paronskaft in Sweden and Tremotino in Italy.
In 1897 Sigmund Freud wrote to his friend Wilhelm Fliess that he felt as joyous as Rumpelstiltskin, because nobody but him knew that dreams were wish-fulfilment.
The story left a word behind in German. In parts of Bavaria, calling somebody a Rumpelstilz means they are a hothead who stamps and storms when things do not go their way.
What things stand for
- The silence in front of the king
- The real cause of everything. Not greed, not malice, just a man who could not let a pause sit there.
- The glass beads
- A worthless payment accepted at full value. He was never actually in it for the money, and the first night proves it.
- The spinning wheel
- Work that looks like magic from outside the room. Nobody ever asks him how he does it.
- The name
- The one thing he owns that cannot be bargained for, and the only thing that can beat him.
- The fire on the hill
- Privacy, and what people do inside it. He is only caught because he was happy on his own where he thought nobody could hear.
The same story elsewhere
Folk tales are not owned by whoever wrote them down first.
Tom Tit Tot
England, 1890
Joseph Jacobs's English version in English Fairy Tales. A black creature with a long tail does the spinning, and the girl guesses his name while he capers about, in thick Suffolk dialect.
Whuppity Stoorie
Scotland, 1826
Collected by Robert Chambers in Popular Rhymes of Scotland. A green-dressed fairy woman cures a sick pig instead of spinning gold, and the payment demanded is the goodwife's child.
Ricdin-Ricdon
France, late 1600s
An earlier literary version by Marie-Jeanne L'Heritier, Perrault's niece, which is considerably longer and more courtly than the Grimm tale.
Daiku to Oniroku
Japan, traditional
The carpenter and the ogre. An ogre builds a bridge in exchange for the carpenter's eyes, and the carpenter escapes by guessing the ogre's name. Same bargain, entirely different setting.
Where you might already know it from
Most children meet a screen version first. Here is what those changed.
The Blue Fairy Book
book, Andrew Lang, 1889
Carried the tale to a very wide English readership, illustrated. Walter Crane had already illustrated it in Household Stories from the Brothers Grimm in 1886, and Anne Anderson illustrated a much-loved edition in 1922.
Tom Tit Tot: An Essay on Savage Philosophy in Folk-Tale
book, Edward Clodd, 1898
Not a retelling but a whole book about the tale. Clodd used the English version, Tom Tit Tot, to explore what folk tales can tell us about how people thought long ago.
Utzli-Gutzli
other, Avraham Shlonsky
A Hebrew stage version for children in which every line, monologue and conversation is spoken in rhyme, full of wordplay. It became a classic of Hebrew children's theatre.
Questions parents ask
- What is the moral of Rumpelstiltskin?
- Be careful what you say to fill a silence.
- What is Rumpelstiltskin about?
- A miller cannot bear an awkward silence in front of a king, so he claims his daughter can spin straw into gold. She cannot. A small man can, and his price goes up each night until it is her first child. The tale everybody remembers as being about a wicked imp is really about the two men who never face any consequences at all.
- What age is Rumpelstiltskin for?
- Rumpelstiltskin suits ages 5-10.
- How long does Rumpelstiltskin take to read?
- About 9 minutes read aloud.
- Where does Rumpelstiltskin come from?
- Rumpelstiltskin is a traditional tale from Germany.
Sing it
Every story here has its own song. This one is sly, bouncing, faintly menacing in a comic way, about 116 beats a minute.
What Will You Give Me
playful minor-key folk stomp
There is no recording yet. The words are here so you can sing it yourself.
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