History Main / LeonineContract

* One episode of ''Series/AdamTwelve'' involves a black-market adoption racket--sans paperwork--that obtained at least one child through a "bargain" straight out of ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'': We'll help you pay the bills and you give us the child. ''Series/AdamTwelve'' being fiction based on the real world, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome; a friendly lawyer is helping the mother out, and Malloy offers to connect her with other resources.

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* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind'': Bucciarati's main method of recruiting new members into his gang is approaching people who had reached their lowest point and offering them to join the mafia.

* In The ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' DLC ''Dragonborn'', [[EldritchAbomination Hermaeus Mora]] engineers one by letting his wayward minion [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels Miraak]], the First Dragonborn, run rampant over Solstheim. His aim? Acquire the shamanistic secrets (which are functionally worthless save that Mora does not know them) of the [[HiddenElfVillage Skaal]], who live on Solstheim. His offer? The only means to stop Miraak; a [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]] that [[CompellingVoice bends the will of even dragons]] to the shouter's will, given to the [[PlayerCharacter Last Dragonborn]].

* Nathalie is Gabriel's devoted and obedient employee in ''Fanfic/{{Spellbound}}'' because she can't afford to lose her job, or else [[spoiler: she'll lose the protection of a bargain, made by Adrien's mother, that protects anyone living or working in the Agreste mansion. Without that protection, the fae would [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade abduct and kill her to ensure her silence]] -- which already happened to all her family]].

* Payday lenders are often seen as this, with more than a little justification. It's for this reason that many jurisdictions have been able to go after payday lenders to stop them and get restitution for injured borrowers.[[note]]Payday lenders offer extremely short-term loan contracts, intended to be repaid within, at most, 14 days. As a result, they charge absolutely ''exorbitant'' interest rates, with the low end being ''800%'' (the high end? '''''3500%'''''). By comparison, a standard loan will have a rate around 20% at the high-end, and usually closer to 5-10%. Keeping a payday loan for ''any'' length of time means you will pay incredibly high amounts of interest, which, if you're getting a payday loan in the first place, you probably can't afford. Payday lenders have been prosecuted for usury (basically semi-legal extortion), but they just keep finding ways to come back.[[/note]]

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the protagonist's sisters make themselves vulnerable to that kind of situation by buying something they cannot quite afford. [[spoiler: They manage to get a high brother's price for Jerin ''and'' marry him to the woman he loves, but it is dangerous.]] An example with an even worse situation is [[spoiler: when Jerin offers to be a willing SexSlave to the kidnappers so that they don't kill his companion. [[ILied He totally lied, though.]]]]

* ''Anime/MegaloBox'': Sakuma convinced Mac to become the human test subject for his BES implant [[spoiler:by offering his son private access to a necessary organ replacement surgery. Worse yet, Sakuma didn't even offer it directly to Mac, instead convincing Mac's wife Maya to use her power of attorney to sign Mac up while he was unconscious, essentially using [[AdultFear her fear of losing both her husband and her son]] against her at a vulnerable moment. Mac is, to say the least, not very pleased when he discovers the truth.]]

** Similarly, the ludicrous expenses involved in hospitalization fall under a similar trope. Hospitals don't provide medical bills in advance, and when you don't know whether you're experiencing heartburn or a heart attack, you're willing to sign off on whatever testing or treatment they suggest. Insurance means that the majority of the cost gets defrayed, but that means those without insurance are between a rock and a hard place, and even people with insurance are likely to max out their deductible just getting the initial ambulance ride. Again, this is mostly a U.S. example, as most European countries simply pay for the healthcare service through taxes.

* In Soviet animated film ''The Flying Ship'' (loosely based on ''Literature/TheFoolOfTheWorldAndTheFlyingShip''), the Tsar gets trapped on the eponymous machine floating mid-air, and the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive greedy Merchant]] offers him a rope in exchange for the crown.

