The Story of Rapunzel

Once upon a time, in a far off land Lived a King and Queen who had three sons They were proud of their fine, handsome princes But when the Queen gave birth to a baby daughter Their happiness was complete They named her Rapunzel And she grew into a beautiful child with long golden hair And sparkling blue eyes The King and Queen loved her dearly So you can imagine their grief when one summer morning Rapunzel disappeared One moment she was lying in her cradle And the next she had gone An old woman with a basket over her arm was seen leaving the palace But although the King and Queen ordered the search of the whole Kingdom There was no sign of the baby girl In actual fact, the old woman was a witch She had hidden Rapunzel in the basket, and she had carried her far away To a cottage in the middle of a dense forest There she kept Rapunzel And looked after her until the girl was sixteen years old Then she built a tall, stone tower And imprisoned Rapunzel in a small room at the very top The tower had no door, and no staircase Just one small window high up at the top When the witch wanted to enter the tower, she would stand at the bottom And cry, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Then Rapunzel would untie her ribbon And let her long golden hair hang out of the window It was so long that it reached all the way to the ground The witch would then climb up Rapunzel's hair and in through the window Although the witch gave Rapunzel food and drink She never let her out of the tower Rapunzel spent her days painting, and sewing But she was very lonely She made friends with the birds of the forest They would fly to the window and Rapunzel would feed them They would sing to her, and Rapunzel would sing back to them In her beautiful voice Now one day, a handsome prince happened to be riding in the forest He heard the sound of Rapunzel's voice and rode nearer But at that moment he saw the witch approaching So he hid among the trees and kept watch "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" cried the witch And the prince gasped in amazement as Rapunzel's hair Came tumbling down like a shower of golden rain And the witch climbed up to the window He stayed hidden until she left And then walked over to the foot of the tower "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" he cried Down fell Rapunzel's hair, and up climbed the prince He had thought Rapunzel's voice was beautiful But the princess herself was even more lovely than he had imagined Rapunzel fell in love with the prince at first sight And when he heard her sad story he was determined to rescue her "I will go and fetch a long rope," he told her "And when I return, I shall help you down, and take you back To your father's palace where we can be married" But the old witch had seen the prince She waited until he had ridden off into the trees Then she climbed up into the tower "So... you thought you could decieve me!" she cried to Rapunzel "You stupid girl, now you will never see your prince again" She took a pair of scissors from her pocket and cut off Rapunzel's hair She cast a spell, and transported the princess to the Darkest, deepest part of the forest Then she sat down to wait for the prince When he returned and called "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" The witch kept tight hold of one end of Rapunzel's hair And threw the other end out of the window The prince began to climb up And when he had almost reached the window, the witch let go of the hair "That's the end of you, my fine prince, ha ha ha!" she cackled "You'll never see your princess again!" Down, down, down fell the prince But he did not fall crashing to the ground, as the witch had hoped Rapunzel's friends, the little birds, saved him Out from the forest they flew, hundreds and hundreds of them They took hold of the prince's clothes, in their tiny beaks And gently lowered him to the ground Then they led him through the dense forest To where Rapunzel was wandering alone Tears of joy ran down her face As she ran into her prince's arms He lifted her gently onto his horse And led her back to her parent's castle How delighted they were, to see their long lost daughter again And how grateful they were to the prince For rescuing her from the wicked witch So the beautiful Rapunzel married her handsome prince And they lived happily ever after