Spinster 1 (3.08)

This spinster and her best friend raised Rumplestiltskin after he was abandoned by his no-good father in "Think Lovely Thoughts".

Before the Curse
When Malcolm, a no-good con artist from the streets of the Enchanted Forest, needs some extra money, he sends his young son Rumplestiltskin to work for a couple of spinsters, who spin for a living. He doesn't like the idea, but his father gives him a straw doll to keep him company, telling him to name it as names always help things feel more real. The spinsters soon discover that Rumple has a natural talent for spinning, and take a liking to the boy. He comments that if he could make money from his new-found talent, then he and his father could be together, but the two spinsters disagree. They tell young Rumple that his father has a dreadful reputation, and this reputation will follow the two of them wherever they go... and so they offer the boy a way to escape; a way for he and Malcolm to be together without the latter's bad name being a burden on the two of them. This escape comes in the form of a magic bean - they give it to Rumple, free-of-charge, and he uses it to transport he and his father to Neverland. When this plan totally backfires, Rumple returns to the Enchanted Forest without Malcolm where the spinsters take him in. They wonder where his straw doll is, and offer to make him a new one when he reveals that he lost it, but Rumple refuses their kind offer, saying that Peter Pan is gone forever. The two spinsters, from then on, raise Rumplestiltskin as their own.