In a land where magic grows lush and secrets hide behind high walls, a selfish witch jealously guards a garden of extraordinary abundance. But when a humble young couple dares to seek a share of its bounty, they set off a chain of events that will change their lives forever. Join the adventure of Rapunzel, a girl born of a forbidden promise, as she faces captivity, dreams of freedom, and discovers a love that will unlock the deepest magic of all.
Rapunzel
Once upon a time, there was a witch. She was selfish and mean and spiteful. She didn’t like anyone or anything, and she especially didn’t like cheerful, happy people. She didn’t like it when they laughed or sang, she didn’t like it when children played, and most of all, what she absolutely hated was people who were in love with each other. Happy couples—they were just the worst.
The one thing the witch didn’t hate was her garden. It was a lush green jungle of enormous and perfectly formed fruits and vegetables, surrounded by a high wall. Great spiraling towers of crisp, sweet runner beans; sprawling vines rich with pumpkins and cucumbers; trees overflowing with juicy apples and plums. The garden was her pride and joy, and she used her magic to pull all the goodness from the soil for miles around to magically ripen the food and make it plump and delicious.
Near to the witch lived a young couple. They had a garden of their own and worked hard to tend to it, but the witch’s magic was draining their land of every bit of nourishment, and they could barely grow a bean. The man begged the witch for help, but she would not share, even though she had far more than she could ever eat alone.
So one night, the man climbed the wall to steal a single juicy lettuce—his wife’s favorite. But as he plucked the lettuce from the ground, a bolt of lightning lit the garden, and the witch stood before him with a thunderous look on her face.
“You would steal from me?” she roared. He fell to his knees and begged for help.
The witch thought for a moment and said, “Fine. You may take as much food as you need from the garden. But… nothing in this world comes for free. In return for saving your life, you will promise me your firstborn child.”
The man quickly agreed before snatching the lettuce and running home to his wife. He knew they needed the food, and he would worry about the promise later.
Well, later came sooner than he thought, and before long, the woman had a beautiful golden-haired baby girl, and they named her Rapunzel. They were so happy, and the man thought his promise to the witch had been forgotten, but no sooner than the baby turned one, the witch stole her away in the night and locked her up in a tall tower.
Rapunzel’s life was boring, and she had little to do. She drew, she read books, she even learned to cook, but most of all, she liked to sing. Of course, the witch hated it, so Rapunzel made sure she only sang while the witch was away, which was most of the time.
One day, a prince passed by the tower. He heard sweet singing and stopped to find where it came from. Spying the tower, he tried to find the door but couldn’t. He tried to climb the tower but couldn’t. He could see the window at the top and knew that the source of the beautiful music was inside, so he stayed and listened for a while.
He watched, hidden, as the witch returned and the singing stopped. The witch called out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” and a braid of gleaming golden hair tumbled from the window. The witch grabbed hold and was raised up to the window and disappeared inside.
The prince watched and waited for the witch to leave again. Straight away, he went to the bottom of the tower and called out the words, and the golden rope of hair was once again tossed to the ground. His heart beating in anticipation, he climbed to the top and came face to face with Rapunzel.
She was shocked. No one but the witch had ever climbed her hair to the tower. But she looked into the eyes of the prince and saw the kindness and the hope there, and she dared to dream of freedom and happiness. The prince looked into Rapunzel’s eyes, and he knew his life would never be complete without her by his side.
For a whole year, the prince would visit Rapunzel in her tower. He would tell stories of the world that he had explored, and she would sing for him. He even taught her some new songs, songs from distant lands. She told him how eating from the witch’s magical garden her whole life had made her magical hair so long and so strong. But the prince never stayed long, for fear that the witch would find out and hurt him, or even worse, punish Rapunzel.
One day he watched the witch leave as usual and quickly called to Rapunzel to bring him up. He was excited to show her a gift he had made her. It was a rope ladder he had painstakingly made over the year he had fallen in love with her. He had started making it the day they met, and he had been adding to the length every day until finally it was long enough to reach the ground from her window.
Rapunzel was so happy! They decided they would escape together the very next day.
Rapunzel couldn’t help but sing and dance around her room all that day, and in her happiness, she forgot the time, and the witch returned. The witch heard Rapunzel singing a song from a kingdom far away and knew straight away that it was a song she would have no way of knowing, should never have heard before. She flew into a rage and cut Rapunzel’s hair. She used the severed golden braid to bring them both to the ground, and she dragged Rapunzel away.
The witch took Rapunzel to a distant wasteland and left her there alone, telling her never to return, or she would kill the prince.
In all of her years in the tower, Rapunzel had become part of the magical garden, and without her, it turned sour. The fruit and vegetables rotted away, and the plants turned to thorns and nettles.
The prince saw this and knew straight away that something was wrong, and he climbed the magical hair that remained hanging from the window, wanting to help Rapunzel. As he reached the top and came face to face not with his beloved, but with the witch. She cut the braid, and the prince went tumbling down, scratching his eyes on the thorns and becoming blind.
The prince wandered blind through the land, listening out for Rapunzel’s song, and Rapunzel wandered through the wasteland searching for her prince.
The witch returned to her garden and found that no matter what she did, she could not return it to the paradise it once was. She used up all of her magic to fight back the thorns until she shriveled into a little grey worm and burrowed into the ground, never to be seen again.
Rapunzel and the prince wandered for a year until finally, the prince heard the familiar beautiful singing that he loved so much. He stumbled towards the sound, calling Rapunzel’s name, and fell into her arms.
Her tears of happiness fell freely onto his face, and the last seed of magic from the garden fell with them, instantly healing his sight. Together they returned to the garden where they found happiness like no other. The garden felt its beloved Rapunzel return, and it became lush and fertile again. They knocked the tower to the ground and built a cottage where they spent the rest of their days, singing and dancing to their heart’s content.
Also read: The Gingerbread Man
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