I am a big fan of short stories and Rumplestiltskin and Other Grimm Tales fit into this bill. Of course, they are stereotypically gender biased. Poor dumb miller's daughter gets sold into the kings hands by her sorry and greedy father. He tells the king that his daughter can spin straw into gold. Well if she was so good at that, why did he turn her over to the king? Would he not have rather hidden her away and made her spin for HIM? The king should have asked a few more questions but you know how it goes. Now the King has the girl and tells her if she does not get to work, he will kill her. Not exactly words of love and endearment. He should really work on his wooing skills. Then out of nowhere pops this creepy little elf or goblin or something and works out a deal with the girl. He will turn it into gold for her BUT she has to give him all her possessions including her firstborn child. Now maybe the miller's daughter has seen the future and knows that once her kid reaches oh, 14 or 15 year of age, that will be a sweet deal for her. I mean, she would have to buy him/her a pony to drive, insurance for said pony, clothes for the dances, etc etc etc. Maybe that is why she agrees or maybe, just maybe, she is not so dumb after all. But she has to figure out his name. He is so sure that she will NEVER guess it but in the end, the not so dumb girl guesses correctly, marries the rich old king (who will die and leave her loads of cash) and gets to keep her beautiful baby. Ha! Maybe that was her plan all along....who knows? But it was a good story. I like the illustrations because they were a bit different and kind of distorted. Like me.... :)
[book:Rumpelstiltskin|280240]
No comments:
Post a Comment