ABSTRACT
Rumpelstiltskin emerges from the twin background of industry’s encroachments on folklife and the Grimms’ editing. In all his work Wenzeslaus Brentano trusted the folkloric tradition to provide an aesthetic touchstone of literature’s value. He received Rumpelstiltskin’s tale as a reader ideally suited to sympathize with the story’s unrelentingly gloomy tone. In 1811 Wilhelm Grimm recorded the essential version of Rumpelstiltskin from Henriette “Dortchen” Wild whose family members had also been interviewed to collect stories. The story surfaced from Europe’s subconscious into the world of well-circulated literature in 1808 when Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm sent a version of it, called “Rumpenstunzchen”, to his teacher Friedrich Karl Von Savigny, a founder of the “historical school” of jurisprudence. Rumpelstiltskin’s name and story are woven into the English language, his absorption and naturalization complete. Rumpelstiltskin’s harsh story offers no moral or spiritual uplift.