* This is a huge part of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''. Ursula offers to give Ariel legs so she can pursue Eric, but the catch is that she must give up her voice -- the one thing Eric remembers about her -- and Ariel has just three days to get him to kiss her or else she'll be turned into a polyp. Ariel being a teenager who has just gotten into a really bad fight with her father, doesn't realize she's being blatantly exploited by the contract as part of Ursula's plan to take over the seas. Many a lawyer has taken apart Ursula's contract in real life, pointing out that it unfairly favors the sea witch (even if Ariel does win Eric's love, her voice will still be permanently compromised), and even when Ariel is getting close to getting that kiss, Ursula interferes specifically to make Ariel fail, which ''should'' have voided the contract's power.

* In Literature/TheBible, a starving Esau sells his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for some stew. This, however, is viewed by many as an example of how little he valued it, since they were at their home camp when the deal was made, and he could have easily gotten food elsewhere.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/OrdealInOtherwhere'', the Free Trader tells the colonists that he had fine young men under [[MadeASlave indefinite term labor contracts]] because he had been able to recruit the desperate in a refugee camp. He then gets Charis to sign one because she's a prisoner in the hands of religious fanatics.

* In one chapter of ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', Arthur Sinclair, the head of the US Government's office of Strategic Resources tells about how they had to completely revise the methods of farming within the Californian safe zone after the ZombieApocalypse. In the case of the cattle ranchers, who protested having to surrender much of their livestock at minimal compensation in order to feed the streams of refugees escaping the zombies, Sinclair told the ranchers that he couldn't compel the ranchers to help feed their fellow people... but Sinclair ''could'' point those starving people in the direction of these ranches and refuse to provide protection for the ranchers if they don't help him feed the people. The ranchers capitulated pretty quickly after that point was made.

* In ''Series/TheATeam'', this is how Stockwell gets the team to work for him in season 5, with special mention to the fact that he not just took advantage of their desperate situation but ''created'' it in the first place. He has them put on trial for the famous "crime they didn't commit" but then controls the trial from behind the scenes to get the charges against them upgraded from the relatively minor robbery and desertion which would have earned them 20 years in prison, to first degree murder and treason which would earn them a guaranteed death sentence. He then allows them to escape on the condition that they perform a specified number of missions for him, after which they will all receive full presidential pardons.

* According to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles'', this is what happened to Leon after the events of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''; the government threatened to imprison him and to experiment on Sherry, the only known carrier in the world for the G-Virus and the Devil Vaccine, unless he agreed to become their elite anti-Bioterror operative. Then, as revealed in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', they went ahead and experimented on Sherry ''anyway''.

Even IncorruptiblePurePureness characters may hold ThePromise void if it was part of this. Everyone is prone to insist on ExactWords or attempting to persuade the other character to engage in ReleasingFromThePromise. In general, any mortal court will side with the victim of one of these-- but if there's a MagicallyBindingContract, you're in real trouble. Sometimes a DealWithTheDevil will take this form.

* Kyubey of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' wants as many girls as possible to MakeAWish, which he will grant in exchange for them becoming {{MagicalGirl}}s, and is fine using his [[HiveMind many bodies]] to recruit those who would need assistance:

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo'': Bucciarati's main method of recruiting new members into his gang is approaching people who had reached their lowest point and offering them to join the mafia.

* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo]]'': Bucciarati's main method of recruiting new members into his gang is approaching people who had reached their lowest point and offering them to join the mafia.
* ''Manga/XxxHolic'': The granting of wishes runs on the EquivalentExchange in this world, and so when a desperate Watanuki makes a wish whose price is far beyond his ability to pay, he ends up having to WorkOffTheDebt.

* ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'': When Priscilla Urzaiz was discovered via a childhood accident to be a rare [[HealingFactor Regenerative]], talent scouts from the MadScientist Allekant Academy turned up and offered her impoverished parents a contract for Priscilla to attend Allekant... under terms that reduced her to a lab rat with no rights. She ran away with her elder sister Irene instead, who was contacted shortly thereafter by Le Wolfe student body president Dirk Eberwein. Eberwein agreed to buy out the contract [[WorkOffTheDebt in exchange for Irene working as his catspaw for the foreseeable future]].
* ''Manga/BlackJack'': This type of extortion is Jack's modus operandi. He charges outrageous fees for his medical services because he's the only one capable of performing them, including from patients who would otherwise die.
* ''Anime/MegaloBox'': Sakuma convinced Mac to become the human test subject for his BES implant [[spoiler:by offering his son private access to a necessary organ replacement surgery. Worse yet, Sakuma didn't even offer it directly to Mac, instead convincing Mac's wife Maya to use her power of attorney to sign Mac up while he was unconscious, essentially using [[AdultFear her fear of losing both her husband and her son]] against her at a vulnerable moment. Mac is, to say the least, not very pleased when he discovers the truth.]]

