Rumpelstiltskin Is A Horrifying Tale That Should Not Be Anywhere Near Our Children
Posted by Michael Dickens on May 21, 2009
Read a rendition of Rumpelstiltskin here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/044.txt
How immoral is this terrifying tale? Let us examine its intricacies.
The miller declares that his daughter can turn straw into gold. He lies and deceives for his own ends, but his daughter is the one who faces the reparations. The miller, for all we know, lives a happy life of crime and deceit.
And what about the king? What sort of horrible man would execute this girl, simply because she is unable to perform an impossible task promised to the king by the girl’s immoral father?
Rumpelstiltskin is not a nice man. He exploited the girl in a time of peril in order to get her child. Regardless of his motives, this action was morally reprehensible. But our friend Rumply was made out to be a bad man, so it’s okay, right?
Wrong. The hero of the story is the very worst of them. She is a liar and a thief. She may have been under stress, but she still agreed to fulfill her contract with Rumpy and give him her firstborn child. But then she did not, and is made out to be a hero. Why? She broke her vow! Under what twisted morality is this despicable act idolized?
And that last sentence is not only gruesome, but unrealistic. We should not teach children that it is possible to rip oneself in two. It is simply not possible.
