Day after day she sat alone, the cold and dark of the dungeon oppressing her. She had no idea how long she had been there, years she felt, for the tattered remains of her skirt now hung higher than they had when she first arrived. She had went from girl to woman without the light of the sun. There was no telling how much longer her imprisonment would last. All she had to do was give the lord of the castle what he wanted and she would be free.
"Hello dearie" came a voice in the dark that startled her.
"Who are you?" came a voice that had little use except to sing songs to herself to stave off insanity.
"You don't know" he said lighting a match in the darkness that made the maid blink "allow me to introduce myself, I" he said pausing for effect "am Rumpelstiltskin" he added a bow as a flourish.
"How did you get in here?" she asked peering at him.
"The same way I can get you out of here" he offered.
"You've come to free me?" she asked breathlessly.
"More or less" he said casually.
"What do you mean?"
"You want to go home right missy?" he conjectured.
"I do! I do!" she said excitedly, it would seem her savior had come at last. Though not quite the handsome prince she had pictured freeing her.
"Well, it will come with a price" he said.
"Name it, when we're free of this place my father will reward you whatever you wish" she promised.
"No, no, no. We won't have to go that far, all I want, is right here" he said giving one of the earrings that dangled from her ear a tap, it lit up, radiating magic.
"And what would you do with it?" she asked.
"Hardly any of your concern" he said dismissively.
"Oh, I think it is, if I haven't used them as the lord of this castle demands I do, what makes you think that I would part with them to you?" she said.
"Because I'm slightly more trustworthy" he replied.
"And how do I know that?" she said suspiciously.
He paused "you don't, but I won't harm you with those precious baubles that you have on your little ears."
"No thank you sir" she said stiffly "I'll find my own way out rather than risk these in the wrong hands" she said crossing her arms.
"If you insist, though I would reconsider, by the time your handsome prince arrives you may not be such a charming young lass. The wrinkles may have set in" he whispered menacingly.
"If he's only here to rescue me because of my beauty than he's no better than you trying to free me for my magical objects. You may all go to the gallows for all I care, I will find a way out or someone who wishes to rescue me for the goodness of rescuing an innocent victim will come along and free me. Until then, I'm quite content to go on living in this dungeon rather than barter my freedom with a fiend" she said haughtily.
"As you wish missy" he said and then he was gone.
She was alone again, in the dark, feeling righteous but a little disconcerted by his words.
"Oh well" she said to herself in the hollow darkness of the dungeon "better to die alone with principles than live and have a wrong action on my conscience" she placated herself.