* In "Literature/TheGooseGirl", the princess promises the maidservant that she will not tell the truth in order to save her life.

* In "Literature/TheNixInTheMillPond", the titular water sprite offers a poor man money in exchange for the youngest thing on his property. He assumes that a stray cat must have given birth, or some bird's egg has hatched, only to go home to find that his wife has had a baby.

* Apollo accepts Kristoph's offer of employment and housing in ''Fanfic/DirtySympathy'' despite knowing something was extremely fishy because he was going to be kicked out of his student dorm and end up homeless.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' has a {{Revenge}} variant. Inigo Montoya has confronted the man who killed his father and has him at swordpoint. Knowing the man's cowardice, he makes a series of increasing demands as a condition of sparing Rugen's life. Of course, what he really wants is impossible, and he never had any intention of actually making a bargain.
--> '''Inigo:''' Offer me money.\\
'''Count Rugen:''' Yes!\\
'''Inigo:''' Power, too! Promise me that.\\
'''Count Rugen:''' All that I have and more. Please...\\
'''Inigo:''' Offer me anything I ask for!\\
'''Count Rugen:''' Anything you want...\\
'''Inigo:''' ''(Stabs him)'' I want my father back, you son of a bitch!
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', Rapunzel gets Flynn to agree to guide her to Corona with the promise of giving back the tiara he stole, while she has him tied up and is threatening him with violence. Unsurprisingly, he tries to weasel out any way he can except foregoing the tiara.
* An unintentional version happens in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. Anna gets Kristoff to agree to take her up the mountain to find Elsa by promising him compensation and supplies. Along the way, his sled (the basis of his livelihood) is destroyed. While Kristoff pretty obviously wants to call the whole thing off, he can't because he knows that if Anna dies while searching for Elsa, he'll never get the replacement sled she promises him.

* In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader lands troops on Cloud City and forces Lando to betray Han and Leia in exchange for the freedom of his city. However, Vader repeatedly altered the deal, and told Lando to "-pray I do not alter it further." Lando ultimately realizes Vader has no intention of keeping his word and helps Leia and company escape.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', Imelda does this, whether intentionally or not, to her great-great-grandson Miguel. As a human in the Mexican land of the dead, Miguel needs the blessing of a family member to return home, or else he'll end up becoming a permanent resident. Since the family member in question has the right to impose conditions for the blessing, Imelda insists that Miguel promise to give up on becoming a musician in exchange for her blessing. Because of that, Miguel ends up deciding to find Imelda's husband, his musician ancestor, and get his blessing instead so that he won't have to accept the condition. [[spoiler:After seeing the error of her ways, Imelda decides not to impose any conditions on Miguel, instead asking him to never forget his family.]]

* The majority of the plot of ''Film/StrokerAce'' revolves around Clyde Torkle's sponsorship contract with Ace and his racing team, which goes past enforcing the typical issues of ProductPlacement and enters the realm of sadistic, petty bullying, with the most important clause being that if Ace just goes and quits, he will be banned from racing for three years. The result is that Ace spends the entire film enduring Torkle's {{Jerkass}} orders while trying to force Torkle to ''fire'' him, which would void the banning clause.
* Mentioned and subverted in the film versions of ''Film/TheHobbit''. Thorin and his company of Dwarves arrive at Lake Town, having lost all of their weapons and provisions, and agree to share the Dragon's treasure with the town's citizens in exchange for supplies. They wind up failing to kill the Dragon, instead just pissing it off and letting it loose on the very people who helped them. When the people of Lake Town wind up killing the Smaug themselves and show up demanding their share of the treasure, Thorin blows them off, arguing that their agreement was ultimately this. The people of Lake Town didn't offer to help them out of the goodness of their hearts, only because they wanted treasure, and Thorin had no choice but to agree because he was starving. [[JerkassHasAPoint While Thorin's not entirely wrong,]] the story also makes it clear that this is a transparently flimsy excuse and he just wants to keep the treasure out of pure greed.

