Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

“‘You’ll find it all.’ ‘What all?’ ‘Your name. All of it.’ ‘I will?’ Red’s granny suddenly looked very wise and maybe even less crouched and wrinkly. ‘Not before you cause a heap of trouble, though. And you have to find your destiny first.’ ‘But I thought my name was my destiny.’ ‘No, no, other way around. Find your destiny, you find your name. It’s right under your feet.’”

The prophecy of the Witch of the Woods is full of foreshadowing. Her prediction that Rump will “cause a heap of trouble” proves true when his spinning entangles him, Opal, and Red in the miller’s and the king’s greedy plots. In addition, this passage develops the theme of Fighting Fate by changing the way that Rump thinks about names and destiny. Over the course of the novel, remembering the witch’s words gives Rump hope that he can find his name and change his fate.

“I stood and admired the fruits of my labor. A fortune lay at my feet. Enough to feed me and Gran for the rest of our lives!”

When Rump realizes that he can spin straw into gold, he initially believes that he and Gran can enjoy a life of plenty. Instead, the magic brings disaster. In a tragic twist of irony, Gran dies from starvation and sickness after the cruel miller learns of Rump’s power.

“Gran’s eyes were shiny with tears. ‘You are my grandson, Rump. I have always loved you. I have always tried to protect you, and I will do my best to protect you now. Do not concern yourself with your mother or her spinning wheel. It will only bring you sorrow.’”

Gran realizes that Rump has spun straw into gold, like his mother before him, and worries that this will bring sorrow for him as it did for her. This scene is suspenseful because Rump and the reader know very little about his mother or how she met her tragic end at this point in the story. Gran makes a moving promise to “do [her] best to protect” Rump. However, she will soon be unable to watch over her grandson.

“‘Spin…gold…here.’ She tapped on my chest. ‘Gold…here.’”

Over the course of the novel, Rump fulfills Gran’s last words by growing in courage, loyalty, empathy, and self-esteem. However, this long-term growth is far removed from the immediate aftermath of Gran’s death. The loss of his guardian leaves Rump vulnerable. The miller takes advantage of this by giving him a series of unfair deals, and Rump spends four months in a state of hopelessness.

“‘If what you say is true,’ said King Barf, ‘you and your family and all The Mountain shall be rewarded. But if not, the punishment for deceiving the king is severe. Dungeons or death.’”

The stakes facing Opal parallel the predicament of the miller’s daughter in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. In addition to propelling the plot forward, the king’s arrival contributes to the protagonist’s character development. The greedy royal’s appearance jolts Rump out of the numbness that overtook him after Gran’s death. This scene also shows Rump’s courage and kindness. Even though the miller’s actions caused Gran’s death and cost Rump endless misery, the boy still wants to help the miller’s daughter.

“‘She had to give them the gold, and she had to take what they offered, even if she didn’t want it.’ My will. My control. That was the price, the consequence, of this magic.”

The Witch of the Woods gives Rump some long-awaited details about what happened to his mother. The witch’s explanation of “the price, the consequence, of this magic” helps both the protagonist and the reader understand the curse on the spinning wheel. As the novel continues, Rump’s inability to negotiate with the people who ask him to spin has dire consequences.

“Red let out a heavy sigh. Her brow was knit and her mouth curved down, but she didn’t look angry. Was she sad? I’d never seen Red sad. That’s when I realized that, even if she did call me an idiot, Red really cared what happened to me. She was my one true friend.”

As Rump prepares to leave the Village, he realizes that Red is his “one true friend.” This belated realization develops the theme of The Value of Friendship. Later in the novel, the miller exploits their friendship by holding Red hostage to force Rump to spin straw into gold. Rump’s personal journey leads him to discover that friendship is infinitely more valuable than gold.

“Even though I knew there were other kingdoms and villages and probably mountains all over the world, this had always been my world. I imagined my mother leaving Yonder and feeling the same. In my mind I thought I would not be gone for very long, but in my heart I felt like I was leaving on a great expedition, and if I ever returned, I would be very different. I hoped I would be different.”

Rump’s departure from the Village develops the theme of The Importance of Courage. His heart is ultimately proven correct. He is away from home for many months, and he achieves the change he hopes. When he returns at the novel’s end, he finally knows his name and his destiny.

