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| Picture Source: Google Images |
Always tell the truth is the moral of this folklore fairytale story Rumpelstiltskin, as stretching the truth a bit may land you into a task that could be impossible to complete.
Retold from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, there was a poor
miller who had a beautiful daughter. One
day the King of the region stopped for a rest at the mill and the miller served
him cheese and bread. After the King complimented the miller on the food, the
miller, filled with pride, exclaimed that he also had a beautiful daughter that
could spin straw into gold. Hence, a prideful and untrue boast ended up almost
costing the miller and his family great harm.
As the story goes, the King sent for the daughter and demanded that by the next day she spin straw into gold. Knowing she could not accomplish such an impossible task, a small man named Rumpelstiltskin appeared out of nowhere to help, but only if given something in return, which the daughter provided a beautiful necklace. The next day again, the King demanded even more straw be spun into gold. Again, Rumpelstiltskin appeared and asked for another item for his services. On the third day, once again the King demanded an enormous amount of straw be turned into gold. Again Rumpelstiltskin appeared and as the girl had nothing left to give, she made a promise to give to him what he demanded. She agreed.
One year later a son was born and Rumpelstiltskin asked for the child. Naturally, the Queen refused and she was given three days to discover his name. With the help of the King’s staff, she accomplished the impossible and discovered that his name was Rumpelstiltskin. Hence the little man was never seen again and the Queen, her son and the King “used the gold that the little man had spun to help the children, the elderly, the sick, and the homeless of the land” (Cech, 2008).
It was fortunate the miller’s daughter was favored and Rumpelstiltskin came to her rescue to assist in an impossible task.
As a Children’s Folklore Fictional Picture book, the
illustrations are mostly full-page and beautifully created. This book is for
grades Kindergarten to 2nd grade approximately. To reinforce the
moral of the story, the teacher could give a short lesson on the advantages of always
telling the truth, and how lying and deceitfulness will get one into trouble.
Additionally, the gold in the story was used to help the less fortunate in
society. Ask each student to draw the ways that they would use the gold if they
were the King and Queen.As the story goes, the King sent for the daughter and demanded that by the next day she spin straw into gold. Knowing she could not accomplish such an impossible task, a small man named Rumpelstiltskin appeared out of nowhere to help, but only if given something in return, which the daughter provided a beautiful necklace. The next day again, the King demanded even more straw be spun into gold. Again, Rumpelstiltskin appeared and asked for another item for his services. On the third day, once again the King demanded an enormous amount of straw be turned into gold. Again Rumpelstiltskin appeared and as the girl had nothing left to give, she made a promise to give to him what he demanded. She agreed.
One year later a son was born and Rumpelstiltskin asked for the child. Naturally, the Queen refused and she was given three days to discover his name. With the help of the King’s staff, she accomplished the impossible and discovered that his name was Rumpelstiltskin. Hence the little man was never seen again and the Queen, her son and the King “used the gold that the little man had spun to help the children, the elderly, the sick, and the homeless of the land” (Cech, 2008).
It was fortunate the miller’s daughter was favored and Rumpelstiltskin came to her rescue to assist in an impossible task.
Reader Response
Questions:
1.
Have you ever felt you needed to stretch the
truth in order to get out of trouble? If you did, what happened afterwards?
2.
Who was the greediest person on the story: the
Miller, the King, or Rumpelstiltskin? Why?
I found it interesting that the king asked the miller’s daughter to marry him after he demanded she prove herself, locking her in the room overnight to spin the straw into gold, and threatening her family with harm if she did not deliver what was required. Nevertheless, a great teaching tool for children to always behave in an upright and moral manner.
Reference
Cech, J. (2008). Rumpelstiltskin. New York: Sterling Publishing.
Cech, J. (2008). Rumpelstiltskin. New York: Sterling Publishing.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is great! You are very thorough when explaining the books and fun activities you would so with your students. One activity you could also do for the book Rumpelstiltskin would be to prepare masks for your students to wear and role play events in the story. This would also help reiterate who is understanding the book and could be used as an informal assessment. Another activity you could so with your students would be for children to practice identifying currency. You could make a printout of coins and how much each coin costs and have them match coins to their currency. They can work on this in groups and then by themselves after some practice if they wish to continue.
You did great on your posts and the books you chose sounds so exciting. Thank you for your blog posts!
Lindsay M.