Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

To make himself feel better about his day, Rump recalls a poem he composed about home. His rhyme celebrates the fact that his name and height are irrelevant in that comforting sanctuary. He lives in a small cottage with his grandmother. Due to the scarcity of gold in the Mountain, the little family is low on food. Gran is thin and frail from giving her rations to Rump, but she insists that she is full when Rump offers to share what little food they have. The boy’s birthday dredges up gloomy thoughts about his future. He worries that he may never remember his full name or achieve his destiny.

While gathering firewood, Rump discovers a spinning wheel behind the wood pile. Although the wheel is old and warped from exposure to the elements, Rump is enchanted with the object when he learns that it belonged to his mother. Gran wants to burn the spinning wheel, but she relents because Rump sees the object as “a tiny part of [his] mother, and if [they] burned it, she would go away forever” (13). Rump suspects that his grandmother knows more about his mother and the wheel than she divulges. Gran is extremely reluctant for Rump to try his hand at spinning, so he waits until she goes to sleep to attempt spinning wool for the first time. At first, the rhythm of the wheel feels like an exhilarating song: “My heart raced with the music, the swells and beats of the spinning making me large and full of life” (15). Rump’s first attempt at spinning comes to an abrupt end when he catches his finger in the wheel. To his confusion, exuberant pixies fly off with the wool that falls from the spindle. Rump goes to bed, wondering if he should try spinning again.

The next day, pixies pester Rump and the miller’s sons pelt him with rocks as he works in the mines. The royal tax collector seldom visits the remote Village. Instead, he sends the villagers’ rations to the mill and entrusts Oswald the miller to portion the food out to individuals based on the amount of gold they find in the mines. That evening is a rations day, so Red and Rump join the other villagers in the queue for food. Rump notes that the miller and his 10 children are well fed, while everyone else in the village starves. The boy wonders, “Could a name make you greedy like mine made me small?” (19). He sees Opal, the miller’s beautiful daughter, spinning wool into yarn with practiced ease and longs to learn the skill. The miller offers to have Opal teach him in exchange for Rump’s family’s rations, but the boy declines. With an enigmatic smile, Oswald tells Rump that he has “known some who possess a more…natural talent” for spinning than his daughter (21). Rump goes to the Woods because he wants to be alone with his thoughts. His quiet is interrupted when a swarm of pixies attacks. Red scares the pixies off with clods of dirt and asks Rump if he’s made of gold.

Rump wonders why people don’t name animals or places, and Red replies that doing so would squander the power of names because animals and places don’t need destinies the way people do. A gnome announces that a newborn baby has been named Furball, which causes the children to burst into laughter. The sudden appearance of Red’s grandmother startles them. The wizened old woman asks the children why they are laughing at the newborn’s name, and Rump answers that they have more right than anyone else to laugh due to their own odd names. Red’s grandmother tells Rump that he will learn the rest of his name after he finds his destiny and causes “a heap of trouble” (28). She also tells Rump to watch his step, a piece of advice that puzzles him. Rump tells Red that her grandmother is strange, and she throws dirt at him. That night, he gazes at the spinning wheel while pondering the old woman’s words.

One day, Rump and Red see the familiar sight of Kessler the peddler. The hollow-cheeked, redheaded man offers to turn a piece of lint into a mouse in exchange for some grain. Despite Red’s warnings, Rump accepts. Kessler’s transformation succeeds, but it has the unintended consequence of calling all the mice in the Village to him. As the peddler flees the army of rodents, Red intones, “Even small magic can have big consequences” (34). Undeterred, Rump longs to have magic of his own. He imagines having the power to make himself taller and fill the Mountain with gold.

The night after Kessler’s magic trick, a swarm of pixies pulls Rump out of bed. For the first time in his life, he understands what they’re saying. The pixies’ chant of “Gold! Gold! Gold!” makes him realize that he may have the power to turn things into gold (37). Remembering that Red’s grandmother told him to watch his step, he looks down at the straw floor and finds inspiration. As Rump spins the straw into gold, the spinning wheel plays a “tinkling song, soft yet vibrant” (39). Ecstatic, Rump spins his straw mattress into gold. He imagines a life of plenty for himself and Gran and composes a poem on the subject. His joy turns to fear when he sees Frederick and Bruno skulking outside his window. As he watches the miller’s sons run off, Rump anxiously wonders if they saw the gold.