Rumplestiltskin: A Tale Retold

Author: Keppiehed

Rating: T for very mild language, adult themes and situations

Warning: Angst

Status: Complete

Word Count: 5,342

A/N: This was written for a challenge on Brigit's Flame, in which the prompt was to retell an existing children's fairy tale/ fable, or write a sequel to one

This is not a tale for the tender of heart. If you are possessed of gentle sensibilities, turn away now. Mine is a story of the darker things in life, of when things go awry. Not every fairy tale has a happy ending. Not every soul gets their wishes granted.

To give you an idea of the scope of my tragedy, I have to start where things went wrong: at the beginning. I was born to a mountain dwelling people. You may call them dwarves; no matter, we were a close knit kin that were wary of outsiders and thus gained a somewhat mystical reputation amongst outsiders. The truth of it was, we were simply a clan that kept to ourselves. We had been judged by Man before, in the ancient days, and found lacking. Now we were wiser and had need of no company from anyone save our own people.

We were a highly prosperous society, with many conveniences, and wanted for nothing. The fact that we lived concealed in the caves and caverns of the underground did not make us inferior or lacking in wits. We had advanced our knowledge and architecture over the centuries until we had a subterranean breadth that rivaled the humans' population.

It was my misfortune to be born into the height of the dwarven modern society. Anything magical was out of mode; anything at all unexplainable by science was strictly out of fashion. It turned out that I had a talent for an alchemy of sorts. I never could explain it, it just seemed like the Midas Touch. We all knew of Midas, that most cursed of kings from a few years ago, and as dwarves had longer memories than our beards, it seemed that even death was not enough to absolve poor Midas from his sin in our eyes. We may not be top dwellers, but that did not mean that we didn't keep tabs on what was going on above us!

The fact that I was born with a gift from one of our more unsavory surface relations was not looked on favorably. Also, I was unlucky enough to have been born with a malformation of my nose which was nearly impossible to ignore. It was bulbous and misshapen, even by dwarf standards, which was saying quite a bit. I am afraid that no one could ever bear to look me in the face for the fright of this ghastly appendage, which was enough to frighten the unwary.

All of this may have been enough to bear, but it was my enterprising soul that was too much for the elders. I would not stay in my cave and disappear. I had a rather...ambitious nature. I wanted to use my talents for the good of the community, but the elders chose to see me as avaricious. They had no interest in gold, only the furthering of their metalwork, jewels obtained in an "honest" manner, and their architectural interests, for which we were quite well renowned.

In the end, I was asked to leave my home. I may point out the sting of irony bit more deeply than the betrayal of my people. For being so advanced, the nature of my rejection certainly felt like a witch hunt. I gathered up my meager belongings, and had no choice but to leave the only home I had ever known. Dwarves live very long lives, and I was now completely alone in the world. I was not welcome Below anymore. I had no choice but to go Above.

I chose a plot of land far removed from others to make my home. It was on what I now know to be a moor, where humans rarely tread. I found an outcropping of stone, the medium I am so familiar with, and made myself a new home. This was life now. I had to get used to being adrift.

I will admit to you that though my face may be old and weathered looking, inside I had a heart just as amorous as anyone else's, and above all, I longed for love. Just as I was marred by foulness, so was I drawn like a moth to the shining light of beauty. I couldn't get enough of the humans that I happened to see in their unwary travels, so long of limb, so unblemished! Their skin was smooth and white, their teeth so straight. I was trapped in the spell of wanting, spending hours creeping about. Closer and closer to their towns I dared until I saw maidenkind and I was lost.

If men were a marvel, then women were a boon to save a dying man. I was enraptured. I had never seen such a delight in all my days. They were delicacy embodied, and I could only stare in reverence.

I spent my days hiding and watching, nearly turning to stone for the addiction of it. It was then that I saw the first love of my life. She was one just like any other, but I was convinced that her light shone a little brighter, her heart must be purer. I was near to wasting away with the ache. I couldn't eat or sleep. I could only stand watch at the edge of her village, never daring to approach. She was a dairymaid, but what a maid was she! Her brown hair was the stuff of sailor's song! I could have wept for a glance from her.

I decided to go to her one early morning when she was in the barn alone. I saw her arise before dawn, as was her wont, and after she slipped into the barn, I went in after her. She must have felt my presence, because she turned slowly, and before she could say anything, I burst forth from the shadows and into the circle of her lantern to proclaim myself.