“‘What do you want?’ I thought of all the things I wanted—more food on The Mountain, a horse to replace Nothing, more hens, a family, my whole name. But the mere thought of asking for anything made my tongue swell and my mouth clamp shut. Just as the witch had said, I could make no requests, only beg and take what was offered. ‘What will you give me?’ I asked.”

During the first night in the tower, the curse prevents Rump from telling Opal what he wants. The novel follows the pattern of exchanges in the fairy tale, with the queen offering Rumpelstiltskin her necklace on the first night, her ring on the second, and her firstborn child on the third. Unlike his fairy-tale counterpart, 12-year-old Rump wants none of these bargains. As a result, he must go on a quest for the things he truly desires. He gains a family when he finds his aunts in Yonder, and he discovers his whole name after many adventures.

“This was my destiny—destiny—to spin gold at the whims of a greedy king for the rest of my life. I thought that when you found your destiny, you were supposed to be happy about it. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was something you just had to accept. Succumb to. Hadn’t I seen the villagers on The Mountain succumb to their fates all my life? They accepted it because they had always known their name and the destiny that came with it. And they knew those things couldn’t be changed.”

After the second night of spinning at the castle, a weary Rump begins to lose hope that he can win the fight against fate. In this moment of crisis, he sees destiny as something unassailable that “you just had to accept. Succumb to,” rather than something joyful to discover. As with Gran’s death, Rump’s magical spinning leads to his predicament at the castle. However, the true curse plaguing him is others’ covetousness. Although the hero made a daring quest from his village to the capital, the only difference at this point is that he now serves “a greedy king” instead of the cruel miller.

“‘You can give me anything, anything you know is yours. I’m not asking for your firstborn child.’ ‘My child? You want a child?’ ‘No, that’s not what I—’ ‘Of course, you will probably never be able to have any of your own.’”

In both the novel and the fairy tale, the miller’s daughter promises Rumpelstiltskin her firstborn child on the third night that he spins for her. However, in the Brothers Grimm text, he asks for the child, whereas Rump inadvertently gives Opal the idea. This ill-fated bargain has a major impact on the plot. Rump spends much of the rest of the story trying to find someplace so remote that news of the child’s birth will never reach him. In the end, he can’t escape the curse’s power and must claim the child.

“My heart leapt. I could ask the mirror my name! It could show me where I could find a stiltskin! ‘But it will enslave you more and more,’ said Slop. ‘Until all you care about is yourself and the mirror. It makes humans twisted and evil.’ My heart sank. I did not wish to be twisted and evil. Just whole.”

This chapter contains several allusions to other classic fairy tales. In addition to the magic mirror from “Snow White” described in this passage, the trolls stand guard over the enchanted harp from “Jack and the Beanstalk” and Rapunzel’s shorn braid. Rump’s interaction with Slop contributes to the theme of Fighting Fate and to Rump’s character development. The troll emphasizes the connection between magic and greed and indicates that humans are notoriously susceptible to corruption. Although Rump longs to learn his destiny, he has the strength to resist these temptations.

“Surely, this was magic. Magic like how I spun the gold, and how my mother had. As I watched, I had a tingling sensation in my toes and fingers, my head and my chest. This was where everything started, where I started. It all began with my mother, and she began here.”

Among the Wool Witches, Rump feels closer to his mother and his destiny. In addition to helping him better understand magic, Rump’s aunts give him his first experiences of home and family since Gran’s death.

“I was excited—and confused. I had grown! Was it because I knew the rest of my name? That must be it. I was so happy at the thought, I almost forgot about everything else—the spinning, the gold, the rumpel, and Opal’s promise to me. Somehow the growth made me think other things had changed too. Maybe I wasn’t as trapped anymore.”

After learning the second syllable of his name, Rump grows taller for the first time in years. This development contributes to the theme of Fighting Fate because it helps Rump regain hope that he can find his destiny. He feels less trapped by “the spinning, the gold, the rumpel, and Opal’s promise.” His hope is soon shaken by news of the queen’s pregnancy.

“Rumpel…Trapped. Tangled. Ensnared. But why? Why would a mother who loved her child bestow such a fate upon him? I wanted there to be more, another explanation, but the more I thought about it, the more trapped and tangled I felt, and I knew that there was nothing more. Only the cruel echo of my name.”

Rump’s hope that he can win the fight against fate flags again when he tries and fails to spin without turning straw and wool into gold. He believes that his mother named him Rumpel, which means “[t]rapped. Tangled. Ensnared,” to show that he is doomed to share her fate. This trapped sensation is a far cry from what Rump expected to feel when he learned his name. This passage is an example of dramatic irony because the reader knows Rumpel isn’t Rumpelstiltskin’s full name.

