Rumpelstiltskin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rumpelstiltskin
Illustration from Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book (1889)
Folk tale
Name	Rumpelstiltskin
Also known as	Tom Tit Tot Päronskaft Repelsteeltje Cvilidreta
Data
Country	Germany England Netherlands
Published in	Grimm's Fairy Tales English Fairy Tales

"Rumpelstiltskin" is a fairy tale. It was first published by the Brothers Grimm in their Children's and Household Tales of 1812. There are many similar tales such as "Tom-Tit-Tot". Maria Tatar points out that the Rumpelstiltskin plot hinges on greed and deception, and has little moral value for children.

Story

A poor miller tells the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king locks her in a castle room to test her. She cries because the task is impossible. A little man appears. He spins the straw into gold. He takes a trinket in payment. The king is delighted. He does not know the girl has had supernatural help. He tests the girl again the next night. Once more, the little man does the task and receives a trinket. On the third night, the girl promises to give the little man her first-born child in payment for again spinning the straw into gold. The king marries the girl. She gives birth to a child. The little man comes to claim the child. He gives the queen the chance to keep her baby if she can guess his name. A courtier spies on the little man and learns his name is Rumpelstiltskin. The queen confronts the little man with his name. He rages and tears himself in two.

Images for kids

• 

  Illustration by Anne Anderson from Grimm's Fairy Tales (London and Glasgow 1922)

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  Stamp series on Rumpelstilzchen from the Deutsche Post of the GDR, 1976

• 

  Illustration by Walter Crane from Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm (1886)

• 

  Illustration for the tale of "Rumpel-stilt-skin" from The heart of oak books (Boston 1910)

See also

In Spanish: Rumpelstiltskin para niños