Rapunzel's
story -
The tale of a young woman, who had been imprisoned in a tower by her nasty
stepmother - Danny the Angry - who intended to keep her away from men.
Years passed with little for her to do, but she could read. She
found a way into the loft and discovered a book on growing hair.
Rapunzel already had a thick plait that reached down past her knees.
She liked her hair, but she had recently thought that there were too many
split ends. Any trimming had been impossible, as she had no scissors;
only food and books were ever left for her. She was not allowed
any tools that might have helped her escape. However, she now wondered
just how long her hair might grow, she would keep this book as a secret
from Danny. Rapunzel sang to the birds of the forest and they brought
her special foods, herbs and oils, carefully she groomed, and braided
her hair.
It grew more and more, but she always coiled it up when her stepmother was due to visit. One day Danny asked her how long it was and if she wanted her to trim it, Rapunzel said it was ankle-length, but complained that it was not getting any longer anymore. Danny tried to persuade her that trimming would be good for it, but Rapunzel insisted that she wanted it to be completely natural and uncut.
Time passed
and the plait became so long that it could reach down from the tower.
Sometimes she would sing to the surrounding forest of its beauty and of
her longing for freedom. One day a handsome man was ridding through the
forest, it was Prince Cedric of the Lowentresses. He was many miles from
his home in Longmandy, but he had heard something magical. An enchanting
voice was flowing through the forest and Cedric followed its beauty until
he reached the source. When he saw Rapunzel he could not believe his eyes. Your
hair! he exclaimed. They got chatting about hair, he had read the same
book on it! They talked about the trees, the flowers, her being a pisces,
and also her potential to sing with him, anyway to cut a long story short
although not too short . . .He used to get a lift up to her bedroom via
her hair, and became a regular visitor, until Danny got wind of it. For
two moons he had been camped in the forest. Cedric used to wait for a
raven to bring a message, and then he would go to the tower and call,
saying, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Together they hatched
an escape plan, then he left on a mission to get some ropes from his kingdom,
but within a few days of this, Danny discovered the imprints of a heavy
horse and some large footprints that stopped by the tower.
Rapunzel was
told that she would soon be taken to another tower far away, as she had
been talking to the men of the forest. As her stepmother left she noticed
a fallen hair that was incredibly long and this set her thinking. She
had been wondering about the size of that coiled up plait and had been
sharpening her scissors for ages, just waiting for an excuse to have a
go at it. Often saying, I have my scissors with me. Do you want a trim?
Or that sort of thing, and had even tried to offer bribes of better food.
Now she felt she sure that Rapunzel had been using her hair to lure strange
men to her bedroom. A fateful evening followed.
Rapunzel tried to make her escape before it was too late, she signalled
to a horse that had been left by Cedric - to explain away the hoof-prints.
She tied her ends firmly around the bedpost and clambered down on to the
horse's back. Cedric had also left his scissors behind with her - they
had both recently spent a lot of time on each others split ends, but now
she had to cut her hair, although it still would have reached to her knees.
She hesitated, and suddenly the jealous stepmother appeared, scaring the
horse away, and Rapunzel was left hanging from her plait.
Danny shouted
at her, saying she was going to pull her up by her hair and cut it all
off as punishment for letting a man touch it. She reached into a
bag and cackled as she took out her keys and scissors, they gleamed dangerously
in the moonlight. Rapunzel could hear her climbing the stairs inside
the tower. To run for it she would have to start cutting.
Reaching up, Rapunzel grabbed the plait above her and tried to hold her
weight on that arm. She couldn't do, but then another horse appeared
with Cedric. He lifted her up on board, and held her while she stood
up and positioned the scissors as far up the tower as she could.
She started to cut; the stepmother was heading for the bed. Frantically
she continued to hack at the thick braid and just got all the way through
before Danny pulled on it and fell over. Rapunzel had escaped.
Her hair was still very long and it grew even longer. She had decided
that when it came to haircuts once was enough. Within a few years
she became famous for her music along with her hair. Sometimes she
would put her hair up in a tower shaped hat,
and it would remind her of those first nights in the forest. Danny - the
stepmother had been left with some hair but no Rapunzel. She decided to
have the hair put in as extensions, and she took up singing, although
this didn't have quite the same effect on any passing princes.
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