Shrek Stories; Rumpelstiltskin

Once upon a time, there lived a strange little man named Rumpelstiltskin. He was a traveller by birth, having already been gifted with the ability to walk on his own feet after two weeks of living. In his old town, Rumpelstiltskin would con his infant friends with pieces of paper with crude writing; getting them to sign and earn something with odd exchanges. As he grew older, he went from stealing candy from babies to gaining money from other children his age. What his colleagues got in return were usually petty material goods, maybe a pretty dress or a sword. Many years had gone by, and the little man was only getting better with his craft. Not only was he making deals with older folks with desperate needs, but even wealthy nobles and even royalty.

Infamous personalities such as Dorian Gray and King Midas had signed what Rumpelstiltskin now uses to make his deals; the magical contracts. These were pieces of paper that granted casuals he ability to practice magic without being wizards, fairies, witches or warlocks. Being the devious man he was, Rumpel had been able to use these contracts to give others great powers with a grand cost. This led to Dorian Gray's portrait to deteriorate when he commits sin, and Midas to accidentally turn his own daughter into gold. Despite these mishaps, his repuatation was only made greater with other famous figures behind his back. It was no use to fight back against him either, since Dorian had died and Midas chose to use his powers for good; which ended up breaking the contract much to Stiltskin's dismay.

His most shameful moment would not come from these two individuals, but rather from a foreign land far from the European continents. Deep in Persia, a young woman named Zareen was being forced into marraige with King Jalal, after her father lied about her being able to spin straw into gold. Having an admiration for Iranian aesthetics, Rumpelstiltskin was taking a stroll through the palace at his own will. He eventually found Zareen crying her eyes out, and hatched an idea to use her as a part of his magical transactions.

"Who are you?!" cried Zareen

"Only the one who can solve your problems. Watch ya got?"

"I've been trying to spin this straw into gold good sir. But it's impossible!"

"Really? Oh come on! That's child's play! I've done it all the time back in my youth when I was much smaller than I am now."

"..."

"I know, I never really was the tallest person alive. Anyway, I can help you. So long as you sign this."

Rumpelstiltskin took one of his contracts from his travel bag, which stated that he'll spin the straw into gold. But there was a catch; Zareen would have to give him her most beautiful necklaces. They featured the finest Persian gold which cased breathtaking moonstones and emeralds. Filled with joy, Rumpel quickly snatched them as soon as Zareen signed the contract. Once he got his payment, he went to work spinning all of the straw into gold, and as soon as the deeds were complete, he vanished. During the procedure, Zareen had fallen asleep and woke up the next morning to find the room full of golden straw. King Jalal was amazed upon this sight, and opted her to spin even more staw into gold inside a different room.

Once again, Zareen broke down in tears, which Rumpel had heard from a distance. On his feet, he returned to the palace to tell her that he'll assist again, in exchange for her prized ring. A ring that was also made from the finest Persian gold. It was a symbol of her love with her father, who had spent all of his hard working money from milling to buy her that exact ring. Wanting to keep her promise with the small man, she gave him the ring and woke up the next morning to find even more gold than before. However, she was tasked one last time to spin larger piles of straw into gold. If Zareen is successful, she would become the new queen of Persia.

Rumpelstiltskin knew this would be a greater opportunity to gain even more riches, being aware of Zareen's desperate nature. But once he arrived, she had no valuable items on her. With more optimism, he agreed that he will spin the straw again, on one condition; if she were to be married and have a child, it will belong to Rumpelstiltskin. Needless to say, Zareen was appauled, and almost declined such a horrendous deal. Hesitating, she agreed with the man and soon enough, the entire room was filled with more gold. Ecstatic, Zareen waited for King Jalal to ask her hand in marriage, and she got what she desired.

