Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there was a miller who had a beautiful daughter named Minnie Mouse. She was one of the smartest girls as well as the loveliest in all the land and everyone was friends with her. Minnie's father was always proud of her and he would often boast about how wonderful and magnificent she was.
One day, the King's Prime Minister, a duck named Donald, was passing by the miller's home when he overheard the miller say:
"My daughter, Minnie Mouse, spins so fine that she could even spin straw into gold!"
When Donald heard this, his interest was greatly peaked. So he immediately ran back to the castle to tell the King at once. The King was intrigued by this piece of news and he ordered Minnie to be brought to the castle at once. When she arrived at the castle, Minnie knelt before the King and Minister Donald Duck. When she first saw the King, she immediately felt strong feelings of affection toward him. The King shared the emotion towards her. They stared deep into each other's eyes for a good few minutes of silence until the Prime Minister snapped them out of their trances.
"Ahem! Your Majesty!" Minister Donald Duck said, clapping his fingers to get their attention.
"Oh, yes! Sorry. You're Minnie Mouse?" The King asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I am Minnie Mouse. Um, why did you ask to see me? Is something wrong?" the girl asked nervously.
"I've heard from a reliable source that you could spin straw into gold," The King replied. "I must know, how do you perform such a feat?"
"Straw into gold? I...I, uh...um..." Minnie stuttered. She didn't know what to say to that. She didn't want to get into trouble so she decided to improvise. "It's, uh...it's an old family secret, Your Majesty."
"Yes! And to prove it, this lovely girl is going to spin us an entire room full of gold!" Minister Donald Duck, said stepping forward.
"I am? Oh, yes! I am" Minnie said, laughing nervously.
"Now come with me, my dear, so we can get you settled," Donald said as he took her away from the King.
So that very night, Minister Donald Duck took the terrified Minnie Mouse to a room filled with straw. But just before he locked the door to the room, he rudely sneered at her.
"Alright, missy, here's what we are going to do. If you spin all of this straw into gold by morning, you're free to go. Do you understand?" he asked.
"Uh...yes, I agree," Minnie said nervously.
"Very well. Oh! And by the way, if you can't do it, you and your father will be sentenced to death. And one more thing: you can't use magic to cheat your way out of this. Understand?"
"Understood, Minister Donald Duck."
"That's a good girl. Good luck!"
Minister Donald Duck then shut the door with a deafening slam, locked it tight, and left Minnie to her task.
Minnie looked at the straw piled up in front of her hand and the spinning wheel sitting in the middle of the room with wide eyes. What was she going to do? Minnie knew her father's foolish boasting had gotten her into this mess, but she also knew that she couldn't give up, so she decided to give it a try. She knew magic couldn't help her here. She tried her very best to spin straw into gold, but after countless attempts, she just couldn't do it. So she began to cry.
"Ugh, I'm never going to get this! I'd give anything to spin this into gold!" she yelled before bursting into tears.
Then she heard an unfamiliar male voice say, "Would you really give anything?"
"What? Huh? Who said that?" Minnie nervously asked, looking around the room for the source of the voice.
Just then, she saw a strange hooded figure approach her from the shadows. He appeared to be standing on two legs and he spoke with a deep voice.
"Hello, Miss Minnie Mouse," he said.
Minnie was so shocked that she almost screamed. She had never seen a creature like this before and she wasn't sure what to do in a situation like this.
Taking a step back, she asked, "How do you know my name? Who are you?"
"You'll never know. But right now, all I can say is that I'm a friend. I'm a friend who knows how to spin straw into gold," the creature said calmly.
"You can?! You can really spin straw into gold?! Can you really do it? Will you, please? Please? Please?" Minnie pleaded.
"Of course, I can, my dear. But I'll do it for a fee of course. Do you have anything to give me?"
"Well, I'll give you anything if you help me. But what do I have of any worth? All I have is this bronze necklace. It was a gift from my grandmother and it means a lot to me."
"Deal. And if I ever have to come back, the price will be much higher. Understand?"
"Yes, I understand. And I hope I won't have to disturb you again."
So Minnie gave the stranger her necklace and he went right to work. As he spun the straw, it miraculously turned into long strands of pure, shining gold. And at the break of dawn, he disappeared just in time and the King and Minister Donald Duck were greatly impressed and surprised as soon as they entered.
"You've done it!" The King exclaimed, taking Minnie's hand and smiling excitedly.
But Minister Donald Duck was as greedy as he was rude, so he said, "Your Majesty, wait! It must be a trick! We have to see if she can do it again!"
"What?!" The King and Minnie asked in unison.
"As your Prime Minister, I must protect you, my King. One more time," the duck insisted.
The King let out a sigh in defeat. "Alright. One more time."
Minnie was terrified. She had no idea what to do now. So, when night came again, the King took the girl to the largest room in the castle filled to the brim with even more straw than before. She stared at it in shock.
"Now, spin for me just one more night. And if you do, I'll marry you and make you my wife, my Queen," the King said. Minnie let out a silent gasp and her eyes widened.
"W-what?" she asked, making sure she heard him right.
"Your Queen?!" Minister Donald Duck cried.
"Yes, Donald. I've already made up my mind," the King said through gritted teeth.
He looked back at Minnie with hopeful eyes. "So...?"
"Me? Your Queen?" Minnie stuttered, unsure of what to say at that moment. "I...I'm honored, Your Majesty. Truly, I am. I...I supposed I could. I'll try to do what I can. I promise."
"Good. I hope you succeed, Minnie."
