Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff Page B

the spinning wheel.
    “Well, just look at this room,” she said, as if she were my mother and scolding me for not picking it up.
    “Lots of straw,” I said.
    “Exactly! The king has promised to make me queen after this batch, and if you mess it up, you’ll be the first person I behead!”
    I was going to say that if I messed it up, she wouldn’t be queen to behead anyone, but I was too tired to argue. My only comfort was that if I messed up, Opal and the miller would be punished too. I imagined them both chained in a dungeon.
    I sagged into the wheel and piled straw on my lap. The window was covered by straw, so I couldn’t see if it was still light out or if night had fallen. It had been early morning when I fell asleep, but there was so much straw. No matter what time it was, I needed to work fast. I took a deep breath and twisted the straw into the wheel and pressed my foot on the treadle. All the aches and cramps returned.
    I spun as fast as I could, and Opal paced in a little circle, rubbing her hands together impatiently. “Can’t you spin any faster?”
    “No.”
    “Keep the straw close to you! Don’t let it spill!” She snatched some of the straw that had fallen from my lap and threw it on my head. “Don’t you know what will happen if every last bit isn’t turned to gold by morning? No wonder my brothers say you’re a numbskull.”
    I stopped spinning. “Would you like to continue?”
    Opal pressed her lips together and glared. “Keep spinning, or else …”
    Or else we were both dead. I worked faster than ever. I piled the straw on top of me and worked the treadle as if I were pumping in order to breathe.
    Hours passed. My whole body felt like one big cramp from sitting at odd angles and spinning for so long. Despite the growing pile of gold, the straw loomed over me like a beast prepared to swallow me whole.
    I worked faster. Soon I could see the tapestries on the walls. Then the windows. It was dark out, which meant there was still time.
    The sky began to lighten as I was coming close to finishing. The walls were now stacked with skeins of gold. I kept an open space between me and the window so I could leave. I just hoped these walls were as easy to climb as the other tower.
    Only a few handfuls of straw remained at my feet. Opal had fallen asleep by the fire, her head resting on a pile of gold. A string of slobber hung from her mouth. The fingers of one hand were clasped around a finger on her other hand, as if she were missing something there. Her ring.
    I stopped spinning.
    I hadn’t made Opal give me something. I’d been so concerned with getting the spinning done in time that I forgot to ask. I had spun the gold, but what would happen if we didn’t bargain? Would it turn back to straw? Would someone get hurt? Maybe I wouldn’t be able to leave the castle.
    “Opal,” I whispered loudly. “Opal, wake up.”
    “Huh?” She sat up. Her face had big red marks on one side from the way she’d slept in the gold. Her hair was pushed up and ratted all funny. She smacked her lips and wiped the slobber from her mouth. “Are you done yet?” She yawned.
    “Almost, but you forgot to give me something.”
    “You never asked,” she said with an innocent smile.
    “Well, I’m asking now. What will you give me?”
    “Nothing,” she said haughtily, like she already thought herself a queen. “You’ve almost finished spinning, and I have nothing left to give. I already gave you my two most valuable possessions.” She still rubbed at her ring finger.
    “Well,” I said, spinning the last of the straw, “I can’t let you have the gold unless you give me something. In fact, I can’t even leave here until you give me something. Won’t it be a surprise when the king comes in and finds me here, sitting at the spinning wheel?”
    Her face scrunched up in anger, making her look wild and ugly. “Get off! Get away from that wheel!” she growled. “No one would believe a little numbskull like