"Sweet maiden!" I threw myself at her feet, as I imagined an impassioned suitor might do. After all, this was all new to me. I had never had a sweetheart before, and it was of the utmost importance that I get this right. "I throw myself on your mercy, and I beg for your hand in marriage! You have caught me in the net of your beauty, and I will never be free. Accept my suit, and I will be anything, do anything for you, always..."

The girl's eyes were bulging. "Ugh!"

I broke off uncertainly. She was looking less than lovely now, and backing away from me, making unattractive grunting noises. Had I chosen a halfwit? "What?" I cocked my head at her. "Is this not the custom in your country? I can do it anyway you prefer, sweet Lady."

The girl finally inhaled and screamed.

I jumped up, nervous. This was not going the way I had envisioned. "What's wrong?" I shouted in a panic.

"What's wrong?" she babbled, nearly incoherent. "You are hideous! What are you? Help! I am being attacked! Someone HELP!" The girl started screaming in earnest and running around.

I backed away warily, a lump in my throat. I hadn't ever touched her. "I never hurt you," I whispered. "I can give you gold, if that is what you want," I offered miserably.

She paused. "I wouldn't take a thing from you, you monster! Get away!" She resumed running around.

A burly man entered the barn in a rush. "Hilda? What-" he broke off. "The lantern!"

The oil lamp had overturned in the fray and set some of the dry straw in the barn alight. Now Hilda's screams were in real terror as the whole barn went up in a flare of tinder. I slipped out the door, the feel of my heart breaking in my chest slowing me down. I turned and watched the proceedings from the cover of the woods, and I could make out buckets and water uselessly fighting a raging fire that destroyed half the town before it was quenched. Hilda's limp body was laid out on the ground before dusk as one of the casualties. The shards of glass where my heart should have been throbbed unmercifully.

Whispers of the Devil's imp reached my ears. Of course, I was considered the cause of the fire.

Years passed, and I should have learned my lesson, but I was lonely. I was burned only metaphorically by Man, but it must be a burn I relished, because over the long years I sought it out again and again, until my heart was a shriveled raisin in my chest. All I had ever wanted was a family, but because I was too different, apparently an unforgivable sin, I was never to have what everyone else enjoyed without thought and in abundance.

Generations came and went, as I aged into a tired mockery of what I used to be. My own limbs were twisted, my back bent. I could feel the weight of years upon me at last, and though I had hardened my heart, I had never entirely doused the flicker of hope for companionship from my breast. How could I? I was not, indeed, the monster they had dubbed me throughout all these long ages, after all. I was still a creature of the earth, with feelings as any man would have. I longed now for a son, a daughter, as I cursed myself for a fool. No woman would tolerate me, that much had been made clear to me in many ways. What was the use in hoping for anything beyond a mortal death?

Perhaps fate took pity on me, for at last a little luck came my way. Although in the fashion of my people, I prefer to think that opportunity favors the prepared, so perhaps it is true that we make our own luck after all, and I was merely in a good position after so many years of waiting, watching, listening at the heels of Men.

It came to my attention that the miller's daughter had gotten herself into a bit of trouble. I had almost stopped paying attention to the goings on of the village folk, but I couldn't help having noticed Jenny. She was quite a treasure, in a way that simple folk are usually not. Word of her beauty had spread from farm to farm, and being that her father was an ass, and a braggart to boot, he did nothing to stop the spread of gossip. In fact, he fanned the flames of jealousy by insisting that his idiot girl could spin straw into gold, or some such nonsense. When I heard this, I just shook my head, amazed. Was there no end to Man's idiocy?

Of course, who paid the price for the miller's loose tongue? I watched the scene play out as predictably as I knew it would, and a sudden sense of the chase gleamed in my eye the way it had not in many a year. This was new. This could be fun. I had never lived to see a day like this before, and my days were not as long as they once were. Perhaps I ought to take a chance.

The king had declared the edict that Jenny had the night to spin the straw into gold, or face her execution. He must have been owed back taxes by Miller, I thought grimly, or else there was some sort of grudge that was not readily apparent to the general populace. It was clear that no one expected the slip of a girl to complete the Herculean feat, so the king must have been biding his time for revenge in a blood feud. Well, that was neither here nor there to me. I was merely taking advantage of a particularly advantageous position, one I had waited years for. I would see how this played out.

I sneaked into the castle by means of an old, unused underground tunnel that I had been aware of since the previous monarch's reign. After all, subterranean tunnels were my specialty. The tunnel led me to the hallway near to her chamber, and from there, it was short work to locate her. I was handy with a lockpick, and presto! I was in.

