Story #1 Rumpelstiltskin

As written by J.L.C. & W.C. Grimm (hereafter to be called the Grimm brothers), Rumpelstiltskin is the story of a miller who brags to his king that his beautiful and clever daughter can spin straw into gold. The greedy king takes the girl and tells her she must spin a rooms full of gold, each one bigger than the last, on pain of death. Each night the maiden cries and a little man comes offering to do the task for her at a price. On the third and last night the king says he will marry her if she spins one more room full of straw into gold. Stripped of her possessions from the last two nights of work, the little man demands her first born child by the king. She agrees, the task is completed and the miller's daughter becomes queen. She soon forgets her promise, but after becoming a mother the little man returns to collect his prize. She begs for him to reconsider and offers him half the kingdom, but he refuses. Instead he gives her three days to learn his name. She searches the kingdom and on the last day a palace guard discovers an unusual little man singing to himself in the woods. He reveals his name is Rumpelstiltskin. The lady rejoices, says his name and a fuming Rumpelstiltskin leaves without his prize.Most notably the story does not end with the prerequisite "...and they lived happily ever after". Even the Grimm brothers understood that this story would be a stretch when it came to happiness. When I read this to my daughter the first time I had so many questions that I fully admit I doubt I had when I was her age.

1. Why did her father brag to the king about something she clearly couldn't do?
2. How was she able to marry a man who, the day before, was going to kill her?
3. Who goes around listening at doors for crying maidens who need their straw spun into gold?

   I already had an opinion written out about this story, but what struck me the most while I wrote out the summary was the importance of names. With only one exception, everyone in the story had a title, but not a name. The story is resolved by the power of knowing someone's name. Yet we never learn the name of the miller, queen, king, palace guard, or the prize, the royal baby (which in some versions dies). It's things like this that beg for completion. In an attempt to answer my own questions about the story, I've rewritten it, but opted to retain the feel of storytelling. Click here for my version of the story, The Straw Maiden.

BTW, I completely appreciate the observation that I'm starting my posts with a story about the importance of names and I have not included my own name in this blog. I too believe names are important and feel a Rumpelstiltskin-like desire to guard it ;)

Welcome to My Corner

I grew up with Disney.Princesses, princes, evil queens and mad sorcerers. Not to mention fathers with motherless children who tried to fix the situation with new mothers. (Disney taught me this rarely works out.) As the years went by we added more studios and cable channels, but the basic stories were all based on the same sources. Whether you know it or not Hans Christian Andersen and the brother's Grimm raised us, but I'm almost certain you don't know the original stories (and neither do your children).In the interest of reading to my daughter because I enjoy reading, want her to read, and have been guilted by mommy blogs everywhere that TV is evil, I decided to try some of the classics. And they're awful - especially if you're reading to a girl and hoping to raise a strong, independent woman. Don't misunderstand me - I have nothing against royalty, real, imagined or historical, and I love a happy ending. However, enforced servitude and "rescue by marriage" are not what I want to endorse as a happy ending. At least Disney has updated their female characters to reflect (most) modern values.So I have embarked on a mission of sorts to re-examine these beloved classics and hopefully give them more depth, or humor, or at least more girl power. I hope you like my efforts and I invite you to share your insights!