How is the story different from the traditional “Rumpelstiltskin”?
• Gillie lives on a mountain instead of in a village. • Gillie is not a princess. • There is no castle in the story. What other details make this version an Appalachian story? • Gillie spins hay instead of straw. • There are snakes like the ones found in this region copperheads and blacksnakes. • The birds are ones found in the mountains. • The people are farmers and Gillie’s father grows tobacco for his cash crop. Notes by the author: The name Gillie was apparently popular in the 1800s in Franklin County, VA. I got the name from a tombstone on our Union Hall farm and used it for one of the characters in my book Patches on the Same Quilt. Whenever I do a reading, someone invariably comes forward and asks me about the name because a grandmother, aunt, or other ancestor had that name. About the name Ferradiddledumday: I read a tale once where the term ferradiddle was mentioned. I found that it or its variant taradiddle had to do with a little imaginary creature. I thought it had a catchy