Rumpelstiltskin 2

Rumpelstiltskin had waited patiently for this for many years. All he had done was kept his end of the bargain. He had saved a young girl from certain death by using his talents. And that too when she had lied about having them in the first place.

If he hadn't heard those cries and offered to use his very real magic, to make it look like that girl could in fact spin straw into gold, then she would have executed for lying. But no, she manipulated him and became queen and forgot all about their deal.

He even saw the miller's daughter- now queen's perspective quite well. She had had the joy of creating new life and could see why she didn't want to give up her baby. But they had a deal- you live and become queen and I get to be a father.

He even gave her a chance to keep it by guessing his name- his full name, which was something that imps normally kept to themselves. But he was sure she spied on him and cheated him again. Now he was lonely and old.

All he had ever wanted was to be a father. But he had never met anyone who would have wanted to have kids with him. And he was getting older. He was now 110 in human years and 170 in imp years. About to enter middle age in a few decades. So, he saw an opportunity to finally have a baby, and it was taken away from him.

He didn't care what species the baby was either; a human baby would have been fine. He had read about inter species adoption and knew of the child's right to a human cultural identity, which he would easily provide through interaction with other humans . He would even be accepting of the fact that the child may one day go looking for its's biological parents. He would help it in doing so when it became of age in human years.

He would have loved the child like anything in the world. All he wanted was a chance.

And here was someone who owed their life to him. All she had to do was given a baby over to him. He had been cheated and was now going to get his revenge.

________________________________________

The queen on the other hand had now ruled with her husband the king for over 8 years. She had three children including seven-year-old Ceawlin the first born she was supposed to have given to Rumpelstiltskin. The other children were Matilda his younger sister 5 and Knut , his younger brother aged just four.

She had long locked up all the gold that Rumpelstiltskin has woven from straw and the spinning wheel into the third largest tower where she had been imprisoned. She had told everyone in the kingdom that it had been cursed and that anyone who touched it will die. So that no one would see her treachery. Only she could touch it and if she did it would soon turn back into straw.

But one day the king realized that he needed to have more money to sustain his kingdom. One of the reasons that he had married the queen was to provide him with a steady income. He knew he couldn't touch the old gold, at least as far as he knew, but he was hungry for new riches.

One day when they were in bed, the king asked the queen a question that he always wanted to ask.

" You always keep saying that you have the option of creating new gold, one that will stay gold, but you couldn't do so because pregnancy depleted your magic. Is that right?"

The queen had been lying for so long that she believed her own lies.

"Yes, my king. That is true. It takes five years after every pregnancy for the magic to come back " the queen replied.

"But we also agreed to not have any more children and it has been nearly five years since your last pregnancy" mused the king.

The queen thought for a bit. "Did I say five? I mean five in magic years. That is ten human years" she replied.

The king looked confused but moved on.

Phew! the queen thought to herself. In another five years Ceawlin would be almost fourteen and thus almost old enough to have his own kingdom gifted to him. She could live there. She just had to extend the lie another two years.

Unbeknownst to her, Rumpelstiltskin had been hiding in her room due to his small size. He thought out his plan cunningly.

The next day, he visited the third largest tower through the same means that he originally did: teleportation. He then turned all the gold back into straw . He then went looking for Caewlin. He was going to bring him in here and tell him the truth.

When he first saw Caewlin he saw a very happy, healthy seven years old boy, playing at being king. Which was appropriate for one day he would become king. He also felt a lot of anger surging through his veins. This was supposed to be his child. But when he looked at the prince, he felt something else- That this kid deserved to be happy. He was a prince looked after by his family and his kingdom. He thought again if he really wanted to break up this family.

He was about to approach the prince when suddenly he heard the queen approaching up the stairs. He froze. His plan was going downhill.

He hid himself above in a chandelier whilst the queen walked into the landing that led into the prince's room. The child was too busy playing to notice anyone. The mother went over and hugged her son.

Even though this was the woman who has ruined his life, he was taken in by the motherly affection. He felt a tear come to his eye and it dropped down straight into the queen and prince. Before they could look up, he teleported himself back into the tower where the gold was kept.

He sat there thinking about how his plan had to change as he couldn't risk breaking up this family, no matter how he had been wronged.

Dejected and heartbroken he teleported out of the room and snuck himself out of the castle.

Rumpelstiltskin sat on a bench outside his home in the woods. He was crying when suddenly he realized something. Whilst he was wallowing in misery. He had forgotten to turn the straw back into gold.

He cursed himself. He had to now go back into the castle and save the one who betrayed him. The one on who he couldn't get revenge on because he was too good hearted.

___________________

In the dead of night Rumpelstiltskin made his way back into the castle and used his imp magic to turn all the straw into gold for a second time. He then thought of another plan. He decided he was going to kidnap Caewlin after all.

He took the sleeping prince and brought him into the tower. He then woke him up.

_________________________

The next morning Caewlin was sure he had had a funny dream. He had woken up in a part of the castle that he had never been to before, and he was quite the explorer.

He had met a funny small man- maybe a child who grew up too fast or something. He had told him to pass on a note to his family. In the note the funny man said that he was a wizard gone postal who had stolen all of the gold as well as found a way to take away the queen's ability. But by doing so he had taken away any curses on the gold, meaning that it could be used.

Then Caewlin remembered sleeping again and waking up in the same part of the castle except that the door was open. He heard people screaming his name.

There was a scream, and he found his mum, the queen a shade he had never seen before. She saw him in the closed off tower and knew what had happened.

Before she could speak, Caewlin gave the note to his mum . She read it and peeked around for any traces of the imp she cheated. But she found nothing except some small amounts of gold left behind. Finally, she sighed. She had won again. She smiled slyly.

________________________

Poor old Rumpelstiltskin sat crying, near his home in the woods once again when suddenly he saw a basket that had been dumped on his doorstep. It contained two gnome babies- fraternal twins. A note said their parents had died and their uncle and aunt could no longer look after them. He finally smiled.

_________

When I was seven, I first heard of the story of Rumpelstiltskin and was upset by its' ending and how the imp had been cheated. So, I decided to give him a happier ending this time around.