One of the Best Fairy Tales: Rumpelstiltskin Story

The themes of this story are about power and greed. The poor miller, the King, and Rumpelstiltskin are all seeking power or attempting to get an advantage with what they have. The poor miller tells the King about his daughter's "gift" in order to appear more powerful in the King's eyes.

Rumpelstiltskin Story

Once there was a miller who was poor and had a beautiful daughter. When the miller was at work, turning grain into flour, he loved to think up tall tales to amaze people. One day, the King came to the town. The king heard that the miller was talking about his daughter. The miller boasts falsely that his daughter is so intelligent that she can turn straw into gold. The young woman is then transported to the king's castle. He locks her up in a room with a spinning wheel and a lot of straw. He ordered her to transform all of the straw into gold by the next morning otherwise she would die. 

She had no idea how to spin straw into gold! Suddenly, a little man appeared. He promised the miller's daughter that he would turn all of the straws into gold but she had to give her necklace to the strange man. The man completed his work, took the necklace, and left. 

Despite seeing all of the straws transformed into gold, the king decided that he wanted more. He took the miller's daughter to another chamber with a spinning wheel and with more straws. The king again ordered the miller's daughter to transform all of the straws into gold. The small guy came to rescue her once again. And in return for her ring, he agreed to turn all of the straws into gold.

The next morning, the girl was sure that the King would be happy and would let her go home.  But the King took her to the biggest room filled with straw and said “you must turn those straws into gold by morning and if you succeed, you will be my wife”. The small guy came again for the third time, offering to turn all of the straw into gold for the miller's daughter once more. The miller's daughter, on the other hand, had nothing to offer him this time. If the miller's daughter agrees to give him her first child, only then the small guy will perform the task. She agreed with him. By the next morning, the job was done.

After that, the miller's daughter became the queen. After a year, she had a beautiful child and forgot about the small guy. Suddenly, he came to her room and demanded the kid as promised. The queen was shocked. She offered him all the riches of the kingdom and said not to take her child away. The small guy felt sad for the queen and said “if within three days, you find out my name, then you shall keep your child."

The next day, the small guy appeared and asked her his name. The queen listed all of the names she was familiar with. But the small man, on the other hand, said "No, that's not my name." The queen sent a servant to inquire about the names of those who reside nearby in order to prepare a list of more odd names. A big list of odd names was made by the servant. When the small man appeared on the second day, he informed the queen that his name does not appear on the list.

Millers Daughter with the small Guy

The queen sent her servant once more to prepare a new list of strange names. The servant saw a small guy dancing around a fire and singing that he will be granted a kid since the queen would never discover his name is Rumpelstiltskin because he is at the edge of the forest. The servant told the queen what he saw.

When the tiny man appeared on the third day, the queen addressed him by two common names. She finally said, “You must be Rumpelstiltskin”. "The Devil told you that!" screamed the tiny guy. In his rage, he stamped his right foot so hard on the floor that his whole leg went in. He then pulled off his leg so hard with both hands that he tore himself in two.

Summary of the Rumpelstiltskin Story

When a father falsely promises that his intelligent daughter can turn straw into gold using a spinning wheel, the tale of "Rumpelstiltskin" is put in motion. When the king hears this, he commands the young lady to turn straws into gold for him. The mysterious small guy with superhuman abilities comes to help her. On the condition that she will give him her firstborn child, he promises to spin straw into gold for her.

About Author

Rumpelstiltskin is a German fairy tale (German: "Rumpelstilzchen"; often written in English as "Rumpel-Stilts-Kin" and "Rumple-Stilts-Ken"). It appears in the Brothers Grimm's 1812 compilation of German folktales, Kinder - und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales). Folklore from the British Isles, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Iceland, Russia, Slovakia, Arabia, Japan, and Latin America all have similar tales.

Conclusion 

Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale about a poor man who deceives the king by claiming to have a daughter who can spin straw into riches. The poor father presents his lovely daughter to the king, but she is unable to turn straw into gold. In the room full of straw, a guy arrives and spins the straw into gold for a fee. The girls have to give him a gift every time this happens. When the girl ran out of money, she promised the tiny guy her firstborn child. The king marries the woman, and the couple has a lovely daughter. The small guy appears and asks for the child. She refuses, but he offers her a deal: if she can identify his name correctly, she can keep her child.