Jenny shrieked when she saw me, but I was prepared for that. I held out my arm in a gesture of friendliness, and mimed a shushing gesture. When she finally realized that I was not going to do her any harm, she quieted down. Perhaps she only realized that her screams didn't bring the guards running to see for her welfare, either.

"Who are you?" she asked fearfully, a tremble in her voice.

I have to admit, even cowering in a corner and acting so predictably dull, I was still enchanted by the exquisite allure of her comeliness. There were not enough words to describe the vision that she presented, and I was briefly struck dumb. I quickly hastened to gather my wits, and cleared my throat. "Ah, it is less important who, though everyone asks that first. Rather what you might ask is how, fair maiden."

Her brow wrinkled, trying to process my words. Ah, not so bright then. A pity. "How? I don't follow."

I sighed. "How might I be of service to you. Or, if you are a little less couth, you may prefer what. As in, what can I do for you? Why else do you expect me to be here in this...unconventional situation?" I fought the urge to add any sarcastic witticisms, perhaps about tea and crumpets.

Her eyes lit up, and my heart flipped a little. "Oh, can you really help me? You are so very ugly after all," she gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, you did. Don't think I am not in possession of a mirror, dear girl. I am aware of my visage. It does not preclude me from helping you, however, should you so desire help from one so...hideous." I said the word lightly, but I still remembered the sting it carried upon hearing it from Hilda's pretty lips.

Jenny's lips trembled, and she jumped to her feet. "Oh, please, Sir, I should very much desire your help. But...I don't see what you can do. I am in a terrible predicament."

She called me Sir. I was lost. I took in a breath, wondering which us us was more discomposed. "I am aware of your 'predicament', as you choose to call it. Yes, you have gotten yourself into a bind...Jenny." I said her name purposefully, watching her with a gleam in my eye, waiting.

She gasped. "How did you know my name?" Her wide blue eyes narrowed in distrust. "You are not what you seem, are you?"

I had to work hard to suppress another eye roll. "And just what do I seem to you, Young Miss? A savior? A person who can help you? That need all that concern you, and in that case, yes. I am exactly what I seem. I know what you want, and I offer it out to you."

Jenny leaned in to me. "You can spin straw into gold?" she whispered incredulously.

My eyes caught her ruby lips, plump and glistening. I wanted nothing more than a kiss, a single kiss, more than had ever been bestowed upon me in all my long years walking this life. "I can give you what you need," I murmured.

"Good!" Jenny exclaimed delightedly, unaware of the undercurrent of desire I was harboring, and jumping about girlishly. "How are you going to accomplish it?"

I eyed her a little resentfully. She paid me no more heed than a gnat, as if I would of course be of no interest to her, or hold any power over her. "My offer comes with a price," I informed her shrewdly, not easily forgetting the years of hurts inflicted on me.

"Ohhhh," her blue eyes went all watery, a trick I found amazingly effective, even in it's transparency. My insides plummeted. "I don't have anything to give you!" she wailed in anguish, and I was nearly at her feet. "I shall die for lack of payment! What do you require of me?"

My own heart, which was supposed to be rock hard, was suspiciously soft, and getting softer, as I watched her eyes fill to the brim, but not quite overflow. It gave them a luminous quality that made me want to never break her gaze. The thought of hurting her was intolerable. My mind scrabbled to find a way for us both to be satisfied. "Everyone has something to offer, even if they don't realize it at first. Think for a moment."

Jenny pressed her lips together. "I can't think that you would want this. It is just a ring I have, made of tin, from when I was young. It is worthless, I only wear it because my mother gave it to me before she died. I don't want you to think I am cheating you. It is really all I have. I don't own anything else in this wide world. Will you take it?"

I held out my hand, as if I was considering it, and when she handed it over, I made a show of looking it over, but I really knew that I was going to help her anyway. She was right, the ring was just trash, but I slipped it on my finger. "Done."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Jenny skipped around and kicked up her feet in a little dance. She was lighter than air.

I watched her a moment, mesmerized, then I made a show of gruffness. "Simmer down. There is work yet before us this eve. Set the spindle before me and let us get to work."

Of course, it was not possible to spin the straw into gold, but I couldn't very well give away my secret, so I rigged up a complicated system of putting it through the wheel and making it appear as though that was what was occurring, when really all I needed to do was just touch the straw and concentrate in order to transmute it. I didn't want her to get the idea that I may be able to turn anything I wanted into gold, though, who knew where that would lead me? She seemed rather dim, but women were notoriously crafty when it came to matters concerning gold, so I kept up the pretense. In no time, we had accomplished our goal.

The gratitude that Jenny showed me should have been enough, but of course, it wasn't.

