Rumpelstiltskin
This is a strange character, a villain who was a friend. This is based on the story by the Brothers Grimm. The main character of the story is a young woman who is the daughter of a miller. The miller puts his daughter into trouble by bragging to the king a big lie that she can spin straw into gold. On that alone, the king has the miller's daughter arrested, put into a tower room as prisoner, and the room is filled with straw. There is one spinning wheel, and the king orders her to make straw into gold by morning otherwise she'll be executed. Here the king is the villain, as the poor girl had no part in her fathers' falsehood. She can't really spin straw into gold, so she'll face death. She breaks down in tears. This is when Rumpelstiltskin arrives as a saviour and helper, rescuing the woman from death. Rumpelstiltskin is an imp, a type of house wight and mischievous spirit. Then Rumpelstiltskin agrees to spin the straw into gold for her in exchange of the necklace that she wears.
This happens really well, so that by morning, the king finds that all of the straw has been spun into gold. He spares the woman's life but he gives her a harder challenge, by taking her into a larger room piled in straw. On the second day, Rumpelstiltskin shows up and offers to help out. The woman agrees to pay for Rumpelstiltskin's help by giving him her ring. So the same thing happened, and the following day, the king is impressed.
The king takes her into an even larger room with much more straw great heaps. He tells her that if she can turn all of that into gold, he will marry her but if she doesn't, he'll have her executed. This is not a charming king at all! Now when Rumpelstiltskin appears again on the third day, the miller's daughter has nothing else to pay him. So Rumpelstiltskin makes a deal, and that is she can pay up later on by handing over her first born child to him. She agrees to this! Well she doesn't want to die. After the straw turns into a mountain of gold in the large room, the king is happy and he marries the miller's daughter. Months later, soon after the baby is born, Rumpelstilskin appears to the new queen, and reminds her of the promise. Reluctant to give him her baby, she can't keep her promise but insists of giving him her wealth. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't want her money at all so he changes his plan.
He tells her to think of what his name is, and he'll be ready in three days. If she hasn't got his name right, he'll take her baby. In some versions, the young queen follows the imp and catches him singing and dancing around a fire, where he says his own name. Later he meets the queen and she tells him what his name is. He became so angry that he vanished into the floor after stamping his foot hard.
More villains to come soon...
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