* As noted in the Film folder, Inigo presents one of these to Count Rugen in ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'', but has no intention of actually making a bargain because he only wants one thing - which is impossible to get.

* In Literature/TheBible, a starving Esau sells his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for some stew. This, however, is viewed by many as an example of how little he valued it, since they were at their home camp when the deal was made.

* In Creator/GKChesterton's "[[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500421h.html#c05 The Unmentionable Man]]", in ''The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond'', this is alluded to with a story of someone who is stuck on a spike, and someone else extorting money for use of a ladder to get the person down; this is a clue to the man's identity.

* In ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', Bishop Aringarosa tries to get a pilot to change landings to a different country, which is in violation of customs. When he offers the pilot one of the bearer bonds, worth about 10,000 Euros, the pilot only sees it as a piece of paper. However, the pilot is very interested in the Bishop's ring...
* In the ChivalricRomance ''Roswall And Lillian'', Roswall promises to never reveal his true birth to save his life.
* In ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', Luigi Vampa and his men take Danglars prisoner and deprive him of any food except for what he buys from them at astronomical prices. This was, of course, masterminded by the Count as a means of separating Danglars from his ill-gotten wealth.
* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'' competing rescue parties on the Moon attempt to force a stranded party into one, forcing the survivors to either accept the low bid ''or die on the lunar surface''.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/OrdealInOtherwhere'', the Free Trader tells the colonists that he had fine young men under [[MadeASlave indefinite term labor contracts]] because he had been able to recruit the desperate in a refugee camp. He then gets Charis to sign one because she's a prisoner in the hands of religious fanatics.
* Brought up in ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}'' by the Confederate leader, [[WorthyOpponent Colonel Geptun]]. He argues that the treaty he's signing (surrendering his Confederate garrison to the Republic) is worthless because it was signed under duress. Mace Windu, being [[DeadpanSnarker himself]], retorts that ''of course'' it is, that's what makes it surrender in the first place. Fortunately, Geptun was merely being disagreeable for its own sake and goes through with the surrender amicably. (Although he's not the only one with an opinion on the matter...)
* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', any oath sworn by a practitioner acts as a MagicallyBindingContract, and dealing with various supernatural creatures is the standard method of gaining power. Powerful practitioners, though, tend to favor deals that are more one-sided, capturing Others and bargaining with them in exchange for freedom or solace, and powerful Others also tend to adopt this method.
* In the ''Literature/HushHush'' series, while a Nephilim is the one who actually says the oath of fealty putting him or herself in the service (essentially slavery) of a fallen angel, it's shown that the fallen angels always get their way by torturing them (they can use their powers to force Nephil over sixteen and at one point it's mentioned that several stab and beat up one who is under sixteen to make him agree).
* Averted in the political thriller ''Rules of Engagement''. An English harbour town has been sealed off for military reasons as WorldWarIII appears imminent, but a lawyer arranges for the families of wealthy businessmen to leave on a ship. He notes that if he just made a flat demand for money, he'd never do business with these people again if war didn't break out, so he agrees to manage their business interests while they are away, earning a high percentage in exchange for taking the risk of being nuked.
* ''Literature/SevenYearsAwesomeLuck'': Jacqueline is desperate enough to save her unborn child that she accepts the potion to do so before finding out the cost. In fairness, lacking experience of magic, she couldn't have expected that the witch would ask for her firstborn son to become the witch's familiar in exchange. By that time, though, it's too late to back out; the potion has been drunk, and the witch makes it clear that denying her payment would end badly.

