German Theater 1912 Rppc Signed Autographed and 17 similar items

Antique Real Photo Postcard of a German theater production scene, quite possibly "Rumpelstiltskin." The card is apparently signed on the front and back (see both views) by cast members. The postmark over the Deutsche Reich stamp on the reverse side is dated May 13, 1912. Divided back. Published by Felix Luib's Kunstverlag, Strasburg i. Els. Condition: Very good to excellent. Information: The photograph depicts a young girl at a spinning wheel, suggesting this may be a play based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin. In the original German tale, in order to make himself appear more important, a miller lies to a king, telling him that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king calls for the girl, shuts her in a tower room filled with straw and a spinning wheel, and demands that she spin the straw into gold by morning or he will imprison her in a dungeon forever. She has given up all hope when an imp-like creature appears in the room and spins the straw into gold for her in return for her necklace. When the king takes the girl the next morning to a larger room filled with straw to repeat the feat, the imp spins in return for the girl's ring. On the third day, when the girl has been taken to an even larger room filled with straw and told by the king that he will marry her if she can fill this room with gold or kill her if she cannot, the girl has nothing left with which to pay the strange creature. He extracts from her a promise that her firstborn child will be given to him, and spins the room full of gold a final time. The king keeps his promise to marry the miller's daughter, but when their first child is born, the imp returns to claim his payment. The name Rumpelstilzchen in German means literally "little rattle stilt".