AN: I've had this on a flash drive for two years and I thought I'd post it. The classic tale of 'Rumpelstiltskin' told from his point of view.
Rumpelstiltskin was a dwarf. He had a long red beard and wore bright colored tunics, leggings and hats. He had a wife named Ameraelda and a young son named Mike. Ameraelda dressed similarly to her husband, wearing bright colored dresses in a variety of styles. Mike was almost a copy of his father, without the beard, of course. He was very curious and wandered off to a nearby bridge one day. There, he was trampled by goats and was eaten by a troll.
Rumpelstiltskin and Ameraelda were very upset about this, so they moved far away from the bridge to keep away their sadness. They found a home in the cellar of a large castle, where they lived in comfort among the straw that was kept there. Also in the room were barrels of food and drink, which they dined from each day.
One time when Rumpelstiltskin and Ameraelda were sitting among their straw, someone came in and put a spinning wheel in their room. The person was so busy that he didn't even notice the two dwarves staring at him. He marched out of the room muttering something in German and slammed the door behind him. Rumpelstiltskin was still wondering about it when Ameraelda resumed telling him about the pig she had seen at the market that day.
The following day, Rumpelstiltskin and Ameraelda went to a flea market that was in a nearby town. They browsed all day and Ameraelda met a childhood friend of hers. The two of them wanted to catch up on things, so Rumpelstiltskin went home, not wanting to be caught in the chatter of who married who and who had a baby and such. When Rumpelstiltskin got to his cellar room, he found a girl there, crying. When he asked what was wrong, she told him that she had to spin all of the straw in the room into gold for the king. It just so happened that he had a talent for turning things into gold.
He was a rather proud dwarf, so he told her that he would turn all the straw into gold for her necklace. He thought it would make a wonderful present for his wife. He set to work and by morning all the straw had been turned to gold. He gave Ameraelda the necklace and she was delighted. That night, he heard sobs coming from another room. He quietly got up as to not disturb his wife, and walked in to find the girl he had seen the previous night. This evening, she was in a bigger room with more straw and was required to spin it all into gold. Rumpelstiltskin asked what the girl would give him to spin the straw and she offered her ring. He took it and began to spin.
By morning, all of the straw had been turned to gold. Rumpelstiltskin presented his wife with the girl's ring and again she was delighted. That night, Rumpelstiltskin heard sobs coming from the hallway. He went out to investigate and found the girl in an even larger room filled with straw. She wanted him to spin the straw into gold, as he had done the previous nights, but she had nothing else to give him. Rumpelstiltskin, thinking of his and his wife's sadness at Mike's death, asked for her first-born child. The girl agreed, and he set to work.
That morning, instead of sneaking back into his room, he hid around the corner of the hallway. There, he heard the king ask for the girl's hand in marriage, in thanks for spinning the straw. A year later, the girl had a baby, and Rumpelstiltskin appeared, wanting his payment. The girl was distraught, and Rumpelstiltskin didn't like to see people unhappy, so he gave the girl three days to guess his name.
The first two days she guessed every name she could think of. On the third day, however, she was walking past one of the rooms in the cellar and she heard a woman's voice say the name 'Rumpelstiltskin', and heard a voice reply. The voice belonged to the man that had spun the straw into gold for her all those months ago. When the little man came up to hear her guesses as to what his name was, she guessed 'Rumpelstiltskin'. Rumpelstiltskin immediately looked sad and disappointed.
When the girl asked why, he told her about Mike and how his wife couldn't have any more children. She looked sympathetic and told him that she would do something about it. A year, then two, passed, and it seemed as if the girl had forgotten about him. He had begun to feel let down and was losing hope when he received a note telling him and Ameraelda to go to the edge of the forest.
When Rumpelstiltskin and his wife got to the edge of the forest, they saw a beautiful baby girl lying on the roots of a hazel tree, wrapped in a pale pink, silk cloth. Ameraelda picked up the baby girl and named her Hazel, for the tree she had been found on. As they were walking away, Rumpelstiltskin thought he saw the embroidered hem of a velvet skirt, and waved. The girl, still hiding behind her bush, waved back and watched her daughter be carried away. A single tear fell from her cheek and she started walking back to the castle.