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nancy@nancykeane.com
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Napoli,
Donna J.
SPINNERS
New York : Puffin, 2001.
IL YA
ISBN 014131110X
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Rumplestiltskin
is not my true name. It is a wretched name given to me by the woman who
broke my heart when I was just a young man. Yes, Rumplestiltskin had a
heart. As a matter of fact, I was once a well respected, strong, and handsome
tailor who loved a beautiful, young spinster more than anything in the
world. We planned to wed. I had the ring and we had already consummated
our love numerous times in the secrecy of the barn. All I had to do was
ask her father, a simple farmer, for his blessing. But, the day I asked
the farmer for his daughter’s hand in marriage I was devastated to hear
he had other plans. He wanted his daughter to marry the local miller because
he could offer her a life of financial security. My blood boiled as I listened
to the father's plan, and in a fit of desperation I spouted the words that
would change my life forever, "If you give me her hand in marriage I will
dress her in gold...A gold wedding dress." It was too late to retract.
The farmer gave me until the next full moon to reappear with a wedding
dress made of gold or I would never marry my one true love. Feeling desperate,
I stole a magical spinning wheel from an old, blind spinster. The old woman
warned me if I took the wheel without her blessing I would be cursed, but
I was too love stricken to listen. Although the wheel enabled me to spin
straw into gold for the wedding dress, it left me crippled and sallow,
like an old man. When the farmer saw my poor physical condition, he refused
to allow me to wed his daughter. However, the farmer didn't know his precious
daughter was already carrying my child. Nine months later I approached
my one true love to offer a final plea for her affections. My twisted body
disgusted her and she gave me a name, a hateful name. Thus began this tailor’s
descent into self-revulsion and sorrow. Read Spinners by Donna Jo
Napoli. (Kimberly R. Cole, kcole@greenville.k12.sc.us,
Monaview Elementary, Greenville SC) |
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SUBJECTS:
Fairy tales.
Fathers and daughters -- Fiction.
Spinning -- Fiction. |
© 
Permission is granted for the
noncommercial duplication and use of this resource, provided it is substantially
unchanged from its present form and appropriate credit is given.
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