Not sure why, but I seem to have a fascination with the idea of the continuing story of Rumpelstiltskin...
The funny little gnome who could spin straw into gold tromped and stomped around the north woods, howling vile obscenities, furious and utterly perplexed as to how such a simple girl managed to learn his name. Every night, screaming and shouting and utterly disturbing every creature in the magical forest.
This went on for for 17 long years, until a silly little bird, know for being a bit of a half-wit, happened to hear him shout "How? How did she guess my name!?"
"Maybe that strange man told her," replied the bird.
Rumpelstiltskin stopped dead in his tracks. "What man?!"
It was then that he learned about the palace guard that was sent to spy on him. How, while dancing around his bonfire that he was spied by a human trespasser, who reported the gnarled sprite's name back to the queen, cheating him of his payment of her first born.
One would think he would be even more enraged upon discovering the Queen's duplicity, but he became calm, and a small, lascivious smile crept across his twisted lips. He bowed graciously, thanked the bird for his assistance, and set off toward the castle.
And so it was, right there in the tiny little sun-baked room at the top of the west tower where it all began, that Rumpelstiltskin claimed his prize... over, and over, and over again.
PRINCE AURYN
digital illustration