Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1976 - 5 Pfennig

Märchen-Kleinbogen, 1976 Edition The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic publishes six multi-colored special postage stamps with motifs from the fairytale "Rumpelstilzchen". The six postage stamps are printed together on a miniature sheet. Without a special first-day cover envelope "Rumpelstilzchen" The fairytale, which is popular among young and old, is spread in numerous variations throughout Europe. We know it as Rumpelstiltskin, which means "noisy spooky goblin". For the helpful male there are however in other variants the most different names as Purzinigele, Popemannel, Frumpenstiel, Verlefänzchen, Hoppentienchen, Flederflit, Waldkügele, Hahnenkügele, Hopfenhütel, Holzrührlein, Rumpetrum u.a. They show the joy of storytellers with funny sounds, sound clusters and onomatopoeia. The fairy tale is particularly interesting for research, as it provides information about the work of the Brothers Grimm. Early handwritten notes, which have been preserved in estates, allow to trace the tale over several stages. Already in 1808 Jacob Grimm recorded it under the title "Rumpenstünzchen". The content is slightly different than the fairy tale known to us. A little girl had been given a flat knot, but what it spiked, it was always gold. She was very sad about it. A little male promised to help. A king's son will come over and marry her, but she has to promise the little girl her child. At the copy by Wilhelm Grimm 1810 already poetic paintings were made and introduced the direct speech. In the first printed version of 1812 the fairy tale then appears under the title "Rumpelstiltskin". It has now undergone a substantive transformation. The motive of gold-spinning is reversed and the plot becomes logical. The miller's daughter gets in trouble because she can not spin gold, as her father has stated. The fairy tale was extended from edition to edition until the seventh edition in 1857 by the brothers Grimm and refined in style. Content: A poor miller gets into conversation with the king. To make himself interesting, he says that his daughter could spin straw to gold (5-pfennig value). The king then leads the miller's daughter into a chamber full of straw and tells her to spin all the straw to gold until the next morning if she does not want to die (10-pfennig value). As the girl sits crying in the chamber, a small male steps in to her. She tells him about her distress (15-pfennig value). For the girl's collar, the male spins all the straw into gold. The king is happy about the many gold, but only gets more greedy and leads the miller's daughter into an even bigger chamber full of straw. The male helps again for her ring. But the king still has not enough and leads the miller's daughter into a much larger chamber. If she too spins this straw into gold, she should become his wife. The male comes for the third time and offers his help. But the miller's daughter has nothing left to give. She'll have to promise him that, if she became queen, let him have her first child. When she gave birth after one year, the male soon appears and demands the promised (20-pfennig value). The queen offers him all the riches of the kingdom if he only wants to leave her with the child. At her moaning and weeping, he gives her three days, if she knew his name by then, she could keep her child. The queen remembers all names and sends messengers over land. She tells the male the strangest names, but she always answers, "I'm not that hot". Then the messenger observes a male leaping on one leg and screaming, "Today I'll bake, tomorrow I'll brew, the day after tomorrow I'm going to bring the child to her, oh how good it is that nobody knows that I'm hot for Rumpelstiltskin!" (25-pfennig value) When the queen calls the male the name, she shouts "the devil told you that" and tears herself in half (30-pfennig value).