Chickens. Blasted girl gets out of the dungeon and has the gall to ask to raise chickens. Seated in his chair, his mouth twitches in the bewildered way when one is not sure whether to laugh or simply ask for clarification. Breaking his cups and turning his estate into a farm—seemed the opposite of what a housekeeper should be doing. She still stands there, face full of hope...better respond.
"Unless you like having whatever dry bread I can find around here for breakfast," she says.
"I'm partial to the stale rye."
"I just thought you might like eggs once in a while." She's not sure where to look. Either that or something on the carpet is fascinating.
"No" would be the most appropriate, concise answer. But that triggers a memory, one he doesn't often pull out and revisit on his own. Bae, about three, always running around like he was in a foot race against invisible enemies. He liked to run in front of a rope-and-leather swing the children had made and took turns on, and always Rumpelstiltskin found himself warning, "No, son. You'll get kicked in the head." But three-year-olds don't always listen and Rumpelstiltskin wondered if letting the boy find out the hard way would keep him from running in front of the swing ever again. Sure enough, the other boy in the swing didn't stop in time and his fast little runner fell right to the ground with a thud. This time, Bae ran right to his father, holding his head but not crying, and said he'd be more careful. He never ran in front of the swing again.
"Would it be all right?" she asks again.
"Oh, why not?" He shoots her a grin. "I think I can manage to procure some. Always watch your step going into the coop, though. Chickens can be messy." It was that easy. In chess, one often does lose a pawn in order to capture the opponent's knight or bishop or something of more value. It would be a matter of days before she would come back to him, humiliated, and ask him to remove the entire thing from her sight, pride gone. He would, and what fun it would be deciding what that trouble would be worth...