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Nulso Xialin implies that he had little choice in becoming an ordercrafter, "Order cares not if the contract is Leonine" but Eric retorts that everyone has a choice and he threw his away. For context, Nulso is trying to steal something that could prevent the worst condition of his contract, and Eric was hired to protect it.
* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': The nobles who swore fealty to Galbatorix simply did so because he would kill them otherwise.
* ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}:'' In the prologue, Vasher breaks into the God-King's dungeons to get the captured rebel Vahr a deal: Either Vahr gives up his stockpile of Breath to Vasher in exchange for a quick death; or Vasher leaves, the God-King's torturers continue their work on Vahr, and eventually he'll crack and give up the Breath to the very people he collected it to fight in the first place.
* ''Literature/JohannesCabalTheNecromancer'': If you've signed your soul away in a contract with {{Hell}}, it doesn't matter if you don't understand the terms, if you don't realize you're signing a contract, or if the VillainProtagonist is prepared to blow your daughter's brain out if you don't sign within fifteen seconds. In any case, as {{Satan}} reminds Johannes, [[EvilLawyerJoke Hell has all the lawyers]].

* Occasionally referenced by the presenters on ''Series/TopGearUK'': when a presenter's vehicle inevitably breaks down in an awkward place (like while [[AmphibiousAutomobile floating in a harbor]]), another might jokingly offer to tow them to safety for a million quid, if they don't [[WithFriendsLikeThese just abandon them]].

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] by The Roommate Agreement in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''. It ''appears'' to be this, but with one important exception: Leonard could walk away at any time, and there is absolutely nothing Sheldon could do about it legally. (Emotionally, on the other hand...)
** Leonard tends to run afoul of obscure clauses that must have seemed ludicrously unlikely to ever occur ("If you ever get superpowers, I get to be your sidekick"), and when they turn out to be not as unlikely as previously believed, Sheldon sometimes offers to amend them if Leonard agrees to concessions involving much more common situations.

* The ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' specialized in this in order to acquire its Dolls. Subverted and lampshaded in an episode where it's pointed out that it's legally impossible to sell yourself into slavery.
* ''Series/SiliconValley'': Piped Piper must accept the investment of Russ Hanneman, who knows that they will go under unless they accept his terms. As such, he gives himself disproportionate power over the company.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has the Reaper [[spoiler:aka Foyet]] enter into one of these with a cop on his case, which comes to an end with the cop dies. It's discussed, as Holt thinks this was the wrong thing to do, and most people are in the middle.
* In ''Series/TheATeam'', this is how Stockwell gets the team to work for him in season 5, with special mention to the fact that he not just took advantage of their desperate situation but ''created'' it in the first place. He has them put on trial for the famous "crime they didn't commit" but then controls the trial from behind the scenes to get the charges against them upgraded from the relatively minor robbery and desertion which would have earned them 20 years in prison, to first degree murder and treason which would earn them a guaranteed death sentence. He then allows them to escape on the condition that they perform a specified number of missions for him, after which they will all receive full presidential pardons.
* One episode of ''Series/AdamTwelve'' involves a black-market adoption racket--sans paperwork--that obtained at least one child through a "bargain" straight out of ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'': We'll help you pay the bills and you give us the child. ''Series/AdamTwelve'' being fiction based on the real world, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome; a friendly lawyer is helping the mother out, and Malloy offers to connect her with other resources.

* In ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'', a Princess with the Charm "Forced Vows Are No Vows" can renegotiate or void a MagicallyBindingContract. As the Charm's name implies, the main purpose of this Charm is to deal with oaths that are leonine or otherwise grossly unfair.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'', the Devil forces Chode into selling his soul in exchange for rescuing his ship from four simultaneous black holes that have suspiciously appeared out of nowhere. His crew travels in time to hire the legendary lawyer Webster who defeated him in the past, but end up with the kid actor who played television's Series/{{Webster}} instead. Being used to dealing with agents and lawyers, the kid rapidly found a major loophole in the contract, claiming the deal was signed under duress. The Devil denies duress, blurting out that there were no real black holes, thus dooming his case as he never filled ''his'' side of the agreement. Chode walked away Scott-free.

* Much like the aforementioned ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' example, [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Bill Cipher]] of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' pulls this on Dipper in the episode "Sock Opera". He tries to make a [[DealWithTheDevil deal]] with Dipper for information on the password to unlock a laptop. Dipper ''doesn't'' immediately agree, because he's too smart for that. However, Bill later returns to try and make a deal again, and the second time around Dipper's facing a laptop that will delete all its data in five minutes unless he enters the correct password. [[spoiler:Bill offers Dipper a "hint" in exchange for a "puppet". Glancing at some nearby sock puppets, Dipper agrees... and Bill uses ExactWords to both take Dipper as his [[DemonicPossession "puppet"]] and to outright destroy the laptop. Technically the insides of the laptop did contain a hint (just not the hint Bill implied he was offering).]]

