Rumpelstiltskin Topic Research

 

Rumpelstiltskin demanding payment in exchange for sewing straw into gold.

Image from The Story of Rumpelstiltskin.

1) In my first source, the gist of how Rumpelstiltskin coerced the young woman into giving him her firstborn child is told. I had forgotten that Rumpelstiltskin went out of his way to sew the straw into gold for the young woman or else the king would execute her. In a way, Rumpelstiltskin actually helped out the young woman. This Wikipedia site basically says that after helping the woman twice and taking some of her jewelry as payment, he demanded her firstborn child in order to help her the last time. After the third time, the king married her and they had a child. When Rumpelstiltskin came back after the child was born, the woman did not want to give up her child. Since he wanted to have fun more than anything, Rumpelstiltskin agreed that if the woman guessed his name within 3 tries then she could keep her child. She almost did not guess correctly but after overhearing him say his own name in the woods, the young woman guessed right and got to keep her baby. This source allows me to get accurate background of the original Rumpelstiltskin story with some different versions of the ending as well. I could use this story to come up with an alternate ending such as the woman not guessing his name correctly or how Rumpelstiltskin takes his revenge. I am not sure but this could be a plot twist of some sort.

2) In my second source, The Story of Rumpelstiltskin, I want to use the background this site provides to write a prequel to the original Rumpelstiltskin story. This site gives historical background and knowledge of what Rumpelstiltskin means and everything I need to create a prequel. I will use the knowledge that Rumpelstiltskin means "the name of the helper" and tell the story of a young boy who used to work in a sew shop. He was the assistant in the shop and he learned many tricks while working there. One day while out on a delivery for his sew shop, he wandered too far into the forest and ran into a witch who ended up cursing him. He was stuck forever young but he gained magical powers to grant other people's wishes. He had to collect objects for the witch each year as well or else she would give severe consequences. I want to make the story something like this but maybe change the ending parts. I am super excited to write this prequel as it is my favorite option of these three!

3) My third source is the same as my second, The Story of Rumpelstiltskin. In this story, I could make Rumpelstiltskin the main character who bribes the King himself instead of the young woman. If Rumpelstiltskin is a famous magical sew master in town, the King demands he sew all of his straw into gold since the King has gone broke. Rumpelstiltskin is annoyed and demands a high price for the straw to turn into gold as he wants to be the king himself. So after raising his price each time after sewing the straw, he demands the King's firstborn son. When the King agrees, Rumpelstiltskin sews the straw into gold then disappears until a couple years later when the King has forgotten about their deal and his wife has just birthed their firstborn. Rumpelstiltskin reappears and demands his payment. The King cannot bring himself to uphold the deal, so Rumpelstiltskin bargains and says that the King can keep the baby if he steps down from his role as the King. He agrees and Rumpelstiltskin takes over the King's spot on the throne instead.