Rumpelstiltskin was in a bad mood as he stomped through Dangerous Wood on his way home from the castle. He couldn't believe the trick that fate had played on him and the Queen had actually spoken his name. No doubt, he thought, those witches here told her it or the the frog of Black River! And boy, did he have a bone to pick with them for betraying him like this!
When at last he reached his little hut beneath the great hollow oak tree he found many of friends there waiting for him. They all looked quite surprised to he was empty-handed.
"Why, Rumpelstiltskin, where is the baby?" asked his closest friend, Cornelius.
He exhaled roughly and explained, "She spoke my name correctly."
All his friends gasped in shock and disbelief just as he had when he had heard his name spoken by the Queen.
"But how can that have been?" asked his friend Frivelo. "No one knows your name except us, and we didn't tell it to anyone, honest we didn't."
"We are the only ones who know your name," added his friend Zuzalu. "And so do the witches of these woods and the frog who watches over Black River."
Rumpelstiltskin nodded and they all gasped in realization.
"Why, how dare they do such a thing!" exclaimed Cornelius in outrage. "Why, it's just downright disloyal!"
"And that is probably why they didn't in fact do such a thing," said a mystical voice suddenly from behind Rumpelstiltskin. He turned around and was much surprised to the unicorn of the woods standing before him.
"What do you mean they didn't?" he demanded. "How would you know?"
"I know because I led the miller's daughter, I mean the Queen, here to your house last night as you were having your party with all your friends here and she overheard one of them call you by your name."
Rumpelstiltskin was now even more shocked than ever. "But how did you know about us?"
"I am the unicorn of these woods," it replied. "I see and hear everything that goes on in it."
Rumpelstiltskin groaned woefully. "I cannot believe this!" he exclaimed. "I wish I had never made that bargain of finding out what my name is with her. Better yet, I wish I had never helped that miller's daughter at all! But both times she had to cry and make me sad, and you know how I hate to be sad."
"Yes we do," said Cornelius sympathetically. "And we also know how much you always wanted to have a baby of your own to take care of."
"And I would have been so happy to help you take care of it," said Zuzlu sadly.
"She really should have kept her promise to you," said Frivelo. "After all, a bargain is a bargain even if you shouldn't have made it in the first place."
"I know," said Rumpelstiltskin miserably. "And that is why I lost!"
Cornelius looked thoughtful. "You know, my good friend," he said, "You may yet still get to have a child to call your own."
Rumpelstiltskin looked up at him in puzzlement. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean maybe someday the Queen's son will come here into these woods and you will make his acquaintance and maybe, just maybe, he will want to stay with you."
Rumpelstiltskin smiled at the thought. Perhaps there was hope after all.