* Mocked in ''Webcomic/TroopsOfDoom'', when the leader of the [[StarWars Imperials]] is charged 50 grand each for a grenade by the leader of the mercenary union because she is in the middle of a firefight and cannot get out alive without them. Also, said leader wasn't particularly happy with [[TheDogBitesBack her disrespect for the union building's neutrality rules]].

* In ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndEmerald'', when Sora was discovered as a child to have massive potential as a hero, the Heroics Commission gave an offer to Hawks' mother, Kiyome. The Commission would pay for all of their living expenses and Sora's schooling in exchange for them training Sora to be a pro-hero and Sora having to follow their orders once he becomes one. Kiyome had no other choice due to them living in poverty as Kiyome has difficulty finding work as a single mother of a young child. Kiyome's parents disowned her and her in-laws despise her so she has no help from her family. Hawks was railroaded into becoming a pro-hero with his mother frequently clashing with the Heroics Commission in his defense. While initially Sora is trained gently, Kiyome would intervene if the Commission would push Sora too hard. She wasn't always successful. Hawks recounts a handler beating him in front of his mother to show that she's ultimately powerless and the Commission makes the decisions.

* One of the sample adventures for the kids-oriented roleplaying game "A Faery's Tale" challenges the player characters to explain to NPCs why this is a ridiculous idea, in order to save the princess - who has previously offered "a boon" to a nasty goblin in return for giving her a missing ball back - from having to marry him after he argued that a nonspecific boon should mean he's entitled to ask her to (everyone understands that this is outrageous even within the context of the setting, but it's up to the heroes to resolve the situation peacefully).

* One episode of ''Series/AdamTwelve'' involves a black-market adoption racket--sans paperwork--that obtained at least one child through a "bargain" straight out of ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'': We'll help you pay the bills and you give us the child. ''Series/AdamTwelve'' being fiction based on the real world, RealityEnsues; a friendly lawyer is helping the mother out, and Malloy offers to connect her with other resources.

*** It should be noted, however, than since said taxes (which are mostly income) are much higher in Europe than the U.S., being as high as nearly ''70%'' in Denmark, and the healthcare you're forced to pay for is publicly provided, making it poor and inefficient, bankruptcies are more common there and hospital visits invoke this trope as well.

* "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}" and [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/other.html its variants]]: the girl will be killed if she doesn't get his help, which gives her no way to haggle when he demands her child.
** In comparison, the heroine of ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/stories/3spinners.html The Three Spinners]]'' and ''Literature/TheThreeAunts'' is in much the same situation, but the spinners only ask for [[HonoraryUncle Honorary Aunt]] status and an invitation to the wedding.
* In ''Literature/TheGooseGirl'', the princess promises the maidservant that she will not tell the truth in order to save her life.
* Subverted in the Swahili folktale "[[https://books.google.com/books?id=J1ifAMBTDmIC&pg=PA342&lpg=PA342&dq=a+woman+for+a+hundred+cattle&source=bl&ots=jASh_8dZ5n&sig=yxGIEW-YeePtEvmaeYiM_sj_XXk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6rcCPkpbKAhWKcD4KHWLxC0gQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=a%20woman%20for%20a%20hundred%20cattle&f=false A Woman for a Hundred Cattle]]". The poor wife agrees to have an affair with her StalkerWithACrush if he brings her meat because her father is coming to visit and she feels ashamed of having nothing to offer him. She ends up serving the meal to her father, her husband, and the stalker (who [[EvilIsPetty stopped by as a guest]]) and points out how each of the men are fools. Her father is one for marrying his only daughter into a life of poverty for a relatively small dowry (the one hundred cattle) while her husband is one for marrying a woman who cost him all he had and condemned them both to said life of poverty. The stalker she names as one because "you wanted to get with a single quarter of beef what has been bought for a hundred cattle", which frightens the stalker into running away and never trying to collect on their agreement.