by Cameron Jace
Mermaids rose through the water and began pushing the canoe gently toward the other side. They were beautiful and young; they were nothing like the old stories described them: Evil and manipulative. One of them turned back and blew me a kiss over her shoulder. A glittering necklace hung on her neck; it was made of seashells and its glow reminded me of the moon on dark nights – the moon hadn’t been appearing for many days, but that was another story. I rubbed my neck, blushing, wondering what my wife would’ve done to me if she’d seen that.
By sunset, the mermaid with seashell necklace came back with the payment. It wasn’t gold, but two baskets filled with fruits and vegetables, and a piece of oak with a note carved on it:
‘On behalf of the King of Sorrow, we encourage you to keep your magic a secret, and welcome your next’s canoe’s arrival.’
It didn’t say who wrote the note, but whenever they mentioned the King of Sorrow, I knew they meant the Queen. The King had been busy, protecting the Kingdom, building his army of young men, and he didn’t have time to write ‘thank-you’ notes. He was a good man; but unlike me, he was a strong one, greatly feared by his enemies to the point that his courage managed to make its way into many stories told to the children of the kingdom every night.
Things seemed to work out fine back home with my beautiful family. I was welcomed as a courageous father, and the loveliest two women in my life adored me more than I actually deserved – I didn’t tell them about the mermaids, even though Rapunzel had found a single fish in the basket. I figured the mermaid had slipped in when I wasn’t looking.
When Rapunzel turned fifteen, she came to me one day to show me something.
“Close your eyes, Rumpelstiltskin,” She loved to call me by that name because she thought it was funny, and she loved it more than calling me father – I never told her my real name, and hearing it from her sounded sweeter than those who used it to tantalize me in the past.
I closed my eyes, unable to resist my daughter’s charming smile.
“Now wait,” she said, and I heard the clicking of scissors. She had cut a wisp of my hair.
“Ouch!” I said. “What was that for?”
“I will spin your hair in the spinning wheel,” she said enthusiastically.
“But it’s just a small lock, and my hair isn’t as fine as yours,” I said.
“I’m not going to spin it for the usual purposes,” she gingerly touched my nose with her small fingers. I had a rather big nose – which was too big because of my small figure. My nose was only cherished by Rapunzel, even when it had kept many women from marrying me in my youth. I believed they thought I’d be snoring all night long, and, of course, I was just downright unattractive.
“Oh? Then why are you using my lock in the spinning wheel?” I asked Rapunzel.
“It’s a secret,” she whispered in my ear.
“What does Rumpelstiltskin have to do to let his princess tell him about her little secret?” I asked Rapunzel.
“You have to sleep,” She giggled.
“Sleep… hmm… now?”
“Whenever you want, but not before I use your hair to spin a dream for you.” She said.
“A dream? You can spin dreams now?”
“Shhh, whisper, Rumpelstiltskin, whisper, no one can know about this.”
“I will, Rapunzel,” I said. “So you can spin dreams with the spinning wheel?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she said. “I tried it on me, and later on my mother without her knowing it. I cut her hair while she was sleeping. The day after, I asked her about her dreams, and she told me exactly about what I had spun for her.”
“You control the dreams, too?” I played along, whispering and looking overly suspicious.
“I’m not a kid, Rumpelstiltskin. You don’t have to act like you believe me when you don’t. It works. While I spin, I close my eyes and think of a beautiful dream for you. It usually turns out almost as I had imagined it. Now sleep, Rumpelstiltskin,” She pushed me back on the bed.
That night, I dreamt of what she had woven on her spinning wheel for me. It was a dream about a beautiful princess who was born to a beautiful queen in a huge castle with four gates leading outdoors. The gates didn’t lead to different places. Instead, each gate opened to a different season: Autumn, winter, spring, and summer. The princess and the queen were able to experience four seasons in one day, and eat all the seasonal fruits they wanted all year long. It was a silly, yet nice dream.
The next day, I spent all day staring at the spinning wheel while Rapunzel and her mother went out to the nearby market.
