School of Humans.
I'm Miranda Hawkins. Welcome to the Deep dark Woods. Today's story is Atu five hundred, the name of the Helper or Rumpelstiltskin.
Once upon a time there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he got into a conversation with the king, and to make an impression on him, he said, I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold. The king said to the miller, that is an.
Art I really like.
If your daughter is as skillful as you say, then bring her to my castle tomorrow and I will put her to the test. When the girl was brought to him, he led her into a room that was entirely filled with straw, giving her a spinning wheel and reel, he said, get to work now, spin all night, and if by morning you have not spun this straw into gold, then you will have to die. Then he himself locked the room,
and she was there all alone. The poor miller's daughter sat there and for her life she did not know what to do. She had no idea how to spin straw into gold. She became more and more afraid and finally began to cry. Then Suddenly the door opened, a little man stepped inside and said, good evening, mistress Miller.
Why are you crying so oh? Answered the girl.
I am supposed to spin straw into gold, and I don't know how to do it. The little man said, what will you give me if I spin it for you? My necklace, said the girl. The little man took the necklace, sat down before the spinning wheel, and whir whre whre three times pulled, and the spool was full. Then he put another one on and whre whre whre three times pulled, and the second one was full as well. So it went until morning, and then all the straw was spun,
and all the spools were filled with gold. At sunrise, the king came and when he saw the gold, he was surprised and happy, but his heart became even more greedy for gold. He had the miller's daughter taken to another room filled with straw. It was even larger, and he ordered her to spin it in one night if she valued her life. The girl did not know what to do, and she cried once again. The door opened and the little man appeared. He said, what will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for
you the ring from my finger, answered the girl. The little man took the ring and began once again to whir with the spinning wheel. By morning he had spun all the straw into glistening gold. The king was happy beyond measure when he saw it, but he still did not have his fill of gold. He had the miller's daughter taken to a still larger room filled with straw, and said to night you must spin this too. If
you succeed, you shall become my wife. He thought, even if she is only a miller's daughter, I will not find a richer wife in all the world. When the girl was alone, the little man returned for a third time. He said, what will you give me if I spin the straw?
This time? I have nothing more.
That I could give you, answered the girl. Then promise me after you are a queen your first child. Who knows what will happen, thought the miller's daughter, and, not knowing what else to do, she promised the little man what he demanded. In return, the little man once again spun the straw into gold. When in the morning the king came and found everything just as he desired. He married her, and the beautiful Miller's daughter became queen. A year later, she brought a beautiful child into the world.
She thought no more about the little Man, but suddenly he appeared in her room and said, now give me that which you have promised. The queen took fright and offered the little man all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her keep the child. But the little man said no, something living is dearer to me than all the treasures of the world. Then the queen began lamenting and crying so much that the little man took pity on her and said.
I will give you three days time. If by then you know my name, then you shall keep your child. The queen spent an entire night thinking of all the names she had ever heard. Then she sent a messenger into the country to inquire far and wide what other names there were.
When the little man.
Returned the next day, she began with Casper Melcher Bowser and said, in order all the names she knew. After each one, the little man said, that's not my name. The second day she sent inquiries into the neighborhood as to what names people had. She recited the most unusual and most curious names to the little man, is your name perhaps beast rib or mutton, calf or leg string, But he always answered, that's not my name. On the third day, the messenger returned and said, I have not
been able to find a single new name. But when I was approaching a high mountain in the corner of the woods there where the fox and the hare sa good night, I saw a little house. A fire was burning in front of the house, and an altogether comical little man was jumping around the fire, hopping on one leg and calling out, Today, I'll bake, Tomorrow, I'll brew, then I'll fetch the queen's newte child. It's good that
no one knows rumpel Stiltskin is my name. You can imagine how happy the queen was when she heard that name. Soon afterwards, the little man came in and asked, now, Madam Queen, what is my name? She first asked, is your name kunts No?
Is your name?
Heinz no?
Is your name?
Perhaps rumpel Stiltskin. The devil told you that.
The devil told you that, shouted the little.
Man, and with anger he stomped his right foot so hard into the ground that he fell in up to his waist. Then with both hands he took hold of his left foot and ripped himself up the middle.
