At a recent SCBWI conference the illustrators were given a chance to show off their skills in a contest. The prompt was to create three different poses of the character Rumplestiltskin that shows our vision of him. I had a vague memory of the character from stories in my youth but couldn’t quite put my finger on how the whole story went. So I did a little research.
There were several versions of the story including some from other countries and cultures. In one his name meant simply rattle chain. So I figured my character could be wearing chains.
But then I began to question other attributes of the story, like why would he ask the miller’s daughter who had been locked in the room full of straw for her ring and necklace if he had the ability to spin simple straw into gold? So I thought perhaps he just liked shiney things. And why would he ask for her first born child to be given him when she had nothing else of value to give?
So many questions. So many new directions this story could take. And that’s why I’ve included this link to Liesl Shurtliff’s
retelling of this tale titled Rump: the true story of Rumplestiltskin. It’s a good read. Enjoy it and enjoy my view of a character I had so many questions about.