Cora, the Miller’s daughter

Cora

Tonight, in “The Queen is Dead,” Cora confirmed that she is the Miller’s daughter. (Continued after the jump)

Readers of this blog have known that for 11 months. Last April, in a post called The Miller’s Daughter, I talked about that — and about the traditional fairy tale of that name.

The reason it matters that Cora is the miller’s daughter is that it provides the link between her and Rumpelstiltskin. In the traditional Grimm bothers’ tale, the miller lied to the king, telling the king that his daughter could spin straw into gold. The king called the miller’s bluff, locked the daughter in a room filled with straw, gave her a spinning wheel, and ordered her to turn the straw into gold. The king said that if she failed, he would kill her. If she succeeded, he would marry her and make her the queen.

Rumpelstiltskin — called “the little man” in the story — appeared in the room. Like the Rumpel we know and love on OUAT, this Rumpelstiltskin from the original tale offered to make a deal. He would spin the straw into gold in exchange for the miller’s daughter’s necklace. The next night, the same deal except she had to give him her ring. The next night, she had nothing more to give, and Rumpel asked her to promise him her first-born child after she became queen.

In the original tale, after the miller’s daughter had a child, she outwitted Rumpelstiltskin by guessing his name, which made him fly into a rage and tear himself in two.

I have a feeling Cora isn’t going to be so lucky.

We’re likely to find out very soon. The title of next week’s episode is “The Miller’s Daughter.” I think secrets will soon be revealed.

Do you have any ideas about how the OUAT version of this story is likely to be different from the traditional tale? What would you like to see happen? Do you think Cora promised to give Regina to Rumpel … and do you think that in some sense she actually did?