Into rumpel Stiltskin was never one of my favorite stories. It never stood out to me in the way other tales did. But although it is popular, and the brother's grim version perhaps the most popular, it's a tale that has far reaching roots. Similar to Cinderella, the origins of Rumpelstiltskin dates back thousands of years. The tale we know itself doesn't, but making a deal with a supernatural creature
for a return does. This pattern for a story has been dated back between twenty five hundred to six thousand years. It wasn't until later that the Rumpelstiltskin We're familiar with was written. Joann Fischhart was a German satirist and publicist whose book Gargantua was published sometime in the fifteen seventies. The book is an adaptation of frenchmen Francois Rabelais The
Life of Gargantua and of pantic Roll. This was a series of five books published between fifteen thirty two and fifteen sixty four.
The book is a satirical and.
Humorous take on religion through the Adventures of two Giants, a father and a son.
Although the books were banned.
During Rabelais's time, they were still read all across Europe. In fact, these two giants are some of the most famous giants in European literature. But that crudeness and violence found in the original tales were in a way the foundation for rumpel Stilskin, because they were the elements that fish.
Art really liked.
In Fishart's adaptation, rumpel Stilskin shows up as a three hundred and sixty third amusement. Basically that means he had a list of games in his book, and this was a three hundred and sixty third one listed. There's this old children's game rempel Stilt oder dare Popart, which Fischhart Rumpelstilskin is thought to be derived from. In German, rumpel
Stiltskin is translated as little rattle stilt. The stilt refers to a pole or post which is used for support, like the support to use for building a fence, stilt or stults, if you're taking their archaic German word also means lame or with a limp, and the first half rumpel stilt refers to a type of goblin. That goblin was also called Poupard or pope art, hint the origins of Rumpel's name. The game was played with one child being the goblin and banging on pots or pans or
planks to make noise and chase the other children. Think of it like a game of tag, just a lot louder in with no tagging, and to this day the game is still played in some parts of Germany. By the time the Grams got around to Rumpelstiltskin, it was a well known story throughout Europe. Although the brother are said to have collected stories from the everyday folk, we know that most of the stories they collected were from other scholars and people from upper classes.
We also know that.
The brothers did a lot of editing the tales published, and their collections were not the original stories that were told on the street or had been passed down with Rumpell. The brothers actually took four different versions of the story and stitched them into the well known tale we now know. However, the first version they published was more tame than the
final version. The eighteen twelve version ends with Rumpel running away angrily and never coming back, but this tale actually became more dark and evolved into the ending you just heard, which is where he tears himself into Although Rumpel dies gruesomely in the Grim's final telling, that's not always how the story ends. When I first set out on digging into Rumple, I felt like this was one of those
tales that was falling by the wayside. I didn't feel like it held as much importance or wasn't as relevant as stories like Cinderella and The Frog Prince. To my knowledge, Disney hasn't done its own spin on the fairy tale. But as with almost everything, the more I researched, the more I proved myself wrong. I also realized I was surrounded with adaptations of Rumpel, but they weren't necessarily as obvious.
First off, so many countries have a Rumpel tail. While stories like Cinderella have what I call the main three, the Zilee, Pirot, and the brothers Grim, Rumpel has roots all over the world, Arabic, Russian, and even South American that falls under the tail Type five hundred A mischievous or evil helper that is defeated by a hero or heroine in the end. There's a Scottish version that was collected by Robert Chambers and published in eighteen fifty eight.
In this story, a woman's husband heads to the market with all their money and never comes back. She's left with their baby and prize pig. The pig was pregnant, so the woman felt that everything would be okay because she believed a strong litter of piglets would see her and her son throw. But soon after she realized the mother pig wasn't doing so hot. The pig laid on her side in the pig pen, wheezing, and it seemed she would die soon. At that point, the woman lost
all hope and sat down crying. All of a sudden, a small woman came down the road and told the mother she knew all about our troubles and could save the pig. But the small woman asked what would be given in payment. The mother did not have time to respond before the small woman pulled out a small vial of liquid, rubbed some on the pig, who was then immediately healed. The woman then said she wanted the mother's
child as payment. The mother cried out in despair. The small woman revealed she was a fairy and said she'd be back in three days to take the child.
Having to wait due to fairy.