What was this spinning wheel? And who spun the dreams? The wheel or my daughter, and what did that mean? Could I spin dreams on it as well?
I remembered that Rapunzel’s mother had dreamt about having a child, and then about the Rapunzel plant. I wondered if we were a family with a great gift like telling the future through dreams. Like I told you, I had always thought my daughter was special.
I remembered the prophecy of the girl who could spin straw into gold. It was every father and mother’s wish, that their child would possess such magical attribute. I always thought it was a silly thing to believe. But who was I kidding? I had mermaids help me cross the canoe over to the other side. There was definitely something different about the word ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ other than being just a silly name.
I touched the wheel slightly, speculating about what it meant to be able to weave dreams. Rapunzel called the wheel ‘the Loom’, a place within a ‘Dreamworld’ where real magic happened, and she called herself a ‘Dreamweaver’, someone who weaved dreams. Just like knitting a beautiful dress, the spinning wheel and spindle were like the needle and the ball of fabric.
“What dream will I have tonight?” I asked my daughter when she came back.
“Not every day, Rumpelstiltskin,” She laughed. “Don’t be greedy. It doesn’t work that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not a good thing to use the wheel every day. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t like that.”
“The wheel talks to you?”
“No. But I can feel it. We are somehow connected.”
“Connected?”
Rapunzel lowered her head, and folded her hands together by interlocking her fingers, “I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll spin you and mom a fabulous dream soon, I promise.”
I wasn’t a man who’d use his daughter, even if she possessed the most magical qualities. I pitied her enough for having to spin straw for us at her age when she should have been spending her days playing or discovering the beauty of life.
One day, coming back from the lake, I found a piece of gold on our bed, a real piece of gold.
“Did you see that?” Her mother said to me, almost dancing.
“Where did you get that?” I wondered, furrowing my brows. I was sensing something sinister behind that. Rapunzel’s mother was a good mother, but she always wanted more. She’d asked me to betray my kingdom once, and it worried me.
“This is payment for the service Rapunzel offered today,” She said.
“What service costs a piece of gold?” I didn’t want to tell her that I’d never seen gold before in my life. I thought if I’d never get it, why bother to find out what it looked like?
“Rapunzel spun a dream for a child,” her mother said. “Somehow, this woman heard about our daughter’s ability and asked her to spin a beautiful dream for her child. The next morning she was so happy with what her child dreamed that she paid us with a piece of gold. Do you know how rich we could become?”
Was the prophecy true? A girl who can spin straw into gold, only through spinning dreams?
“Rich?” I waved my hand in the air. “What are you talking about, woman? Who told that lady our daughter possessed such a gift?”
“None of us, I swear, but now that it’s out in the open, what’s the harm, Rumpelstiltskin?”
I went to ask my daughter how she felt about this. I wasn’t intereste
d in the gold.
“I’m alright,” Rapunzel assured me. “Did you see the gold?” She mustered an uneasy smile. Something was wrong but she wouldn’t tell me. I couldn’t force her. She was a brave, but slightly stubborn child, and I knew she’d sacrifice herself for the family. It was my fault. I let her feel responsible for us from the first day I allowed her to spin her hair.
“What was the name of the woman who paid you?”
“Oh,” Rapunzel giggled. “She is a funny woman, very talkative and friendly. Her name is Dame Gothel. She said she knew you, and told us to remind you that everything had a price, and she had to pay us for my service.”
I knew it. Something was wrong with all of this. My wife and Rapunzel hadn’t seen Dame Gothel in the past, nor had I told them where I’d gotten the rapunzel plants. When I asked my daughter about Dame Gothel, she depicted her as a lovely old woman. I knew by then that there was something sinister about Dame Gothel. She looked far from lovely with her stiff white hair and long fingernails. I stood looking at the grayish sunset coming down on our village, wondering what the future had in store for me.
