A story in which Belle is 5 years old, her father has had control of Rumpelstiltskin's dagger since before she was born, and I steal at least half a dozen things from Cyprith.
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Lizard Man
By ZionAngel
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Belle, finding herself without chaperones or nurses or governesses, and lacking in anything interesting to do, sets about to find adventure. She wanders to the far end of the castle, where her Papa says she must not go – and so of course, there must be something of great interest there – and climbs staircase upon staircase, until she finds herself in the very top of the tower. She pushes open the door quietly, and pokes her head around to look inside. The curtains are drawn and a fireplace lights the room, though it is the middle of the day. She spies the many fascinating things around the edge of the room, the table with only one chair, and a man sitting in front of a great big wheel. Belle smiles, and slips into the room. But the man is looking at his big wheel, and does not seem to hear her, so even when she is standing right next to him, he does not notice.
"Hello."
The man startles like her cat when she wakes him from his sleep, and then gives her a mean look like when she accidentally steps on his tail.
"What the bloody hell are you doing up here?"
People in the castle are not meant to use such words around her. But Belle does not like such stuffy rules, and so she is happy to meet someone who doesn't see the need to follow them.
"I was exploring the castle. My papa told me not to come up here to the west wing. I suppose it would have been best not to come, but I wanted to know what was so special that I'm not allowed near. Am I not allowed here because of you?"
The man smiles a little, but he looks more grumpy than happy. "You catch on quick, dearie."
"Who are you?"
Now he looks grumpy without a smile, and starts turning his big wheel again. "Have you not seen me about the castle nearly every day?"
"Yes. But I don't know who you are. What's your name?"
"Rumpelstiltskin. What are you doing up here anyway?"
Belle smiles wide, and curtseys as she has been taught. Curtseys are one of the things she actually likes about being a princess. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Rumkin."
"It's Rumpel –"
"Are you friends with my Papa?" She walks to the other side of the big wheel, and stands next to the bench where he is sitting.
"Hardly."
Belle frowns. He sounds like he does not want to be friends with her papa, though she doesn't know why. Her papa can be fussy sometimes, but he is a very nice man. "Do you work for my Papa?"
"In a manner of speaking. Why –"
"What do you do?"
She stands there, waiting and smiling. He snaps his fingers, and a big, slimy toad appears in front of her in a puff of purple smoke, and drops to the floor with a loud plop. Belle nearly bursts with glee as she scoops up the toad.
"Oh, magic! I love magic! I want to learn to do magic, too. But Papa says princesses are not meant to do magic."
She smiles at the toad in her hands, then up at him. He has a very strange look on her face. He looks like the maids did last week, when she came in for her afternoon lessons covered in mud with thorns and twigs stuck to her dress and hair. She is not sure what that look means. She tilts her head, and studies him closely. He does not look at all like the other people in the castle.
"Are you a lizard?"
"Do I look like a lizard, Little Highness?"
She looks him up and down again. "Yes."
The lizard man frowns. "Well, I assure you I am not. I am a rather vile creature, and wield rather dreadful magic, and you would do well to show a little fear and keep your distance."
Belle blinks, and sets the squirming toad down on the ground. It hops away. "Why would I be afraid of you? Lizards aren't scary."
"As I said, dearie –"
"I once found a lizard in the gardens and I carried it around the castle and played with it all morning. But then Papa saw me with it and had a maid put it outside. He says princesses aren't meant to play with lizards." She tilts her head, and considers him. "Does that mean I'm not meant to play with you, either?"
"As I said, I am not a lizard. But in any case, no, you are not meant to play with me."
"Oh," she sighs. It seems a rather silly rule. Her papa is with him all the time. "Why not?"
He stops turning the wheel and stares at her. "Dearie, has anyone ever told you you are a terribly annoying and wretched little beast?"
She stares at the lizard man. "No. That would be an awfully mean thing to say to someone, don't you think so, Rumkin?" He gives her that angry cat look again. Belle looks around the room. It is very dark and that makes it not a very happy place, but the pictures hanging on the walls are all very pretty, and the things sitting around the room all look a great deal more interesting than the things that are in most of the rest of the castle.
"I think I'll play with you anyway," she says finally. "I do lots of things even when Papa says I mustn't. But please don't tell him that. We can play with your big wheel together."
He sighs, and she wonders if he is sad about something. "Don't you think you would be better off playing with children your own age?"
"No, thank you. I think I would much rather play with you. The girls my age don't like to get their dresses dirty. There's hardly anything fun to do if you fuss just from getting dirty. And one time I tried playing with a boy – since he would not mind getting dirty, you see – but he pulled my braids so I pushed him in a mudpuddle. And then Papa fussed terribly. Also, if I play with you in the tower I can see the whole kingdom from your windows."
"I don't like opening the windows, dearie."
"Oh, but I'm sure you will. You just haven't seen how pretty the view is with the curtains always pulled." She smiles up at him, glad to have a new friend.
He folds his arms and stares at her for a long time. Belle tilts her head curiously, and finally he speaks. "You really are a wee little beastie, aren't you?"
Belle smiles suddenly. That must be a very nice thing to say where the lizard man is from – he talks differently from everyone else in the castle, and while Belle knows little about the world outside her father's kingdom, she knows things are very different in all the different places.
She realizes that she would do well to go back now. Her governesses will start to wonder where she is, and if they find out she was in the west wing, they will worry and tell Papa and then Papa will fuss. So she smiles at the lizard man, and curtseys again. "It was very nice to meet you, Rumkin. I have to go back now, but I can come back tomorrow and we can play then." Belle waves, and runs off toward the door. As she closes it behind her with a final goodbye, she sees him staring at her, mouth half open and looking very much like that stupid Gaston when she pushed him into the mudpuddle.
What a funny man her new lizard friend is.