Rumpelstiltskin

The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" (Once Upon a Time)

"Once upon a Time" Is Timeless

The year is 1880, and Bertie, having just arrived in New York with her family, is grateful to be given work as a seamstress in the home of textile tycoon J. P. Wellington. When the Wellington family fortune is threatened, Bertie's father boasts that Bertie will save the business, that she is so skillful she can "practically spin straw into gold."

Amazingly, in the course of one night, Bertie creates exquisite evening gowns -- with the help of Ray Stalls, a man from her tenement who uses an old spinning wheel to create dresses that are woven with crimson thread and look as though they are spun with real gold. Indebted to Ray, Bertie asks how she can repay him. When Ray asks for her firstborn child, Bertie agrees, never dreaming that he is serious....

Rumpelstiltskin

Paul O. Zelinsky, 1998 Caldecott medalist for Rapunzel, also has three Caldecott Honor Books under his belt: Hansel and Gretel, Swamp Angel, and this fine edition of Rumpelstiltskin. Zelinsky's oil paintings are perfectly suited to the strange saga of the little man with the secret name who knows how to spin straw into gold. The golden light infusing the late medieval setting subtly reinforces the theme.

The visual characterization of Rumpelstiltskin is a triumph: an odd elfin man with bulbous eyes, a gigantic, flat black hat, impossibly skinny arms and legs, and long, pointed black shoes. This Rumpelstiltskin is not scary or horrid, but rather mischievous and weird. When the young queen finally guesses his name, and thus is able to keep her baby, he flies off on his huge cooking spoon (with a pout), true to the Grimms's 1819 version of the story. (Zelinsky provides notes on his text in the back of the book, indicating his careful research into various editions of the original Grimm tale.) Zelinsky's retelling is straightforward and smooth, with only a few lines of text on each page to complement the truly magnificent full-page illustrations. A delightful book worth its weight in gold! (Ages 3 to 7)

The funny little man who spun straw into gold and helped the beautiful miller's daughter marry the king gives her three days to guess his name or he will take away her child. Reprint. Caldecott Honor Book. SLJ. AB. NYT. H.

Multiplying Menace: The Revenge Of Rumpelstiltskin (A Math Adventure)

Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fables and Other Stories: The Three Little Pigs/The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Rumpelstiltskin, The Tiger and the Brahmin, The Ugly Duckling

The Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fables and Other Stories entertains and enlightens with these classic animal stories--read by your favorite stars and featuring original music by some of today's greatest artists.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff / The Three Little Pigs
Read by Holly Hunter
Original Music by Art Lande
Three billy goats encounter a greedy troll--and turn the tables on him--when they try to cross a bridge in the popular Norwegian classic The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
The big bad wolf huffs and puffs his way through the tale of the brave pig who outsmarts his fellow oinkers by simply working harder in the all-time favorite The Three Little Pigs.

Rumpelstiltskin
Read by Kathleen Turner
Original Music by Tangerine Dream
When the king orders a young woman to spin a room full of straw into gold, she turns to a mysterious elfin man for help . . . but will the price of his aid be her first-born child?

The Tiger and the Brahmin
Read by Ben Kingsley
Original Music by Ravi Shankar
"I shan't eat you if you let me out of the cage," the tiger tells the Brahmin before the holy man discovers that the tiger intended to eat him all along. Only the intervention of a clever jackal can save the Brahmin from his fate.

The Ugly Duckling
Read by Cher
Original Music by Patrick Ball
Rediscover the inner beauty in all of us with this beloved Hans Christian Andersen story of the outcast duckling who finds himself transformed into a beautiful swan.

Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter

The children's classic "Rumpelstiltskin" undergoes an attitude update in Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter by Diane Stanley. Yes, the king imprisons the miller's daughter Meredith and threatens death if she doesn't spin mountains of gold, but this time it's a kind and cute, not a troll-like and evil Rumpelstiltskin who rescues Meredith from the king's wrath. Rumpelstilskin's heartfelt request for Meredith's first child as payment for the spun gold is accompanied by promises that he will read to the child and even coach Little League! Meredith cannot resist such promises, and the two escape from the palace, marry the next day, and settle on a farm far from the king. The story picks up some 16 years later. Meredith and Rumpelstiltskin have a "sunny and clever" daughter named Hope who delights in traveling to town to sell the golden coins spun by her father. On one such trip the greedy king crosses Hope's path and, after spying the gold coins, sets her to spinning gold in a cold palace cell. Hope cooks up a plan that results in prosperity for the people of the kingdom and her appointment as prime minister. Diane Stanley's irresistable prose and detailed illustrations make Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter a golden yarn that's sure to be spun over and over. (Age 5 and older)

0nce upon a time a miller's daughter was given an impossible task by a cruel and greedy king. She had to spin straw into gold. And who should show up to help her but an odd little man named Rumpelstiltskin.

