Golden Thread
I have been trying to learn how to knit recently and have been mainly constructing small squares of striped material. Although useless in more ways than you can imagine, the dream that one day that I might actually make something beautiful keeps me going. Some of the stuff I indulge my imagination in are tales of yore - women weaving their life stories into stunning silk whose gleam and (woolly?) perfection make the sun itself envious…Anyhoo, then I remembered the tale of Rumplestiltskin and thought I’d share it with you. A good fairy tale can remind us all that dwarves, pixies and goblins can be ruthless in their business and mustn’t be messed with.
The Tale of Rumplestiltskin
In order to make himself appear more important, a miller lied to the king that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king called for the girl, shut her in a tower room with straw and a spinning wheel and demanded that she spin the straw into gold by morning, for three nights, or be killed! She had given up all hope, when a dwarf appeared in the room and spun straw into gold for her in return for her necklace; then again the following night for her ring. On the third night, when she had nothing with which to reward him, the strange creature spun straw into gold for a promise that the girl’s first-born child would become his.
The king was so impressed that he let the miller’s daughter marry his son, the prince, but when their first child was born, the dwarf returned to claim his payment: “Now give me what you promised”. The queen was frightened and offered him all the wealth she had if she could keep the child. The dwarf refused but finally agreed to give up his claim to the child if the queen could guess his name in three days. At first she failed, but before the second night, her messenger overheard the dwarf hopping about his fire and singing. While there are many variations in this song, the 1886 translation by Lucy Crane reads
“To-day do I bake, to-morrow I brew,
The day after that the queen’s child comes in;
And oh! I am glad that nobody knew
That the name I am called is Rumpelstiltskin!”
When the dwarf came to the queen on the third day and she revealed his name, Rumpelstiltskin lost his bargain. In the 1812 edition of the Brothers Grimm tales, Rumpelstiltskin then “ran away angrily, and never came back”.
Phew, that was a lucky escape!
If you’ve got any fairy tales or nursery rhymes that you remember to have inspired or spooked you, let us know at www.thelaundry.biz/blog
Love from Steph and The Laundry