"The Spinner" by Martha Soukup

 

 First appeared in Jane Yolen's Xanadu 2.

Summary:

Rianna, "The Spinner," can spin anything into yarn--from wool to dog fur, from flax and seed pods to horse manes. 

Then one day, a woodcutter named Rowan comes into her place and asks for her to spin so that he can have gold to win the hand of his girl from her father.

Rianna agrees, and for awhile all parties are happy. However, the arrangement seems to change.

 

Discussion:

 Rowan suggests that he may or may not be engaged and so they make love. But he disappears until Rianna hears of his impending marriage. She decides to ruin it for bride and groom, using her magic to bind him only to Rianna.

This feels like a retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin story from the viewpoint of the Rump--the man who in exchange for gold attempts to ruin a family by taking the first born, as was promised. However, Rumpelstiltskin does give the couple a chance to win back the baby and restore the marriage.

Here, Rianna is wholly successful. It's hard to say what to feel. Surely, instead of one sad person, we have three (and those who are sad because these are). It's quite a bitter and pointless revenge since if she actually loved him, then she would be just as sad and miserable for the rest of her life, too. If she didn't love him, then why bother?

Or are we readers supposed to feel the revenge that the secondary character deserved rather than a man who happened to fall in love more than one person (at least for a moment)? Or is it simply wish-fulfillment revenge for every woman who felt wronged, without contemplating the consequences that will ruin everyone involved? It is strange that we go from seeing the protagonist as someone we care for to someone who appears bitter and vengeful, someone we hope we never meet.

This story requires a little context. "A Defense of Social Contracts" [link for discussion] is that necessary piece.

In her comments regarding "A Defense of Social Contracts," Soukup discusses how she wanted to write about how obsession feeds into revenge than loops back to obsession (a story with "fantasy" notion). Perhaps that describes this a bit if not a perfect fit. However, obsession and revenge do seem to factor into some of her stories. It suggests, too, that theme or perhaps certain observable human patterns may come first that she wants to illustrate within a narrative frame.

Like Rumpelstiltskin, Rianna disappears although in some versions, Rumpelstiltskin tears himself in two. Perhaps there was a reason for that revision.