Rum‧pel‧stilt‧skin /ˌrʌmpəlˈstɪltskɪn/
the main character in a story called Rumpelstiltskin by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Rumpelstiltskin is an ugly dwarf (=a creature like a very small man) who teaches a young girl how to make straw into gold thread by using a spinning wheel. As a reward for teaching her this, he says she must give him her first child. She becomes queen and has a child, but Rumpelstiltskin says he will not take her child if she can discover what his name is within three days. By chance a servant hears him saying his name, and when the girl tells him what it is, he gets so angry that he dies.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