The Girl Who Spun Gold

Hamilton, V. (2000). The girl who spun gold. Singapore: The Blue Sky Press. 15 pp. ISBN: 0-

590-47378-6

This story is based off of the story of "Rumpelstilskin" but told in West Indies style. The author, Virginia Hamilton retold the story based on "Mr. Titman" from 1899. The Rumpelstilskin in this story is called "Lit'mahn". A peasant girl, Quashiba, is spinning on plain thread outside when the Big King comes by. Her mother lies to the King, telling him that Quashiba can spin gold. The King marries her and tells her she has a year to spin the gold thread. The "Lit'mahn" spins the thread for her on three separate occasions, until she eventually guesses his real name. The story follows a similar story line, the details vary in this story since it is based on West Indies style. The illustrations are fun to follow along with due to the gold coloring that appears to pop off the page.

This is another great story for a folktale unit. The story could also be used if you were doing a lesson on West Indies in social studies. The story is also follows a West Indies dialect, so reading the story aloud would be good to learn how dialects vary in different countries.