RUMPELSTILTSKIN

It wouldn't be cricket to compare this traditional Rumpelstiltskin with the melodramatic interaction between the Zemachs' freewheeling Duffy and the Devil (KR, 1973). But Gorey's posturing angst-ridden miller's daughter and grotesque gold-costumed little man have an edge of wry humor which seems more appropriate to the silly name guessing game than Jacqueline Ayer's austere Shakespearean dress rendition. And the illustrations of small, mute figures give prominence to the oral cadences of Tarcov's narrative, which is arranged in verselike phrases that practically read themselves.