Law, she told the mother the only way she could save her son was if she could guess the fairy's name, and three tries, the fairy then left. The woman wandered the woods to help herself think. On the second day, she heard a song and followed it and found the fairy spinning and singing to herself, And in that song, the fay said her name. The next day, when the fairy showed up to take the baby, the mother guessed
her name was Whoopedie's story. The fairy was so mad she turned red and stumped off, never to be seen again. Then there's an Icelandic tail about a farmer who married a young and beautiful woman, but his new wife was lazy and never wanted to work for the winter. He gave her wool and asked her to spin it so they could make cloth, but she did not, no matter how much she complained at her. One day, a large
woman came by asking for a favor. The farmer's wife asked if the woman could do some work in return. She asked the large woman to spin the wool to be used to make cloth. The large woman agreed and spun all of the wool and payment. She told the farmer's bride that she would have to guess her name. A deal was made, and the large woman said she'd return the first day of summer. The farmer's wife became more irate during the winter and spring months as she
couldn't figure out the large woman's name. When she told her husband, he responded she had done a bad thing because that woman was a troll and was going to take her away. A while later, the farmer was taking a walk and came upon a large mound of rock. He heard a sound and followed it to a hole in the rock, where he saw the troll spinning and singing, and in that song she said her name. The man went back home, wrote the name down and gave.
It to his wife, telling her this was the troll's name.
When the troll came the first day of summer, the farmer's wife said the name on the third try, and the troll was so angry she ran off, never to be seen again. The farmer's wife was so relieved she became an industrious person that happily spun wool if you Notice and Rumbel Stilskin and these other Helper stories, the helper is portrayed as the villain. The character is used as a device to show the shortcomings of those around them.
But let's fast.
Forward to newer takes on the old Helper story. Rumbel has been tucked into some of my favorite childhood cartoons without me realizing it. I was rewatching Courage the Cowardly Dog the other day because I still do watch cartoons. One episode is a new creepy take on the story. Courage of the Cowardly Dog is a Cartoon Network show, so while it's four kids, it's for adults as well, And the whole show is about a dog who's terrified of everything but protects his owners, Muriel and Eustas against
creepy events that happen in the middle of nowhere. That's the town they live in, and sure enough, the title of the episode is called Rumpled Stiltskin. Notice they add the ed in there, so it's rump Bold instead of rump bull in it, the bad tempered Scottish Storf tricks Muriel in Courage to make five thousand tartan kilts for his outlet stores. If they don't complete the task, he'll make them into shepherd's pie unless they discover his name.
Courage escapes goes through a series of tasks to learn Rumpold's name before passing the knowledge to Muriel.
When Muriel reveals to.
Rumpold she knows his name, the Scottish dwarf bursts into tears. Turns out he hates his name. Muriel says he should change it to Rumpelstilskin without the ed, and he likes it so much that he changes it and the two become business partners. It's a happy ending for all. Rumpel or Rumpled isn't a bad guy in this story. It's that he's unhappy, and the episode teaches that a little kindness can lead to a quote happy ending. Also, there's a change in the dynamic of power. It's not Rumpel
helping someone, but he's his own master. If this was an older tale, it could be argued he portrays the devil himself, who in the end is really not so bad. The idea of looking at Rumpel as more than an m or a creature or a person to make a deal with continues in modern character arcs. In my opinion. One of these strongest examples of this is in the show Once Upon a Time. It was a fantasy drama adventure that spanned seven seasons from twenty eleven to twenty eighteen.
In order to save a child from a curse, fair tale characters are sent to modern day Storybrooke, Maine. The show starts with a young boy showing up at bail bondsman Emma Swan's place, claiming he's her son and she's the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. After dropping the boy off in the town, Emma Swan starts to think there might be something to the boy's story. As the show progresses, more fairy tale characters enter and we learn about them as well. Rumpelstilskin is shown as a
human covered in scales. He's portrayed as the most villainous of all the bad guys, but also one of the characters you'll feel the worse for. His story is complicated. He's evil.
Yes, he makes deals.
For firstborns and in exchange the person gets what they want, But then you learn it's because he lost his son, Bill Fire, and his evil stems from a dagger with dark magic that he began using to.
Try and find his son.
