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This was the classic tale of Rumpelstitskin, I had never heard the story before so I wanted to read the classic. Just by looking at the book, I assumed that Rumpelstiltskin would have been the good guy, not the evil one who needed to be served justice. I enjoyed the story, and felt really bad for the girl in it. This story followed all of the criteria that we evaluate folktales by. ( )

This story is about a miller's daughter who is tasked by a king to spin the straw in the room full of gold. The girl could not spin straw into gold but then she met Rumplestilskin. He spun the straw into gold in exchange for her necklace, and her ring. The last time she had nothing left to give Rumplestilskin, so she promised him her first born child. When the time had come, he took her child. However, he told her if she can guess his name in 3 days, she could keep her child. The first two days she failed. However, on the last day, a messenger had told her he saw the man bragging and chanting. In his chant he said the name Rumplestilskin. The queen correctly guessed his name on the last day. Rumplestilskin was so mad he tore himself in two.

I would use this book with grades 2nd through 5th. This book could be used to teach folklores, fairytales, and greed. ( )

"Rumpelstiltskin" is a classic folk tale. Where we seea miller who is in trouble and needs to pay his debt for taxes . The miller lies to the king and tells him that his daughter can turn straw into gold. When the king takes the young girl he places the girl in a room and tells her to sin the straw into gold or she will loose her life. The girl cries for she can't do this . A little man appears humming a funny song and asks for a gift in a swap for his talent of spinning straw into gold. The girl gives her necklace, so the funny little man does as he promised and turns the straw to gold. The next morning when the king came he was thrilled. Being greedy the king put the girl into a bigger room filled with even more straw. that night the same thing happened when the girl began to cry the funny little man came out and the girl gives her ring to the little man and like before he turns the straw into gold. The third time this happens and there was nothing left to give so the little man requests the girls firstborn child. before the girl could think it out she agreed. The funny man kept his word and turned the straw to gold. Time passes the girl becomes a mother and here comes the funny little man. He has mercy on her , if she could guess his name he would allow the baby to stay with her. She tries and asks around but she has no clue what is name is then the last day she says Rumpelstiltskin is his name. This correct answer upsets the little man and he storms out. I love this story it teaches us to not yell out treats that we can't backup.
I enjoy this story because it shows If the father had just delt with his punishment the daughter would have never gone through such pain. The buck stops here is the type of attitude we must provide in life.
I would have the students rewrite the begining of the story. If the father had not made the bad decission what might have happened in this story? THe second thing I would have the students do with this story is change the firstborn ransom to the sudents favorite possession. This will help the students connect with the possible grief on would have if they made it personal.

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul Galdone
Summary:
This traditional children’s folktale classic immediately created conflict when a proud father boasted to the King that his lovely daughter could spin straw into gold. Like most traditional children’s stories there was a clear protagonist and antagonist conflict with intentionally flat characters. The story depended on a conflict that builds sequential rising action sequences as the greedy king wanted more and more gold that the girl was never able to weave. We were drawn into the conflict by both text and illustration as they intertextually worked together to present the innocent child who was subject to a life and death struggle because of the lie told by her father. The story built into the story came after the daughter entered marriage with the king. We should be weary of this transition as the whole relationship was built on two common moral conflicts, the king’s greed and the father’s lies. The lie grew when the new antagonist; Rumpelstiltskin saved the young girl’s life by weaving the straw into gold but at a price. When the King’s greed exceeded the girl’s ability to pay she entered into a contract with Rumpelstiltskin that should she marry the king she would pay him her first child. We readers have been warned of this marriage when Galdone foreshadowed the marriage transitioning and weaving the reader into this new conflict. The denouement has not been revealed to the reader until the final pages of the book.
Personal Reaction:
I was looking for a traditional folktale and when Rumpelstiltskin popped up, it all came back. I loved the complexity with off color heroes and a true look at the successes and follies of human nature. With many of the children I work with, living in and out of reality is rather common but there comes a time when creative story telling about certain events is no longer seen as cute and there exists a need for a lesson in telling the truth. To be able to have a tool to demonstrate the nature of a lie has been a reward of his book for many years.
Classroom Extension Ideas
1.Fibbing is not just a problem at home; cheating and lying are two common occurrences in any elementary classroom where there is expectation for results and accountability for failures. Whether emphasizing why a child must do their own work or telling the negative result of fibs, this classic will work well to demonstrate the nature of a lie, how it grows with each telling and the negative consequence.
2.For modern classroom application, when discussing the topic of gossip, bragging, or cyber bullying that often starts with a lie, the teacher could provide an oral narration of the story and allow the student in open discussion to see what lessons they learned from the theme of Rumpelstiltskin and how they apply to lies in their lives.
3.Lying goes way beyond children and some have had historical consequence. With this folktale in mind the class could discuss other examples of lies in history that grew to historical levels and into a life and death struggle like the Cuban Missile Crisis. ( )