Zareen couldn't be any happier, with a wonderful palace life, beautiful husband, and an even more ravanous baby girl. Unfortunately for her, Rumpelstiltskin appeared out of thin air, demanding the child to be his. Having just remembered the contract, she decided to fight back and decline such an offer; the very act she walked out on in order to marry King Jalal. Being the sneaky devil he was, Rumpel promised that she could keep her first born, so long as she could guess his name. At this point, he never revealed his identity, with his previous deal makers only breaking the exit clause or suffering the consequences of their wishes. Bent on keeping her beloved offspring, Zareen ordered a messenger to go around all of Persia to collect as many names as he could.

The messenger returned to the palace with a long list of names, including Moses, Bahadur, Firuz, and even Moses. None of these were correct, and after three days, it appeared that Zareen would have no choice but to give up her child. While on a stroll of shame, the messenger went through an empty area with abandoned buildings. To his surprise, he found Rumpel inside one of these houses with a funny looking goose.

"I'll tell ya Fifi, nobody is going to guess my name at this point. I can say it to you though my little goose. Rumpelstiltskin is the name, and conning filthy casuals is my game!... No that doesn't sound good."

Rumpel was still talking to himself about how he could use his name for a catchy slogan; he failed to realize that the messenger was hearing him not too far away. After listening to the man's tangents, he ran back to the palace to tell Zareen his real name. She was thrilled to hear this news, and rewarded the messanger a kiss and a large amount of gold. All she had to do now was say Rumpel's name right in front of his face. After a few hours, he returned to give her three more attempts to guess his name. Being aware of his name, she purposefully guessed the name wrong two times, asking the names Heinz and Walter. Finally, on her final guess, she said Rumpelstiltskin.

Shocked, Rumpel yelled and screamed, banging his head on the stone walls and attempting to split himself in two. This failed horribly, and the little man was still alive. He furiously ran out of the palace, and flew as far away from Persia on his goose Fifi. Although it was a terrifying sight, Zareen was glad to know that she'll never see that creep ever again. In despair, Rumpel immigrated to the outskirts of the kingdom of Far Far Away, where he resided in the Crone's Nest in hopes of gaining his old reputation back. His next scheme was to use his old "customers" and make faux reccomendations to lure in desperate folks. This ended up getting the attention of the king and queen, who were wishing to break their daughter's curse.

Both of them arrived to speak with the man about their dilemma, and opted to sign one of his magical contracts. Before they could, a nobleman alerts them that their daughter Fiona was saved. Once again, Stiltskin fell into shame and self-hatred, being angry at whoever saved this princess. This was his one chance to try and get back to the top as a great conman, and it was taken away from him. It was Persia all over again, but this time, it wasn't a queen who screwed him over, it was an ogre. An ogre by the name of Shrek. Thanks to him, the entire kingdom of Far Far Away was at peace, with other shady criminals now being out of the question. Rumpel was now living in poverty with his goose Fifi, and was living in a cramped egg-shaped carriage.

It seemed to mark the end of Stiltskin's success story, but his prayers for a miracle were answered on a day when Shrek had a meltdown at a local family eatery. He was disastified with his life, wanting to go back to "the good old days". Taking this opportunity to make him sign a magic contract, Rumpel tricked the ogre into giving him the day he was born. That way, Fiona would remained locked away in the tower, and the king and queen would give him the entire kingdom of Far Far Away. Once Shrek went to an alternate universe where he wasn't born, Rumpel was able to turn the kingdom into a wasteland, and made the palace a Persian-inspired castle; a style of architecture he borrowed from King Jalal's own home.

Unfortunately for him, this reign didn't last very long, as after 24 hours, his world was destroyed by Shrek and Fiona. They shared true love's kiss, thus breaking the contract and returning the man to his normal reality. Luckily for Shrek, he returned a more thankful individual, and ended up turning in Rumpelstiltskin for years of conning others. Now Stiltskin is constantly being trapped in cages and always failing to escape. His only time of freedom was when Donkey accidentally killed one of his witch friends, Griselda. The two were apparently engaged for marriage, and he wanted to murder both Donkey and his tour guests.

Like most of his recent schemes, this fell hard, and he was once again locked away; this time in a more permenant prison. A life sentence, Rumpel would never see the light of day again, being forced to rot in jail.

The End