My daughter’s secret was out there, and we couldn’t stop fathers or mothers from asking Rapunzel to spin dreams for their children. My wife became greedier, and Rapunzel was only fourteen, happy with her new powers that could potentially enrich us, filling our sack of gold inside the shack. We had travelers crossing the lake from the Kingdom of Sorrow to bring us a lock of their children’s hair along with a piece of gold.
Dame Gothel didn’t show up again.
I started to notice that spinning drained energy out of my daughter. She began to get sick, coughing incessantly and looking gaunter every day. I had to stop her from continuing to spin, and I refused to accept offers anymore. I carried her to bed and tucked her in, allowing her to regain her strength while I watched over her.
That same day, someone called my name from behind the shack’s door in the middle of the night.
“Rumpelstiltskin!” He sounded young and full of life, and it seemed as though he was amused by shouting out my name. “Rum-pel-stilt-skin!”
Angered, I opened the door in my nightgown. There was a boy standing next to his horse. He was tall, thin, and wore a green hat with a white feather on it.
“Didn’t your elders ever teach you to knock?” I snarled at him.
“Oh,” He raised his eyebrows. “I’m not very fond of doors. I don’t use them. I like to sneak into houses; windows and tall trees always do the job for me.”
“What?” I snapped. “Who are you and what do you want knocking on my door so late?”
“First of all, you really need to leave this house,” The boy said. “A man in possession of an ample supply of gold should get himself a better door, and house…and name,” he pulled out a straw and positioned it in the corner of his mouth, slightly chewing it. “My name is Jack.”
“And why are you calling my name out in the middle of the night, Jack?”
“Oh. I wasn’t calling. I was just trying to see if I can say it ten times in a row without biting my tongue or gritting my teeth. Peculiar name you have, my friend. ”
“I swear...” I was the one starting to grit my teeth.
“Hey. Take it easy, Rumpelstiltskin,” He waved his hands. “I want to help you. Actually, I’m here to warn you.”
“Of what?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Dame Gothel and the Queen of Sorrow,” He uttered. “Long story short, I eavesdropped on them talking about your daughter.”
“Rapunzel?” I asked nervously.
“That’s right. I didn’t get the whole story, but I understood there is a prophecy that a girl – a first child – would be born to a mother that craved rapunzel plants. The girl would have long golden hair that she can use to spin dreams with or something like that. And somehow, the Queen of Sorrow wants the girl, as she is of great importance to her.”
“Are you saying—“
“I’m saying that the Queen’s huntsmen will be visiting you soon, and it won’t be friendly – and even if they were, they’d kill you, just by making fun of your name alone. You know the huntsmen, they only drink and kill, and do kidnapping on the side. So I’d say they’re coming for your daughter.”
I stood silent for a moment. Whomever this Jack boy was, I had the feeling I could trust him, and his words came as no surprise to me. I was sure that Dame Gothel had meant to harm my family from the very beginning. Was that the price for the free rapunzel plants? To take my first born after she’d grown into a beautiful girl?
“But why now? They’ve always known about Rapunzel,” I muttered. “Everybody knows that she is a skilled spinner,” I mumbled to myself, gazing up at the sky. “Why now?”
“If you’re asking someone up there, I don’t think they know the answer,” Jack said, still chewing his straw. “In fact, I could answer you. I heard them say that Rapunzel will only be useful to the Queen when she reaches a certain age. So, perhaps, they were waiting for your daughter to grow up, or maybe they were just waiting to make sure she possessed the power of spinning dreams,” Jack asserted, then whistled to his horse. “I’m sorry. I have to go. Got some work to do. I thought I’d stop by and warn you.”
“Wait. How do you know all of this?” I wondered.
“Let’s say I was there in the right place at the right time, and in the right closet with the right amount of jewelry.”
“You’re a thief, aren’t you? That’s why you didn’t knock. You’re used to sneaking into other people’s houses. And that’s how you heard the Queen’s conversation.”
“With all due respect, this is not a house,” he pointed at my shack. “But I’m guilty as charged,” Jack raised both hands proudly. “I stole an apple and a comb, today. Don’t know what use I got for them, though. And here,” Jack pulled a sword out of a scabbard strapped to the horse saddle, and offered it to me. “Take it. I don’t have a use for this, either.”
