The Rumpelstilskin Problem by Vivian Velde*
A fun little story about the ridiculous fairytale Rumpelstilskin.
In case for some reason, like you have lived under a rock for your entire life, you don't know the story of Rumpelstilskin, this paragraph will sum it up. Basically this girl, we do not know her name, has a father who for some bizzare reason decided to tell the king that his daughter could make gold out of straw. Of course such a feat is impossible for humans but the dimwitted king believes him, takes the daughter and locks her in a room full of straw. She weeps in self-pity until a little man comes into her room and agrees to weave the straw into gold in exchange for her necklace. Now, why would a man who could make gold from something like straw need a worthless necklace? Anyways the king is all happy, he gets greedy and makes her do it again and then once more but that time the girl has nothing to trade. So the little man wants a baby from her unless she can guess his name. Why he needs a baby, no clue. So, she agrees, king is happy and marries her and then next thing you know, she has a child. Right now, this fairytale is not only inaccurate but disgusting. The king must be way older than the girl so the child must be more like a grandchild to him. Anyways, the little man comes back and wants the child unless she knows his name. He gives her 3 days to find out. Stupidly, the little man sings his name and some hunter hears it and tells the girl who obviously then gets to keep the child. As you could tell the story makes NO sense!
Vivian writes 6 fun and simple stories that are all based on the classic fairytale but she tries to make more sense of them. It was a good story but definetly not my favourite or close to my favourites. But it still deserves the third star
In case for some reason, like you have lived under a rock for your entire life, you don't know the story of Rumpelstilskin, this paragraph will sum it up. Basically this girl, we do not know her name, has a father who for some bizzare reason decided to tell the king that his daughter could make gold out of straw. Of course such a feat is impossible for humans but the dimwitted king believes him, takes the daughter and locks her in a room full of straw. She weeps in self-pity until a little man comes into her room and agrees to weave the straw into gold in exchange for her necklace. Now, why would a man who could make gold from something like straw need a worthless necklace? Anyways the king is all happy, he gets greedy and makes her do it again and then once more but that time the girl has nothing to trade. So the little man wants a baby from her unless she can guess his name. Why he needs a baby, no clue. So, she agrees, king is happy and marries her and then next thing you know, she has a child. Right now, this fairytale is not only inaccurate but disgusting. The king must be way older than the girl so the child must be more like a grandchild to him. Anyways, the little man comes back and wants the child unless she knows his name. He gives her 3 days to find out. Stupidly, the little man sings his name and some hunter hears it and tells the girl who obviously then gets to keep the child. As you could tell the story makes NO sense!
Vivian writes 6 fun and simple stories that are all based on the classic fairytale but she tries to make more sense of them. It was a good story but definetly not my favourite or close to my favourites. But it still deserves the third star
*As a side note, a special thanks to my friend Janae for recommending this book to me.