Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

The clever, brave, and kind Rump is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. While Shurtliff’s story largely follows the plot points of the Brothers Grimm story, her protagonist represents an original interpretation of the titular character. She turns him into a 12-year-old human, an alteration that makes him more relatable for her middle-grade audience. Rump’s unfortunate name impacts every aspect of his life, including his height: “I stopped growing when I was eight and I was small to begin with. [...] You can’t grow all the way if you don’t have a whole name” (2). What the protagonist lacks in stature, he makes up for in heart. Despite the miller’s cruelty toward him, Rump has pity on Opal’s plight: “Now Opal was all spun into the mess and she hadn’t done anything at all” (77). The boy valiantly undertakes the journey to the castle and spends three exhausting nights spinning straw into gold to save her life. Near the end of the novel, Rump concocts an escape plan that uses Bruno and Frederick’s greed against them, tricking the miller’s sons to take him to the trolls. Despite the many hardships that Rump endures, he remains kind, and he overcomes obstacles with courage and cleverness.