Of course, the king was a greedy old sot who wanted to have a repeat performance the following night. That was not what I had expected, but I could play this game out. I showed up in the same way, but I was careful. This king was clever, and I didn't put it past him to rig up a trap. I didn't want to lose my life over this.

Jenny was not as startled this time by my appearance. She had been crying, the tears having made trails on her cheeks that glinted in the moonlight. My heart twisted. "Oh, hello. What was your name, again? You never did say."

I waved my hand. "It matters not. I see you are in a similar mess."

"Yes!" she wailed, almost before I had finished speaking. "Only now I really have nothing to pay you with! Oh, what shall I do? Woe is me!"

Despite a flair for the dramatic, I could not help being moved by Jenny's plight. It was not her fault that she was in this position. "I can help you, but as I said last night, I require a price."

Jenny might have lacked a few wits, but she recognized a slight to her honor when she heard it. "I would rather die than besmirch myself! With anyone!" She leveled a firm glance at me.

I didn't flinch. At least it wasn't personal, I thought. "You misunderstand," I explained patiently. "I do not require your precious virtue. Even I am not such a villain as that. Perhaps...a kiss?" I held my breath.

Jenny blushed. Then she thought for a moment. "Well, you leave me no choice," she answered uncertainly, her lips curling faintly in ill-concealed disgust.

I covered my heart with my hand. "So gracious, as always. I thank you for your tact, Milady," I said.

Jenny remained silent, watching.

My temper was dangerously close to flaring up. Was this so much to ask for, then? Apparently so! Well, she could just sit here in this prison of her own making if she couldn't bear to part with one simple kiss!

Jenny sighed, having made and committed to her decision while I stewed about it. She came over to me, so much shorter than her, and got to her knees. This was already the closest I had ever been to a woman, and all thoughts fled as I took in the rare sight of us face to face. She smelled delicious, even having been cooped up in a room with straw, like the sunshine and outdoors. I wanted to inhale her, to consume her and have her be a part of me. Her wide eyes briefly flashed terror at mine, but then she closed them and leaned in.

The briefest of touches of her pink lips on mine, and I was undone. I had imagined it a million times, a million different ways, but nothing compared to the reality of her softness against me. I could do nothing but let her continue, as she was the teacher, and I the student. She started slowly at first, and then pressed a little more firmly, as if gaining her courage. She turned her head slightly, and her lips slashed across mine at a different angle, the friction delicious. I couldn't get enough. And-good God-was that her tongue? I was helpless, the onslaught of sensation was like nothing I had ever experienced, and I was seeing a piece of Heaven I never knew existed. Her tongue was stroking my lips, and I parted them, allowing her access. She sought out my tongue, with a gentle rhythm, and I thought I would die from the sheer joy of it. A kiss, so rapturous. Time spun out forever, and I wanted more, more. I groaned, and pulled her tighter against me.

She gasped, and broke away. "That was it. What we agreed. A kiss. The best I could offer you."

I could barely comprehend her meaning. I felt the bleakness of her absence, and wanted what I couldn't have: more. I struggled to get myself under control, but it was the hardest thing I had ever had to master. I wanted to take her and make her mine, right there. She sat on her heels in the room, not moving, just looking at me, and I sighed in frustration. "Yes. A kiss. You are skilled," I managed. "You kept to your end of the bargain, I shall keep to mine."

And I did.

It was no surprise when I found her in the same way a third time. This girl was not the sharpest tool in the shed, after all. She was waiting for me with no astonishment at all, but a sort of a dull expression on her face. "He wants to marry me. This is the last time. Yet I will be worthless to him after what you will ask me for tonight."

"Oh?" I had figured she would be in this position, I just didn't think she would have the smarts to trap him into marriage all by herself; I thought I would have to offer her that advice when I got tired of playing this game. "And you are so sure you know what I will ask of you, then?"

Jenny's eyes flashed at me. "It is fairly obvious. You have been leading me here, step by step. And I have nothing else to give you, we both know that. So what else could you possibly want from me?"

A good question: what else could I want from her? Well, it turned out that this girl held the key to two things that I wanted very much, and I was about to get one of them tonight. The thing was, I was only going to get one, and I was only going to get one chance at it. I had thought long and hard about this, and as much as I may regret it, I knew the answer. "I want your firstborn child."

"What?" Jenny's jaw dropped in stupefaction. She was speechless.

I was a little shy about it now, but it wasn't her concern, anyway. I didn't need to explain to her my request. She only needed to accept or not. I could have physical fulfillment, but that would only be once, for tonight. I could have a family. A real family, of my own. This was my chance. She could have plenty of children. She could tell her husband a falsehood about the welfare of the child, and I would have my baby, finally complete. It was all I had ever wanted, to have someone to love me, someone to love. I had to make that choice.

