Rapunzel Part 3

Chapter 3

A Singing Voice

By then, Rapunzel’s hair had grown very, very long.  Once the stairs were gone, when it was time for the witch to visit her in the tower, she would call from outside, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel!  Let down your hair!”  

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Rapunzel would throw her long blond braid out of the window.  The witch would grab hold of her hair like a rope.  And that is how the witch climbed up the tower wall to the window in Rapunzel’s room.

Five more long years went by.  Poor Rapunzel!  She knew she must stay in the room.  All she could do was to sing sad songs out of the window.  Sometimes birds at the treetops would join in her songs.  Then she would feel a bit better.  

But not much.

One day, a prince was riding through the woods.  He heard a beautiful singing voice.  Where was it coming from?  He rode closer and closer to the sound.  At last, he came to the tower.  

“This is odd!” he said, looking around the tower wall.  “There is no door at the bottom.  Yet someone is singing at the very top.  How does anyone get in or out of there?”   Each day, the prince came back to the tower.  There was something about that voice that pulled him back.  Who was that young woman singing at the top?  Could he ever meet her?

One day when the prince rode up, he saw an old woman standing below the tower.  He jumped behind a tree to hide.  It was a witch!  He heard her call out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel!  Let down your hair!”  A long blond braid was thrown out from a window at the very top.  The old woman grabbed onto the braid.  And she climbed the wall to the window at the top of the tower.  

“Ah, ha!” said the prince.  “So that is how it is done!” He waited. 

After a bit, the braid was thrown from the window again.  The witch climbed back down the tower wall.  Then she left.  

The prince waited.  He stepped up to the tower.  In a voice that sounded as much like the witch as he could, he called out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel!  Let down your hair!” In a moment, the same long blond braid came out of the window.  “It worked!” thought the prince.  He climbed up the wall of the tower.

You can be sure that Rapunzel was very surprised to see the prince climb into her window. She had never seen a person up close before other than the witch, and never a man! “Who are you?” she said in fear.

“Do not worry!” said the prince. “I am a friend.”

“But I do not know you,” said Rapunzel.

“I feel as if I know you,” said the prince.  “Since I have heard you sing songs from up here day after day.  You have a beautiful voice!  And I love it when the birds sing with you, too.”

“Yes, I like that, too,” said Rapunzel.  “It may be the only thing I like since I must stay here in this same old tower, day after day, my whole life long,” Rapunzel told the prince about the witch.  She told him that since the world was such a very bad place, she must always stay in the tower room.

“But the world is not as bad as she says!” said the prince.  He told Rapunzel about flowers and festivals, games, and gardens.  He told her about puppies and puddles, strawberries, and secrets.

Many hours went by. At last, Rapunzel said he must go - the witch may come back at any time!  “Very well,” said the prince.  “But I will be back tomorrow.”  Rapunzel threw her braid out the window, and the prince climbed down.

The next day, the prince climbed back up to Rapunzel’s room.  He said, “I have a surprise for you.”  He had brought strawberries for her. 

As she tasted a strawberry Rapunzel thought, "Now I know that what I was told is not true.  The world can be a very fine place!  I must get out of this tower as soon as I can."  But how?