In England, ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ was called ‘Tom Tit Tot; in Scotland, 'Whuppity Scoorie;’ in France ‘Ficdini Ricdon;’ and there are Scandanavian tellings also. ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s, but the story is much older. It preserves the ancient superstition that supernatural power can be broken if a secret name is known - in many primitive societies identity, name and power are intertwined. Set in Northern Europe, circa 1300.