According to tradition, the gold-bedazzled king and the miller's daughter are wed. But wait just a minute! This king is definitely not husband material, and there's someone else who is -- a hardworking guy who's supportive and nice looking, and who really comes through in a pinch.

Why not marry Rumpelstiltskin?

In Diane Stanley's merry rethinking of the traditional tale, Rumpelstiltskin and the miller's daughter are wed...and then sixteen years later their only daughter is stuck in the same dilemma: She's been locked in a room full of straw to spin for a greedy king! She could call for help from her father, but this fairy-tale heroine has some canny plans of her own.

How Rumpelstiltskin's daughter sets things to rights in the troubled kingdom, while achieving a unique place for herself, makes for a wise and witty tale of kindness and cleverness rewarded. Diane Stanley's wickedly funny text and zesty illustrations put a delightful new spin on a classic fairy tale.

Rumpelstiltskin's daughter may not be able to spin straw into gold, but she is more than a match for a monarch whose greed has blighted an entire kingdom.

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem

Why did the miller tell the king his daughter could spin straw into gold in the first place? The story of Rumpelstiltskin is full of holes, says young adult fantasy writer Vivian Vande Velde in the author's note to this delightful group of tales. For instance, why was the dwarf was willing to accept the girl's ring as a bribe when he already knew how to spin unlimited quantities of gold? And why did he want a baby at all? Not to mention the very peculiar ending in which he stamps on the floor, catches his foot in a crack, and in a fit of rage tears himself in two. Excuse me? says Vande Velde.

The skeptical author sets out to remedy these flaws in six different imaginative retellings full of sassy humor that teens will relish. Sticking closely to the spirit and setting of the original, she changes only one or two building blocks in the plot structure and comes up with some surprising results. In one story, the miller's daughter is an obnoxious groupie pursuing the polite and gentle king; in another, Rumpelstiltskin is female; and in a third, the dwarf appears as a troll with a yen to eat human baby who sets up the whole scenario as an attempt to get his hands on a toothsome infant. ("Tastes just like chicken," scoffs his brother-in-law.)

Teen readers will appreciate the wit and freshness of these smart-mouth renditions of a traditional story. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

Have you ever wondered just what was going on when that odd little man with the long name stepped up and volunteered to spin straw into gold for the miller's daughter? If you stop and think about it, there are some very peculiar and rather hard-to-explain components to the story.
Vivian Vande Velde has wondered too, and she's come up with these six alternative versions of the old legend. A bevy of miller's daughters confront their perilous situation in very different ways — sometimes comic, sometimes scary. Most of the time, it's the daughter who gets off safely, but sometimes, amazingly, Rumpelstiltskin himself wins the day. And in one tale, it is the
king who cleverly escapes a quite unexpected fate.

The Story of Rumpelstiltskin (Usborne First Stories)

This delightful picture book version of the traditional story of Rumpelstiltskin has been specially written for children who are just beginning to read. Stephen Cartwright's charming illustrations will inspire young readers as well as giving clues to the words and their meaning. This is an Accelerated Reader title. Accelerated Reader (AR) is the world's most popular reading management software. Used in nearly 60,000 schools, Accelerated Reader provides teachers with an easy and effective way to monitor all forms of guided reading practice.8 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches. 16 pages.

Rumpelstiltskin/a Deal Is a Deal: A Classic Tale (Point of View)

When read front to back the text retells the traditional tale of straw spun into gold, but flip the book over and upside-down for Rumpelstiltskin's side of the story.

Rumpelstiltskin (Classic Fairy Tale Collection)

Rumpelstiltskin (Usborne Fairytale Sticker Stories)