The purpose of Wonderfully Short Wednesdays is to review short stories, it is as simple as that. Short stories are a very special medium of storytelling that I don't read enough of, and I hope that this encourages me and others to read more of them.
Rumpelstiltskin by The Grimm Brothers
Rumpelstiltskin (I'm already tired of typing that, LOL) is one of the short stories, or fairy tales perhaps more appropriately, by the Grimm Brothers. There are different versions of the stories, however I believe that the version that I read was from 1857.
It is the story of young woman who falls victim to her father's bragging - the king of the land believes that she can spin straw into gold as a result of her father's tales. He agrees to marry her if she can spin rooms full of straw into gold in 3 days, but if she does not then she will suffer death at these hands. The young maiden cannot possibly complete this task, and so she accepts the help of a strange dwarf, who completes the work for her in in return for items of value, including her first born child. She agrees and marries the king. When her first born is bought into the world, the strange dwarf comes to collect what he believes is his due, but this ultimately ends in his downfall.
This fairytale left me thinking what the moral is of this story.
Never promise to give what you are unwilling to give?What is great about this fairytale is that there are many different morals, and each person who reads it can find the moral they find most relevant to their life and situation.
Bragging will only bring bad luck?
It is imperative to treat the responsibilities of parenthood with respect (something that the young maiden's father, and the young maiden herself initially, do)?
Identifying and dealing with your problems is the only way to move forwards in life?
Originally posted 3 February 2010 Page Turners
No comments