Imagine a garden, a very special garden, and next to it, a little house. Inside lived a kind man and his wife. They wished for a baby more than anything in the world.

One day, the wife looked out her window into the garden next door. Oh! She saw the most wonderful green plants. They were called rampion, and they looked so yummy! "I must have some of those rampion!" she told her husband. "If I don't eat them, I think I'll just feel terribly unwell!"

Her husband loved her very much. "But that garden," he worried, "belongs to a grumpy old woman named Dame Gothel. Some say she knows magic!"
But his wife looked so sad, so that night, he bravely climbed over the wall, quickly picked a handful of rampion, and hurried back. His wife ate them all up. "Delicious!" she sighed.

The next day, she wanted even more. "Please," she begged, "just a little more!"
So, her husband climbed the wall again. But this time – oh dear! – Dame Gothel was standing right there, looking very cross.
"Aha!" she said. "Stealing my rampion, are you?"
The man was so scared. "Please," he stammered, "my wife really wanted some."
Dame Gothel’s eyes twinkled, but not in a friendly way. "Alright," she said. "You can take all the rampion you want. But, when your baby is born, you must give it to me."
The poor man was so frightened, he agreed.

Soon, a beautiful baby girl was born. Just as she had promised, Dame Gothel came and took the baby away. She named the baby Rapunzel, after the plants her mother had craved.

Dame Gothel kept Rapunzel hidden. When Rapunzel turned twelve, Dame Gothel locked her in a tall, tall tower in the middle of a forest. The tower had no door and no stairs, only one tiny window at the very top.
Rapunzel grew up to have long, beautiful hair, as shiny as gold. When Dame Gothel wanted to visit, she would stand at the bottom of the tower and call out: "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"
Rapunzel would wrap her long braids around a hook by the window and let them tumble all the way down. Then Dame Gothel would climb up the hair like a rope.

One day, a prince was riding through the forest. He heard the most beautiful singing. It was Rapunzel! He peeked through the trees and saw Dame Gothel call out and climb the golden hair. "My goodness!" he thought. "What a clever way to get up!"
The next evening, when it was getting dark, the prince went to the tower and called, just as he'd heard Dame Gothel do: "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"
Down came the long, golden braids, and the prince climbed up.
Rapunzel was a bit surprised at first, but the prince was kind and gentle. They talked and laughed, and soon they became good friends. The prince visited her every evening, and they fell in love.
"We need a way for you to escape," said the prince. "Every time I come, I'll bring a piece of silk. You can weave it into a ladder."

But one day, Rapunzel made a mistake. She said to Dame Gothel, without thinking, "Goodness, Mother Gothel, you are so much heavier to pull up than the young prince!"
"What?!" shrieked Dame Gothel. Her face turned red with anger. "You sneaky girl! You've tricked me!"
Snip, snap! She grabbed a big pair of scissors and cut off all of Rapunzel's beautiful long hair. Then, she took poor Rapunzel far, far away to a lonely, wild place, and left her there all by herself.

That evening, when the prince called, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Dame Gothel tied Rapunzel's cut braids to the window hook and let them down.
The prince climbed up, expecting to see his dear Rapunzel. But instead, he found Dame Gothel, looking very wicked!
"She's gone!" cackled Dame Gothel. "The little bird has flown from her nest, and you'll never see her again!"
The prince was so heartbroken and scared that he leaped from the tower window. He didn't die, but he fell into a bush full of sharp thorns. The thorns poked his eyes, and he couldn't see anymore.

For years, the blind prince wandered through the world, sad and alone, eating only berries and roots. He missed Rapunzel terribly.
One day, he wandered into the wild place where Rapunzel had been left. He heard a sweet, familiar voice singing a sad song. He followed the sound.
"Rapunzel?" he called out.
It was her! Rapunzel saw him and ran to him, crying with joy. She was living there with twin babies, a boy and a girl, who were his children too!
Two of her happy tears fell onto the prince's eyes. And like magic, he could see again! He saw Rapunzel, more beautiful than ever, and their two lovely children.

The prince took Rapunzel and their children back to his kingdom. They had a big celebration, and everyone was overjoyed. And they all lived happily and full of cheer for many, many years.

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