All he truly wants is the love of a family of his son, but because of the dagger, he can't stop. It's a tale of greed and cowardice and bravery and change all rolled into one. It's seven seasons, so there's not time to break down every moral and meaning a hein Rumpled's character in Once but overall it shows that there's more complexities than someone just being a bad guy. It's us wanting to know why, taking the time to understand, and it could even be argued what it means to
be human. The different aspects were presented and wrestle with every day. The idea of exploring Rumpelstiltskin as a more human character is also portrayed in the Gilded duology, published in twenty twenty one. Gilded follows the story of Cirillda. She's a poor miller's daughter who spends wild tales that get her into trouble since everyone believes they are lies. She ends up being swept away to this cursed castle that is basically held under siege by the demon King.
It follows the original tale of she must spin straw into gold or be killed, but instead of help coming from a goblin or imp, it comes from a young man who is part of the curse. As a story unfolds, you learn that he is actually a cursed prince named Guild who can't be released until he remembers his true name, which is of course Rumpelstiltskin, and at the end, he and Serrilda are married and.
Have a kid.
This child is a child that she promised for his third night of help, but since it is their kid, she gave him her firstborn by birthing the child. While Srilda is the main hero here, Guild is also a hero. Although he is under duress. He helps Srilda fight demons and uncover the mystery to who he is and to break the curse on him and the subjects in his castle. These newer adaptations tend to explore more of who Rumpelstiltskin
is and what he is searching for. They humanize a character that was originally a fairy creature bent on causing mischief at the expense of another. As we know from this series, fairy tales come with lessons and morals, So what is rumpel Stiltskin trying to teach us. Some people think that Stillskin could have been about teaching women how
they should be supportive in their marriages. At first, this idea seems more aligned to the Icelandic tale we heard earlier, but spinning can be interpreted as a metaphor for all household skills, and at the time, society's expectations of women revolved around household skills and having kids. And then others think it's a cautionary tale for children to behave or for mothers to keep an eye on their kids. Although I feel like this one lends itself to other helper
stories more so than the Grimm's version. One moral in the Grimm's tale is greed and also a warning.
To be honest.
There's this idea that if the miller had been honest with the king from the beginning, then the miller's daughter would never have found herself in the position she was. Notice the patriarchal view of putting the onus on the woman,
even though it's the miller who offered her up. I talked to cultural studies professor Meredith jack Sipes about grims Rumplestol Skin, and he brought the moral of the story back to spinning, specifically, what spinning represented in the lives of women and the Grimm's time.
Women, specifically in the lower.
Class, spent a lot of time and effort making clothes for their families.
There were no great, huge machines in manufacturing companies that made clothes. The closes people wore were made at home by spinning, and so spinning was extremely important. But it was also hard labor for young women. It's well known that there were a lot of accidents with regard to spinning, and it was hard work on their fingers, and so this is a tale about the way women were forced to make their own clothes or clothes for the family.
Spinning was arduous, back breaking labor. It could be painful, and Zeips suggests that rumpel Stilskin could be a tale about how women dreamed of a better life for themselves, a life without this intense labor. After all, even though it comes with the price and the story, it's rumpel Stilskin who takes over the task of spinning.
In the old days, in the sixteen, seventeenth, eighteenth centuries, there used to be aughts where women would gather in a community and jabber away and tell stories about how women would like to free themselves of the treatment. So it's all about the rise of a young woman, fortunately through the service of this little man, and she succeeds in saving herself.
Rumpel Stilskin is a story of triumph for a young woman. She overcomes an impossible task set before her by people with unreasonable expectations. She lifts herself up from poverty and becomes the queen, and then she even overcomes Rumpel. But that's just one take. Rumpelstilskin isn't being left behind. As with all things, it's adapting. The new retellings are filling in blanks, digging into the whys, and really questioning not just who the real bad guy was, but how they
became that way. And they're also holding true to the trope of rags to riches, of someone wanting a better life. And hopefully when help is offered to turn those dreams into a reality, it won't be by a mischievous helper. Next time we'll hear from an author who turned Cinderella into a cyborg.
The Deep Dark.
Woods is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It was created, written and hosted by me Miranda Hawkins. This episode was produced by Mike hal June was senior producer.
Gabby Watts.
Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, Elsie Crowley, and Maya Howard. Stories were voiced by Julia christ Gau. Theme song was composed by Jesse Niswanger. This episode was sound designed and mixed by Chris Childs. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review and you can follow along with the show on Instagram at School of Humans.