Jenny's jaw was working, but no sound was coming out.

"Well?" I tried to sound haughty, but inside I was shaking.

"Yes! Yes, of course! You can have it!" Jenny was trembling, smiling. "Thank you so much, that is just so kind of you, you are wonderful to do this for me!"

I frowned. "You have no reservations about promising your first child to me?"

Jenny calmed down and gave me a look. "No! I don't want children, and if I have some, I can surely spare one. What is the difference? I am to be married to a king!"

I gave her a hard look. "I shall hold you to your word, Jenny." On this I put steel into my voice.

Jenny waved her hand dismissively. "I hope you do," she giggled expansively.

We got to work, both of us with hope in our hearts for the future.

Well, I of course things don't go as planned, do they? There is bound to be a hitch in the works somewhere. I had expected as much when I made that fool bargain, as Jenny was dumb as a box of rocks, and had no idea about the way she would feel when she became a mother. Still, I had waited a good long time to be a father myself, and fair was fair. She had made a deal. I wanted what was mine, even if I had to fight her for it.

Jenny was definitely surprised when I showed up to collect my debt, and perhaps more surprised when her tears left me unmoved this time. I was anxious to start my parenting, and the sight of the infant stirred my heartstrings more than her bosom ever could. I was fairly itching to snatch the child and run off with it to begin teaching him the ways of the world I wanted him to know.

Jenny appeared quite genuinely distressed, however, and to my eternal dismay, her tears were affecting me again. My dratted conscience began to plague me.

"Please, oh please, allow me to compensate you in another manner, kind Sir!" she wailed.

I tapped my foot. "Our bargain stands, Lady. Or, rather, Queen now. I demand my due."

"I beg of you!" she threw herself at my feet, something I had never witnessed before. "I throw myself at your mercy Sir...uh...Sir," she paused in her theatrics, for which I remembered she always carried a penchant, and sniffled loudly. "You know, I do believe I never learned your proper name. What could it be? Why, how odd."

I began to see something that would appease her sense of fairness, something that even she could not cry off. "I will strike you a bargain, Queen. I will give you three days to guess my name. If, in that time you have not, then the child most certainly belongs to me. And no more of this. Deal?" I felt this was more than kind.

The shower of fresh tears was stifling, but I heard a grateful assent in there, and I made my egress.

Of course, the first two days passed, and she came up with the list of the most outlandish, ridiculous names known to man. I would not be possessed of human names, even she ought to know that. As the sun set on the second day, I began to feel convivial, and raised a glass to myself, imagining that tomorrow my son would be home. I would be at peace for the first time in so many years since being thrown out of my own community. To not have an identity, to not have a people to belong to, it was so hard. My heart swelled with the idea that new life would be here. It was all I had to live for now.

I got rather tipsy, as I was not used to spirits. In my drunkenness, I do remember singing and shouting, dancing and hopping about quite a bit. At one point, I thought I heard a noise on the moors, but when I checked, there was nothing, and I laughed it off as my ears playing tricks on me. This place was as deserted as ever.

I suppose a simpleton can guess the ending to this tale. Of course Jenny waited until the last moment to reveal her coup-de-grace, and she triumphantly badgered me with my own name, as if she deserved some sort of award for cleverness. I can still hear it in my mind, the syllables forming on her lips and rolling off of her tongue in that honeyed voice of hers. "Rumplestiltskin."

An ugly name for an ugly man.

All my dreams shattered, my whole world broken in that one utterance.

It will always be true that history favors the beautiful and the righteous, the winners. I will be painted as the evildoer of the story, no doubt. It pains me not that posterity will be wrong, but that I missed my chance to love and be loved. I had so much to offer, and that is gone now.

I cannot stand to live out my days in loneliness. I have seen that too may times, and tread that path every day before this one; there is nothing but despair to be met as a fellow on that road. The glimmer of a different destiny called my name, and now that that whim has departed, I find I can't live without it, so I am left without even the shreds of hope to keep me going.

I select poison as the best way to end it, and my last thoughts are of the baby, a cloud barely glimpsed in a sky full of darkness. I choose this thought to comfort me as I wrestle with the torment that floods my system. It is not as poetic as I might have imagined. Even my death is horrific and gruesome. I could not even manage a presentable corpse, it seems.

I told you this tale was not for the tender of heart. I leave you to ponder who the real monsters are after all. Is there ever a moral to any story worth living?