RUMPELSTILTSKIN, RUMPELSTILTZCHEN
German Folklore
A type of Dwarf
In the folklore of Germany, RUMPLSTILTSKIN is a little deformed dwarf of very ugly appearance made famous in Grimm’s Fairy Tales (#55). The story tells how the dwarf helps a miller’s daughter spin straw into gold after she, or her mother, had foolishly tried to impress the king and gain his love. The dwarf’s price for his help was that he should take the first-born child of the marriage. The miller’s daughter readily agreed, but when the child was born and RUMPELSTILTSKIN returned for the debt to be paid, the miller’s daughter , now queen, was distraught. The dwarf was so confident in his victory that he said he would not take the child if she could tell him his name within three days. The queen had never asked the name of her benefactor, and she sent servants far and wide to find it out before the time was up.
Almost at the point of despair when the morning the third day came, a servant happened to overhear RUMPLSLITSKIN’S triumphant chanting in the woods, and she silently hurried to tell the queen. When the dwarf came to take the child, the queen at first pretended not to know his name, then suddenly declared it. RUMPELSTILTSKIN flew into such a rage that he stamped his feet right into the ground and tore himsElf apart trying to get them out.
The appearance and demise of RUMPLESTILTSKIN have many variations throughout Europe and western Russia, where he goes by such names as TOM TIT TOT in England, RICDIN RICDON or ROBIQUET in France, KRUZIMUGELI in Austria, TITILITURE and DANCING VARGALUKA in central Europe, PANCZUMANCZI and WINTERKOLBE in Hungary and so many more from around the globe.
Source: Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins Encyclopedia