Whelp, even an auspicious volume such as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is bound to make a mistake sooner or later. Research conducted after this episode was recorded revealed that 'Rumpelstiltskin' does not, in fact, mean 'wrinkled foreskin.'
We did not know that when we wrote our stories. You've been warned.
From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
Rumpelstiltskin. A passionate little deformed DWARF of German folklore. A miller’s daughter was enjoined by a king to spin straw into gold, and the dwarf did it for her, on condition that she would give him her first child. The maiden married the king, and grieved so bitterly when the child was born that the dwarf promised to relent if within
three days she could find out his name. Two days were spent in vain guesses, but on the third day one of the queen’s servants heard a strange voice singing:
Little dreams my dainty dame
Rumpelstiltskin is my name.
The child was saved, and the dwarf killed himself with rage. The name literally means ‘wrinkled foreskin’.
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