A larger than normal crowd gathered to watch the execution that day. Food vendors wove their way through the masses and children climbed trees to find the best view of the scaffold. Giants weren't beheaded everyday.
The condemned was not in fact a giant, merely a tall and imposing peasant turned killer. Hunched on a dirty straw pallet the man didn't look menacing, merely tired. His prison was a cellar in which he had no room to stand or even lay. He longed for sleep or daylight, but associated both with his impending death. For most of his life the man looked forward to some unknown happiness in the future. He now knew his future, a short walk in the sun followed by the swing of an axe and a long sleep.
He was quite unprepared for the singsong voice that greeted him from the shadows. "You're accused of theft and murder. Are the charges false?"
It took the prisoner a few moments to find his voice, when it came it was rusty from disuse. "They aren't."
"So you're honest, but are you loyal?" The voice chirped again.
The prisoner blinked silently into the darkness.
"What would you be willing to trade to escape your grizzly fate."
"I have nothing."
"I find myself in need of a spy and messenger. Someone discreet and loyal. Can you manage that?"
"If I could fly from this place, I'd do just about anything and be grateful, sir. But I'm easy to spot in a crowd. I'd make a piss poor spy."
"Yes, I had noticed that." The stranger drawled stepping out of the shadows. "But I wouldn't call it an insurmountable obstacle. D'you know who I am?"
The prisoner made eye contact with the green skinned imp before him. "You're the Deal Maker. You're Rumplestiltskin."
"If I save you from the axe, you will serve me without question. You will do as I bid you and keep my secrets. If I save your life, you will be in my debt for the rest of it. Do you accept my terms?"
The prisoner passed a moment in contemplative silence before he answered. "I accept."
Rumplestiltskin cackled, "The deal is struck." He snapped his fingers and the prisoner's heavy chains hit the floor. "And since you are so desperate to fly from here..."
Purple smoke encircled the prisoner obscuring his hulking form from view. When the air cleared a plain gray dove was the sole occupant of the straw mattress. Rumplestiltskin allowed himself another giggle as he scooped the creature up. The iron studded door of the humble prison swung open on its own. With a sense of satisfaction he flung his new minion into the open air.