Rumpelstilskin

Melanie Orr

Children’s Literature

Traditional                

Rumpelstiltskin

From the German of the Brothers Grimm

Retold and Illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

Summery: A poor man gives his daughter to a king so that she can spin straw into gold.  The daughter is given an ultimatium, a little man helps her out and she ends up owning the little man her first-born child.  The story ends with the queen keeping her baby.

Genre-Folktale

Literary Elements:

Characterization-The characters in the story are flat.  The protagonist in the story is the poor mans daughter and the antagonist in this story is the king and rumpelstilskin.  The mood of the characters are portrayed through the actions and facial expressions displayed through the pictures in the book.  When the daughter is in distress there is a picture with her hands that cover face.  When the antagonist is angry his facial expressions match. 

Plot-This book uses episodic plots that explain the different demands of the king and the little man.  The conflict in the story is self against others.  The others in this book is the king and the little man.  The girl not only has one person to answer to but two people.  The conflict in this story ends with a happy ending because the girl ends up finding out the little mans name.

Theme-The theme of this book is about never taking bribes from a little man.

Do what you can to stay alive.

Style-The author of this story actually rewrites this story.  I believe this story is told in various countries with their own spin on it.  There is dialogue in the story between the protagonist and antagonist.  There is also onamonapia in the story when the straw is spun into gold.  “whir! whir! whir! and the spool was wound full of gold thread.

The point of view of the story is told in first person.  The book conveys the voice, feelings, and actions of the main character.  The spun gold in the book is a metaphor for being tons of real gold.  The spun gold represented richness, wealth and in the  book the girl was a very rare commodity that one should have. 

Illustrations:  The pictures in the book are collogue where there are layers of very descriptive pictures.  The colors are rich and show the elegance of a castle.  The straw in the book is as if you could touch it and the gold reams are very shinny.  This matches the illusion of real gold.  The pictures flow with the text and match what the page describes.  The energy from the little man, rumpelstilskin was one of wickedness.  He looked as though he is tricky and he is, because he uses his skill to take advantage of the helpless girl. 

Reflection:  I remember this story when I was growing up and I always thought that this story was a little creepy.  The thought of a little man that looked very strange and made demands on a girl that was helpless bothered me.  Its a different kind of story, it puts me in the mind of Alice and Wonderland and the wizard of oz.  The stories end all the same, with a happy ever after.  This book as well as many other are good reads for children who like to take a trip into the imaginary world.  These old mythical tales are historical and will probably be around forever.