“Don’t send a gnome back. I think the miller is starting to sniff with his oversized nose. Your friend, Red P.S. As always, Granny says watch your step.”

The last message from Red to reach Rump in Yonder develops the theme of The Value of Friendship. She attempts to protect him from the miller’s greed and the king’s wrath. Red’s warning moves the plot along by prompting Rump to leave his aunts’ home.

“What did it matter that Frederick and Bruno had captured me? What did it matter that they were taking me to the miller, who wanted me to spin him gold forever? But in my heart it mattered. I didn’t want to be trapped. I wanted to grow. I wanted to break free.”

As the miller’s sons and the curse force his steps toward the castle, Rump reflects on his fight against fate. He is both literally and metaphorically trapped, but he’s not ready to surrender yet. After Gran’s death, he numbly submitted to the miller’s greed. Now, as he’s led back to the cruel man’s clutches, he yearns to be more—“to grow” and “to break free.”

“Greetings from The Kingdom! King Barfy-hew Archy-baldy Regy-naldy Fife and Queen Opal both happily announce the birth of their new son, heir to the throne of The Kingdom. His name is—”

The gnome’s message develops the theme of Fighting Fate. Once Rump learns of the prince’s birth, the curse compels him to return to the castle despite all of his efforts to evade this eventuality. This sets the stage for the novel’s climax.

“‘I knew you would go to her,’ said the miller, ‘after the king took her away. I didn’t worry because I knew you would spin the gold and Opal could give you anything in return. Anything, and the gold would be hers.’ He laughed, his whole body jiggling.”

In a twist, the miller reveals that he knew how Rump’s magic works all along because he is the merchant who ruined Anna’s life. The novel’s antagonist is so cruel that he laughs during this dialogue. He takes glee in the forced exchange, even as his daughter sobs at being parted from her child. This revelation was foreshadowed in Chapter 3 when the miller implied that he knew Rump’s mother had magic.

“Red whispered frantically to me. ‘Your name, Rump. There has to be more than that. Your mother wouldn’t have done that!’ ‘You think you know so much. There isn’t more! My destiny is this!’ The miller came to his senses. He grabbed a handful of Red’s hair, and she growled and struggled against him. ‘Rump! This isn’t your destiny!’”

This scene develops the themes of The Value of Friendship and Fighting Fate. While Rump spins straw into gold to keep the miller from harming Red, she urges him to find his true destiny. She’s certain “[t]here has to be more” to both his fate and his name. In the end, Rump learns the truth of his friend’s words when he discovers that he’s a stiltskin as well as a rumpel.

“‘You must tell me my name,’ I said. ‘Your name?’ she asked. ‘Yes, my true name. All of it. If you guess my name before I’m done spinning this gold, you can keep your baby.’”

On the surface, this exchange between Rump and Opal seems to parallel the Brothers Grimm tale. In both versions, the helper figure suggests the guessing game because he is moved with pity by the queen’s sorrow. However, Rump did not take the child voluntarily, and he tells the queen to guess his name merely to keep her occupied.

“Maybe poison doesn’t have to grow from poison. Not always. This tree, I think just maybe it grew the way it wanted to grow. Those seeds, they were stronger than the magic.”

This passage contributes to each of the novel’s three major themes. Bork the troll develops the themes of The Value of Friendship and The Importance of Courage by bravely taking a bite of the apple to help his friend Rump understand himself. The apple tree is a symbol for Rump because it defied Fighting Fate and “grew the way it wanted to grow.” Just as a wholesome tree grew from a poison apple, Rump doesn’t have to be trapped in the rumpel forever because his mother was cursed. The apple tree is a fitting setting for Rump’s triumphant realization of his true name.

“My name means I am bound, but I can grow more powerful than those bindings. I am more than the name I have always known. Deep inside I have a power that no one can take away from me. A deep magic more powerful than any magic placed upon me. A magic that I was born with, that grew inside me, deep in my bones. A stiltskin. I am Rumpel. I am a stiltskin.”

Rump wins his fight against fate and declares that he is “more than the name [he has] always known.” His true name, Rumpelstiltskin, reflects his dual nature as someone both cursed and blessed with powerful magic. The search for the stiltskin ends with the discovery, not of a mystical object, but of the truth that he had the power to break the curse all along.