Read aloud: Repelsteeltje

In my previous post i mentioned the book Grimm. I’m still reading it, i’m only at one third of the book. I do remember most fairy tales, but i have forgotten many details. With these tales, originally told and retold and remembered and changed all the time over the years, there are many different versions.

I am also a victim of disneyfication. I have seen Snow White, Cinderella and other movies. Reading the Grimm fairy tales now, i am surprised by the details, the different endings, beginnings, middle parts. Not every fairy tale ends in a happy way.

This blog is in english. But this time, i’m afraid i do read aloud in Dutch. I try to read as slowly as possible, but it’s not likely that people who do not speak Dutch will be able to follow the story. I will look for fairy tales translated in English, so maybe one day i will read one aloud in English. And then there are like 7000 other languages in the world. Sorry 🙁

The fairy tale i do read aloud this time is Rumpelstiltskin, in Dutch Repelsteeltje.

Sidenote: this fairy tale hangs together with lies and deceptions. The father lies about his daughter’s skills to make himself seem more important. The king is a gold lusting murderous man who threatens the girl with death if she doesn’t spin the gold in one night. The girl can’t actually spin gold. What daughter, or son, can? After a year, she stays inside the castle and lets her servant hunt for the name of the little creature. The only one capable of spinning the gold is this strange little imp. Who in the end tears himself in two. I did read some analyses of this fairy tale online. What is up with Rumpelstiltskin? and Story and Analysis of Rumpelstiltskin. The father and the king are the bad man in this story. The father pimps out his daughter. The king wants to get her to spin the straw, a worthless material, into gold. The imp is a nature spirit, a devil. Knowing his name will give power. But, the imp could be after the girl’s virtue. As does the father and the king of course. The fairy tale is a morality story. To be honest, even though Rumpelstiltskin seems like a nasty creature, he’s much better than the other two men. He actually helps the girl.

Repelsteeltje