The
Fairy Tale
Project
The Elements We Found in Rumpelstiltskin

~ About the Project ~
The Fairy Tale Project asked us to explore the world of fairy tales. We chose the wonderful Rumpelstiltskin story, retold by Paul O. Zelinsky, and part of our Guided Reading program. We learned about the "elements" ~ the ingredients ~ of a fairy tale and then looked for them in Rumpelstiltskin. Here is what we found:
  • Good character - miller's daughter, queen, servant, Rumpelstitskin
  • Evil character - miller, king, Rumpelstiltskin
  • Royalty and/or a castle - King's castle, king, queen
  • Magic - spins straw into gold, flies on cooking spoon
  • Problem and a Solution - spinning straw into gold, finding out Rumpelstiltskin's name
  • Things often happen in "threes" - 3 rooms of straw, gives Rumpelstiltskin 3 gifts, 3 days to learn his name, guesses 3 names at a time
Learn all about the elements of a fairy tale, including a printable chart to use, here.

The Element of a Good Character


My element is a good character. It is the miller's daughter. She is a good character in the story because she really helped her father by not telling the king the truth about not knowing how to spin straw into gold.

by Samantha
My element is a good character. It is Rumpelstiltskin. He is a good character because he saved the miller's daughter from being killed by the king. He spun straw into gold for her so that the king would not kill her.

by Jared

The element I drew is a good character. The Queen is the person that marries the King. I think the Queen is a good character because she could have just given her baby away, but she didn't. She loved her baby very much and that's why I think the Queen is a good character.

by Gabriela
In a fairy tale, one of the elements is a good character. My character is the servant. She is a good character because she found out Rumpelstiltskin's name so the Queen would not lose her baby.

by Julia

The Element of an Evil Character

I drew the evil character of the Miller, one of the elements of a fairy tale. The Miller is evil because he told the king a huge fib that his daughter could spin straw into gold. He wanted to impress the king.

by Lucas
The element that I drew is the evil king. He is evil because he was telling the miller's daughter to spin the straw into gold or she will die. If she can finish she will be able to marry the king.

by Elijah


I drew the evil character of Rumpelstiltskin which is one of the elements in a fairy tale. I think Rumpelstiltskin is evil because he tries to take the baby.

by Nicholas

The Element of Royalty or a Castle
The element that I drew is a castle. The castle is where the king lives. There are also servants in the castle that serve the king. The castle is made of stone and wood. You often find a castle in fairy tales.

by Dylan

One of the elements in a fairy tale is royalty. Royalty means kings and queens and princes and princesses. I drew the king as one of the royal characters in Rumpelstiltskin.

by Kristopher
The element I drew is royalty. I drew the queen because she is part of the royal family. She is the wife of the king and is an important person.

by Sonia

The Element of Magic
The element I drew was magic. Spinning straw into gold to us is magic. Rumpelstiltskin was the character who helped the miller's daughter magically spin the straw into gold.

by Elisa
Magic is one of the elements of a fairy tale. I drew Rumpelstiltskin flying on a cooking spoon. Without being magical he could not do that.

by Briana

The Element of a Problem and a Solution
My element is a problem and solution in the story. In Rumpelstiltskin the miller's daughter could not spin straw into gold. The solution was that Rumpelstiltskin offered to do it for her if she would give him three special things.

by Emily
The element that I am doing is a problem and a solution. Rumpelstiltskin wanted the Queen's first baby unless she could guess his name. Her servant went and and found out his name. She told the Queen and the Queen told Rumpelstiltskin.

by Jade

The Element of Things Happening in 3's

The element I drew is the use of 3s in a fairy tale. The King told the miller's daughter to spin straw into gold. Altogether she had three rooms of straw to spin into gold.

by Katerina
The element of a fairy tale I'm doing is 3's. The miller's daughter had to give Rumpelstiltskin three gifts if he spun the straw into gold for her. The three gifts were her necklace, her ring and her first born baby.

by Ben

In fairy tales, one of the elements is things that happen in 3's. In Rumpelstiltskin a lot of things happen in 3's. I drew the three things that the girl promised Rumpelstitskin - a necklace, a ring, and her baby.

by Gino

In fairy tales one of the elements is things happening in 3's. The element I drew was the three days given the Queen for finding out Rumpelstiltskin's name. As you can see, the Queen is sad and Rumpelstiltskin is happy.

by Katie
One element in fairy tales is things happening in 3's or 7's, but in this fairy tale things happened in 3's. What I drew was some of the names the Queen guessed. When Rumpelstiltskin came each night, the Queen guessed names in 3's.

by Ellie
Learn more about
Paul O. Zelinsky
and his wonderful work at the
Paul O. Zelinsky Official Site.