The Enchanted Goblin: Rumpelstiltskin

Do you enjoy reading or listening to fairy tales? Let’s guess your favourite fairy tale! Is it Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty or Beauty and the Beast? But have you heard of the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, the magical goblin? No? Well, then let us tell you a story about how a poor miller girl became a queen with the help of a magical goblin, Rumpelstiltskin. But, guess what! Nothing comes without a price. If you want to know what we mean, read along and find out!

A Quick Peek into The History of Rumpelstiltskin 

The tale of Rumpelstiltskin is a vintage German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. The story was published in the 1812 edition of their collection of folklores, known as ‘Children’s and Household Tales’. Do you know who the Brothers Grimm were? Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (the Brothers Grimm) are the very same people who are the reason you get to read your favourite fairy tales, such as Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel and many more. 

Rumpelstiltskin and The Miller’s Daughter

The Enchanted Goblin: Rumpelstiltskin - Story

In a faraway land, there lived a poor miller and his daughter. One fine day, the miller had an appointment with the king. In order to impress the king, he lied to him that his beautiful daughter had a special talent. She could spin straw into gold. The king ordered the miller to bring his daughter to the palace the following day.

The next morning, when the miller’s daughter arrived at the palace, she was ushered into a room full of straw. The king said, “I’m going to test your talent as your father claimed. By tomorrow morning, if all that straw has not turned into gold, you shall die.” The king left the girl alone in the room and shut the doors. The poor girl did not know how she could spin straw into gold. She felt helpless and started crying. Just then the doors creaked open and a goblin appeared. He asked her why she was crying. After listening to the whole story, he said “I can help you out but what would you be willing to give me in return?” The girl gave him her necklace and the goblin set to work. He used his magic to spin all the straw, and by morning, all of it had turned into gold. 

When the king arrived the following day, he was surprised to see all the gold. The greedy king brought the miller’s daughter to a bigger room that had more straw than the previous one. He again instructed her to spin them all night long and convert them to gold or she would lose her head. The girl realised she was in trouble once again and started to cry. The door opened again and the tiny magical goblin appeared. The tiny creature said, “Don’t cry, miller maid! I’ll spin the straw into gold for you but what can you offer this time?” The girl took off a ring from her finger and gave it to the goblin. As soon as he received the ring, the spinning wheel started going round and round, changing all the straw into gold. 

When the morning broke, the king rushed into the room to find much to his delight that all the straw had turned into gold. However, his greed was not satiated yet. He ordered the miller’s girl to be taken to yet another room with even more straw. This time he told her, “If you are successful in spinning this into gold, you’ll be my wife tomorrow.” The magical goblin returned for the third time and asked, “What’s your offer this time miller maid?” The girl felt miserable as she had nothing more to offer. The tiny manikin said, “Well, in that case, you have to vow that you will give me your firstborn child when you become the queen.” The girl saw no way out of this and so she agreed. As expected, the straw was all spun into the gold the following morning, and the miller maid became the queen. 

A Year Later

Rumpelstiltskin Sinking into The Ground

The miller girl who was now the wife of the king and the queen gave birth to a son. She was very happy and loved her little baby. She had almost forgotten about the goblin until he suddenly entered her room and demanded her firstborn as promised. The queen was heartbroken. She tried to negotiate with the goblin for all the riches she could offer but he refused. Seeing the queen cry so bitterly, the goblin felt sorry and said, “I’ll give you an offer. If you can discover my name in three days, you can keep the prince.” With these words, he left the mother and child alone. The queen sent out men to search all kinds of names, most uncommon and rarely heard of. But sadly, none got her the correct name. This went on for two days and on the night before the third day, her messenger arrived saying, “I came upon a hut in the hills where a manikin was hopping on one leg, singing a song and calling himself Rumpelstiltskin.” The queen felt victorious. 

The next day when the goblin arrived, confident that he would have the queen’s child, the queen started guessing names. Initially, she pretended not to know his name and then finally said, “How about Rumpelstiltskin? Could that be your name?” The magical goblin was red with anger. “You couldn’t have possibly known that. Some demon must have told you!” Engulfed in rage he stomped his right foot with such power that he sank deep into the ground never to be seen again.

Parents, Please Note!

Rumpelstiltskin is one of the popular Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales that children love to read. However, in this particular version of the story, we have taken the liberty to modify and tweak the ending a bit. The ending of the original tale may not be appropriate for children and hence to avoid violence and uneasiness, we have used some other variant of the ending. Also, you can check out our website for more such fascinating stories, poems and songs to share with your little tots.