Rumpelstiltskin
Variants of this fairy tale have been told for more than 1,000 years. But these days, it’s the Brothers Grimm version of Rumpelstiltskin which is read to children the world over – and this one has a far more cheerful ending than many of the versions that went before it.
The story involves an ambitious miller who boasts to the king that his daughter can weave straw into gold. The greedy king believes him and locks the young girl up in a tower overnight. She is told that, if she doesn’t produce gold by the next morning, she will lose her head! An imp appears and offers to help. In return for her necklace, he will make the gold.
Of course, the king just gets greedier, promising to marry the girl if she fulfils his wishes. The imp also demands more and more – first the girl’s ring but finally her firstborn child. Sure enough, the miller’s daughter becomes queen. And then, when their first child is born, the imp demands to take it away. The new mother refuses. After much arguments, the imp gives her one last deal: only if she can guess his name will she be able to keep the baby.
In the Brothers Grimm version of 1812, the queen hears the imp singing while she is out walking in the woods. This way, she learns his name is Rumpelstiltskin. When he returns the next day, then, she passes the test. Though angry, the imp just runs away, never to be seen again. But in other versions, he doesn’t take losing quite so well. Most infamously, one version – which the Brothers Grimm copied later – have that Rumpelstiltskin is so angry he stamps one foot right through the castle floor. He then grabs his other leg and literally rips himself in half – all in front of the onlooking queen and her infant!