What fills a hand fuller than a skein of gold? By order of the king, two
boys, Tousle and Innes, must find the answer to this puzzling riddle
within seven days or be killed. A former nursemaid to the queen's child
tells the boys that the banished queen may have the answer they seek.
Danger presents itself at every turn, for the boys are pursued by the
Great Barons, who are secretly plotting against the king. Another
pursuer, the greedy King's Grip, reveals a strange story of a little man
who once spun straw into gold of incredible beauty for the queen but
then disappeared with her firstborn son. Tousle realizes that the man he
calls Da is the strange little man and, even more amazing, that he
himself may be the lost prince. Or could it be Innes, who although
cruelly blinded can hear the music of the dawn?
This skillful blend of fantasy and adventure reveals what might have
happened before the queen makes her third and last guess and the story
of Rumpelstiltskin--as we know it--ends.