Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

The miller’s daughter is a key figure in the traditional Rumpelstiltskin story. In Shurtliff’s novel, this role is filled by the foolish, ungrateful, and pitiful Opal. The miller’s daughter looks like a princess from a fairy tale with her “golden hair and ruby lips” (20). However, her beauty can’t conceal her vacant, vapid personality. On the first night that he spins straw into gold for her, Rump observes, “I was beginning to suspect that the name Opal bestowed a destiny that gave you lots of looks but maybe not so many brains” (104). Opal confirms Rump’s suspicion by foolishly promising the boy her firstborn child. Another of her flaws is ingratitude. Before bargaining away her firstborn child, Opal tries to get out of offering Rump anything at all on the third night. At this point, the boy has already saved her life twice by spinning straw into gold, but she ungratefully cries, “No one would believe a little numbskull like you could do it! This gold is mine!” (116). Despite her folly and ingratitude, Rump pities the miller’s daughter. He comes to the tower in the first place because he feels responsible for her plight and wants to help her.

Opal’s characterization helps keep the novel’s plot parallel to the traditional tale. For example, she promises Rump her firstborn child even though, unlike his fairy-tale counterpart, he has no desire to take her baby. Later, Rump suggests the classic guessing game from the fairy tale to distract Opal from her sorrow and agitation. When he tells Opal that she can keep her child if she guesses his full name, she applies herself diligently to the task but fails to realize that his name must start with “Rump.” Thus, her folly ensures that any hope of breaking the curse depends on the novel’s protagonist. Although Opal’s character arc largely follows the pattern established in the traditional Rumpelstiltskin tale, she demonstrates some independence during the novel’s climax. After spending much of the story as a pawn in the miller’s plot, Opal defies her father and tells him, “You don’t order me anymore! I am queen” (249). In addition, she helps Rump stand up to the miller and defy fate by reminding him of his true name: “Rumpelstiltskin. Yes. That was my name. I had almost forgotten. […] I was tangled in a million ways, but I was strong and smart” (250). Like Rump, Opal is trapped in magical predicaments, but she manages to break free in the end.

In both the Brothers Grimm story and Shurtliff’s novel, the miller sets the plot into motion. In the original fairy tale, the miller’s words to the king are simply an ill-advised boast, after which he disappears from the narrative. Shurtliff greatly expands the miller’s role and makes him the antagonist who masterminds many events in the novel’s plot. The villain’s motivation is his insatiable avarice. Rump describes him as “a fat miller with ten plump children” (19). His large size indicates his cupidity because he cheats the starving villagers out of their rations and takes them for himself. To force Rump to give him the magical golden thread, he cruelly deprives a child and his frail grandmother of food. As a result, Gran dies of sickness and starvation. In addition, Oswald appears to be incapable of remorse. Even after causing the deaths of Rump’s mother and grandmother, he has no compunction about exploiting the boy’s magic for his own gain. Indeed, he uses his own daughter and his newborn grandson to secure the services of the magical spinner. Shurtliff’s decision to make Rumpelstiltskin the hero of the story opens up the role of villain, and Oswald the miller plays the part with his limitless greed, cruelty, and remorselessness.

The antagonist exerts a considerable influence on the novel’s plot, setting, and themes. Oswald introduces the idea of spinning straw into gold by challenging Anna to achieve this feat. He hounds her with demands and unfair bargains, causing her to flee her family’s home in Yonder and resettle in the Village. The novel’s major theme is destiny, and the protagonist spends most of the novel struggling to avoid the dire fate his mother met because of the miller. The merchant claims that his daughter can spin straw into gold, knowing that Rump will come to her rescue. The revelation that the miller is the merchant who ruined Anna’s life intensifies the suspense and underscores the antagonist’s connections to fate. In the end, Rump outwits the greedy miller and discovers his true name. The miller seeks to trap Rump in a dreary fate, but the protagonist finds his true destiny in spite of him.

Red, Rump’s caring, loyal, and fierce friend, is one of the novel’s most important supporting characters. Rumpelstiltskin has no friends in the traditional story, and Shurtliff based Red on another classic fairy tale figure, Little Red Riding Hood. Like Rump, her name makes her an outsider in the Village: “Red is not a name. It’s a color, an evil color. What kind of destiny does that bring?” (5). Their unusual names create a bond of solidarity between the children. After Gran’s death, Rump falls into a state of hopelessness for months, and “no one seemed to notice or care, except Red” (65). She even brings her friend bread on occasion, even though her family is also facing food insecurity. Red is fiercely protective of the people she cares about. She doesn’t hesitate to confront Frederick and Bruno when they bully Rump, and she is just as quick to thump Rump when he calls her grandmother strange. At the end of the novel, Rump sees tangible proof of Red’s friendship and loyalty growing outside Gran’s cottage. Red tended the seed that she and Rump planted together before he left the Village, and the seed has sprouted into “a hardy little sapling” (255).

Although Red is separated from Rump for much of the novel, she plays an important role in developing the theme of friendship and progressing the plot. For example, she brings him to her grandmother, the Witch of the Woods, who predicts that Rump can find his name and his destiny and gives him clues about how he can achieve this. Red moves the plot along again by warning Rump that the miller is looking for him. This message prompts Rump to leave his aunts’ home in Yonder. Knowing that the two children are friends, the miller captures her to gain leverage over Rump. Red shows her tenacity by physically and verbally fighting against the miller’s control. She urges Rump to hold onto hope and insists that there must be more to his name and his destiny than the rumpel: “There has to be more than that. Your mother wouldn’t have done that!” (224). These words develop both the theme of Fighting Fate and the theme of The Value of Friendship. Red is also present for Rump’s final confrontation with the miller, the children’s subsequent escape from the castle, and the resolution in the Village. Red stands beside Rump at key moments throughout the novel, and she remains a loyal friend to him throughout his search for his destiny.