Barbie Meets Rumpelstiltskin

Prologue

It was a warm summer day. Barbie had decided to take her younger sister, Kelly, and a few of her school friends to the local Renaissance Faire and everyone was having a blast. They were all dressed in costumes and running around while Barbie sat on a nearby bench to relax and still keep an eye on everyone. She closed her eyes, took in a breath, and smiled.

"A beautiful day, isn't it?" She asked herself.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a pair of young voices shouting.

"No way!" "Yes way!"

Barbie's eyes flew open and she turned her head to see that one of the voices she heard was Kelly. She and another boy were talking by the May pole and they appeared to be arguing. She got up and walked over to them to see what was going on.

"You can't do that!" Kelly said.

"Yes I can!" The boy argued.

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can!"

"Hey, hey. What's going on over here?" Barbie said as she separated the two.

"It's nothing, Barbie." Kelly said. "Tommy here says he can stand on only one hand, which is NOT TRUE."

"I totally can! I can even do it backwards with my eyes closed!" The boy, Tommy, said. He then closed his eyes, got down onto the ground, and attempted to perform a handstand, but he failed miserably and fell flat on his back. He sat up, opened his eyes, and looked up at the two sisters. He blushed in embarrassment, but tried his best to hide it. "Uh... I wasn't ready."

"Sure you weren't." Kelly joked, giving him a smug smile.

"You shouldn't make such claims like that, Tommy." Barbie gently pointed out. "Especially if they aren't true."

"Why?" The boy asked as he stood up and dusted off his costume. "I'm not hurting anybody, am I?"

"Maybe... but if you're not more careful with what you say, you could get into some big trouble." The older girl replied.

"What do you mean, Barbie?" Kelly asked, looking up at her sister curiously.

Barbie was about to answer until something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She glanced to her right and saw a woman using a spinning wheel. She smiled; this gave her an idea. "You know, Tommy? You remind me of a story." She walked back over to the bench and sat down. "It's about a girl who gets caught in the middle of some pretty big lies, and she has to rely on someone very scary to help get her out of trouble."

"Really? What happened?" Her sister asked.

"Well, why don't we find out?" She said with a smile.

Kelly and Tommy quickly sat on the grass in front of Barbie. The other kids soon joined them, knowing that Barbie always told great stories.

"You see, it all starts with that." Barbie pointed to the spinning wheel the woman is using; the kids turned and looked at the spinning wheel in confusion.

"What is it?" Tommy asked.

"A spinning wheel. A long time ago, people used them to help turn wool into thread which would then be turned into fabric to make clothes. But in this story, the spinning wheel is used for something else."

The kids all turned their attention back to Barbie. She smiled and began her tale.

"Long ago, in a kingdom far away, there lived a miller who was very proud."