“I don’t need a sword. I don’t kill people. I am a good man.”
“Tsk tsk,” Jack shook his head and lowered it to whisper in my ear. “You might be a good man, but without a sword to fight for your family, you’re not good enough.”
“You expect me to take advice from a thief?” I grunted.
“No,” Jack mused. “I expect you to take the sword,” He put it in my hand. “And Rumpelstiltskin,” he added, preparing to mount his horse. “A wise man once said that the opposite of being alive is being boring, so for God’s sake, don’t be boring!”
“Wait!” I ran after him as he rode away into the night. “But why did you bother to tell me?”
“I’m a thief for God’s sake. I’m on the poor’s side all the way. Someone’s going to write a book about me!”
Confused with Jack’s immoral conversation, I darted back into the house and woke up my wife. We had to run away before the Queen of Sorrow arrived. I found Rapunzel spinning on the wheel, still feeling sick.
“What are you doing, Rapunzel?” I asked. “You’re sick and I said no more spinning.”
“I had to spin this for you, Rumpelstiltskin,” She said with a ghostly smile, pointing at the wheel. I saw she was spinning my tresses. “I spun you another beautiful dream.” She told me, her eyelids throbbing from exhaustion. The spinning was eating her soul away, and it seemed as if she felt obliged to keep on spinning, nonetheless.
“What dream?” I asked.
“A dream about me,” She mumbled. “So you never forget me.”
I didn’t know why she thought I’d forget her, but she fainted before I could ask her. I held her in my arms, summoned my wife, and we were on our way out.
I was too late.
The sound of the huntsmen on their horses gave me goose bumps already.
As I went out, there were four of them, hiding their faces behind their helms, which were modeled after a hawk’s head. Only one of them was headless, or maybe the shades of the night played tricks on me. They had already caught m
y wife and thrown her with the sack of gold in a nearby well – so they weren’t here for the gold. They were here for Rapunzel, just like Jack had said.
I ran, carrying Rapunzel in my arms, but they had me surrounded, and I felt my legs gave out from under me and I sank to my knees. I wish I had taken Jack’s sword but I had left it in the shack.
I was positive we were going to be saved. Something or someone was going to save me, another divine intervention, but I was wrong.
Dame Gothel strode confidently toward me, “Give us your daughter, Rumpelstiltskin,” She stretched out her hands. “We’ll take her either way.”
“No!” I screamed, and held my daughter tighter, her long hair dangling on the ground.
Suddenly, a cold wind filled the air around me. It sent shivers down my spine, and the night clouds in the skies hued to dull violet colors. Crows hovered over us, fluttering their wings and cawing maliciously. A dark mist settled low in the village, and dispersed to give way to the approaching, mysterious horse rider. The Queen of Sorrow.
The Queen of Sorrow rode out of the dark on a hornless unicorn. Even in dark moments like this, the Queen’s beauty was mind-blowing, like Death itself. How did a dark soul like hers inhabit such enchanting flesh? It occurred to me that the only living thing competing with her beauty would’ve been the white unicorn she rode. Was that the reason why she had its horn cut off?
I looked closer at the unicorn and saw the scar where its horn had been. The unicorn trotted gracefully in my direction. The Queen took her time before she halted and bowed to me. She scrutinized Rapunzel with hungry eyes. If she wasn’t surrounded by her huntsmen, I imagined she’d have licked her lips and stretched out a snake’s tongue to touch my daughter.
“Is that her?” She asked Dame Gothel.
“That’s her, Your Majesty.” Dame Gothel held her arms to her sides and bowed her head.
“Give her to me, Rumpelstiltskin,” The Queen of Sorrow ordered. “She is mine.”
“What do you mean? She is my daughter, and you will not have her.”
“If you give her to me, I’ll invite you back to the Kingdom of Sorrow, and I’ll grant you every wish you ever wanted,” She said.