"See you in the morning, Miss Mouse. And remember: NO magic," Minister Donald taunted.
And soon, the King and Donald led the girl to her task once again. Minnie was horrified by doing this task a second time, so she tried to call for the creature that helped her the other night. And as if on cue, the cloaked stranger appeared before her just like he did before.
"You called?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling.
"Yes, I did. Can you spin all this straw into gold? Just one more time, please?" she pleaded.
"Hmm... For a fee."
"Of course. But what else can I give? I have nothing left. Tell you what, if I become Queen, you can have anything. Jewels, treasures, land, anything you want. Name it and it will be yours."
The stranger's face lit up. He had an idea. He looked back at the girl with a sly look in his amber eyes.
"How about this?" he began. "When you marry the King and become Queen, you give me...your first-born child."
Minnie was shocked at what she had just heard. How could she promise something like that to a creature she hardly knew?
"Are you out of your mind?! I can't promise something like that! I won't promise that!" Minnie shouted in protest. "Isn't there anything else you want?!"
"Nope. Sorry, Miss Mouse. Unless you give me your child, there's no deal."
"No! No! No! Stop, please! Stop! Don't go!" she begged, pulling the stranger back towards her. "Just spin the straw into gold! I'll give you anything you want!! Anything!!!"
"Now that's a deal! You got it!"
So the stranger went back to spinning. And in the morning, just like before, he vanished just in time and the King was happy that Minnie had proved herself and Minister Donald Duck was greatly satisfied with a room filled with gold. So the King and the young girl were married that very afternoon and Minnie became Queen.
About a year later, a beautiful baby boy was born to the royal couple. And one fateful day, while the King was away on royal business and the Queen was playing with her baby, the mysterious stranger returned, only this time, he wasn't wearing his old cloak. Minnie was repulsed to see that the stranger who helped her was a rat with grey fur, yellow eyes, sharp fangs, fingers, a large nose, and a long pink tail. She nearly screamed at the sight of him.
"I'm back. Time to pay up!" he said, smiling a big grin.
"What?! No! Get out, stay away! You can't take my baby!" Queen Minnie begged as she held her child close.
"Don't you remember anything, Minnie? We have a bargain!"
"No, please! Take my kingdom! Take my treasures! Take everything! Just leave my baby alone!"
"A deal's a deal. And nobody breaks deals with me, dearie."
"No, please! Leave me alone!!"
The Queen began to weep bitterly, but the rat stopped by putting his claw on her shoulder.
"Hey, hey, hey. Quit it. I hate seeing mice like you cry," he began. "Tell you what, why don't we strike another deal?"
"What kind of deal?"
"I'll let you keep your child if you can guess my name. And if you can't guess it within three days, then your child belongs to me. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes! YES! Deal!" she said, shaking his claw violently with her hand.
During the first day, Queen Minnie guessed every single name she could think of, but none of them were right.
"Duffy? Abu? Pete? Billy?" she listed.
"No. No. No. No. No," he answered. "You can try again tomorrow night."
And the second day went as it went the day before and as it ended.
"Jimbo? Gordon? Randy? Luke!" she said.
"No. No. No. And no," he replied. "I'll be back tomorrow and you can try again. But remember dearie, tomorrow is the last day. And if you fail, well...you know what happens then."
The rat vanished again and Queen Minnie was getting very worried, but then, she had an idea. She called for her most trusted and most loyal guard.
"You called, my Queen?" the guard asked as he approached the Queen.
"Yes. I need you to do a very important mission for me," she said.
"Anything, Your Majesty. Name it and it will be done."
The Queen sent the guard out into the village to see what he could learn. And when he returned the next morning, he came back with some very important information.
The guard said, "Your Majesty, while I was walking through the forest sometime last night, I saw a strange-looking creature, almost like a sewer rat of some sort who was singing and dancing by a fire. I didn't get a good look at his face, but I heard the song he was singing. It went something like: 'The Queen is going to lose the game! For Rumpelstiltskin is my name!' Is that what you needed, Your Majesty?"
"Rumpelstiltskin? That's it. That must be it!" the Queen exclaimed excitedly. "Thank you so, so, so much for all of your help! After this, you'll receive your reward!"
"It was my pleasure, Your Majesty."
The minute the guard left the Queen alone, the rat had come back. But this time, the Queen was ready for him.
"It's me and it's the final day, Queenie. Can you guess my name this time?" he asked her in a smug tone.
"I believe I can," the Queen said with a sly look in her eyes. "Is your name Manny? Or Victor?"
"No. You give up?"
"No. How's this for my last guess?" The Queen soon stood up and she started to sing. "You think I'm going to lose the game, but I know Rumpelstiltskin is your name! Right?"
The rat was frozen in shock. She did it. She actually did it! The Queen had guessed correctly and he lost at his own game. He couldn't believe it. He was enraged. By now, his eyes were burning like fire as he glared at her.
"WHAT?!" he screamed. "No! No! No! You cheated! Someone told you! I want your baby! Give it to me! NOW!!!"
"No," she protested. "We made a deal. A deal's a deal and no one breaks deals with you. You said so yourself. Now, why don't you do Auradon a favor and just go away and leave me, my husband, my baby, and my kingdom alone!"
"You know what?! Maybe I will!!"
And, as if by a powerful force, Rumpelstiltskin was sent to an enchanted island prison within the darkest depths of the Isle of the Lost where he belonged, and he was never seen in the kingdom ever again. Queen Minnie never again made a promise she couldn't keep and she, King Mickey, and their baby prince all lived happily ever after.