There was once a miracle in a remote realm amid misty forests and beautiful hills. It was a baby girl with hair that sparkled like sunlight and eyes that were as brilliant as spring. The compassionate king and queen gave her the name Rapunzel. They cried tears of delight because she had come after years of hoping and wanting her to come.
But happiness can also bring forth the dark.
One night, when the stars were hidden behind clouds and there was no moon, a formidable witch named Mother Gothel came to the castle gates. She had once given the queen a potion made from a rare herb called rapunzel to help her through a hard pregnancy. In exchange, she asked for the child, which she said was hers.
Her spell was too strong for the guards to stop. Gothel disappeared into the woods, clutching the infant in her arms, as the wind blew and the leaves whispered.
She thought she needed Rapunzel’s power to stay young and pretty. But what she was actually afraid about was losing her grip on something so clean and bright.
The Tower in the Trees
Gothel brought Rapunzel up in the woods, where no one could see her. There were no stairs or doors in the towering stone tower she created. There was only one arched window at the top. Rapunzel grew up there and never knew she was a princess. She never saw the sky from the earth.
There were remnants of the miraculous herb in her hair, which was longer than any other girl’s in the kingdom. It shone with golden light when she sang, and it could cure wounds, ease suffering, and even undo the damage time had done. Gothel used it to keep young.
Rapunzel, on the other hand, didn’t know how powerful her hair was. She just knew that singing made her feel better, less alone, and like the walls of the tower were gone and her voice could reach the stars.
She painted and listened to music all day, put flowers in her hair, and talked to her best friends: Whiskers the shy rabbit, Feather the bluebird who loved lullabies, and Fluffy the squirrel who constantly got her braids twisted.
Still, she felt pain in her heart. She would lean out the window, her hair falling like a golden river, and ask, “Is there more than this?” Is there anyone out there who cares about me?
The First Voice
A young prince named Elian rode through the trees one afternoon when the sun shone through the leaves. He wasn’t hunting creatures or chasing glory. He was listening to a music.
A voice, light as the wind yet full of pain and desire, floated across the trees. He was so fascinated that he got off and pursued it on foot, struggling over thorns and twisting vines. Finally, he saw the tower, which was motionless and covered with ivy.
He looked up and gasped.
A girl stood there, framed by her golden hair and the bright sun. She sang with her eyes closed, and her voice made dreams come to life.
He softly said, “Hello?”
Rapunzel was shocked, and her song stopped. She muttered, “You’re not Mother Gothel,” half in terror and half in awe.
The prince answered, “I’m not,” and put a hand on his heart. “Elian is my name. I heard your voice and had to find out where it originated from.
A Hidden Friendship
Elian went back to the tower every day after that. They talked through the window, telling each other stories. His were about faraway places and castle gardens, and hers were about animals, stars, and the bizarre dreams that sometimes felt like memories.
She asked things that no one had ever answered before, such “What does rain feel like on your skin?” “How does it feel to walk where trees don’t grow?” “Do people ever live without being afraid?”
He listened, though. Really paid attention. He gave her books, watercolours, and pieces of silk. They started making a rope ladder together, but slowly and in secrecy.
And every day, something deeper started to grow. A friendship based on curiosity, laughter, and something else—something warm, calm, and full of hope.
The Betrayal
But secrets have a way of getting out.
Gothel climbed the tower one night using Rapunzel’s hair, and the girl moaned in a dreamy way. She whispered, “You’re heavier than Elian.”
Gothel stopped moving. “Who?” she snarled, her voice shrill and frigid.
Rapunzel tried to take it back when she realised she had made a mistake, but it was too late.
Gothel was so angry that she cut off Rapunzel’s golden strand and cast a wicked spell that sent her to a faraway desert where the ground broke under her feet and the stars were too far away.
Gothel was waiting in the tower the same night when Elian arrived. She let the braid hang down to get him to climb up.
She said with a sneer, “Are you looking for your songbird?” Then, with a wave of her hand, she broke the floor under him.
Elian fell into a bed of vines with thorns. His eyes hurt as he woke up. The world was dark.
He couldn’t see.
And Rapunzel was no longer there.
Years of Silence
The desert was nasty.
Rapunzel walked over its endless dunes, her feet sore and her heart broken. But there was something inside her that wouldn’t shatter. She built a home in caves, learnt how to stay alive, and sung every night under the stars. Not to call up magic, but to remember who she was.
Elian also went around, far away, blind, and alone. He listened for her singing in every wind and longed for her in every silence.
Each of them had a bit of the other. Hope was the only thing that could not break between them.
A Gathering of Light
Rapunzel was humming an old song one day in a calm meadow where daisies grew. Her voice, which was broken but clear, resonated in the air.
A man who was close by stopped walking. He slowly turned his head. His heart raced. He couldn’t breathe.
He muttered, “Rapunzel?”
She stopped. That sound. It couldn’t be.
“Elian?” She ran towards the sound and wept. “Is it really you?”
They met in the middle of a field. They had both changed and were both damaged, yet they were still complete. She fell on her knees and cried, and he touched her cheek.
“I can’t see you,” he replied, “but I’ve dreamed about you every day.”
A warm golden glow appeared as her tears fell on his face. The power in her, which had been hidden for a long time, rose up again. This time it wasn’t a present for Gothel, but a gift of love.
Her hands were full of light. His eyes sparkled, and slowly he saw.
Her smile was the first thing he saw.
Finally Home
Elian brought Rapunzel back to his country, where his mother, the queen, gasped when she saw her cousin, the lost princess, who had been thought dead for a long time.
The gates of the fortress swung wide open. People cheered. For days, bells sounded.
Rapunzel didn’t need a crown to feel whole. She had discovered her voice, her independence, and someone who had waited for her even when it was dark.
She and Elian got married under a sky full with lanterns, each one conveying a wish into the night.
But Happily Ever After Didn’t Mean Stopping
Rapunzel never went back to the tower. But she did make a treehouse in the palace gardens. It was high up, with big windows and wild vines.
She taught kids how to read and sing. She asked artists, dancers, and dreamers who were lost to come and make things.
She forgave what was taken from her, but she never forgot it. She used her voice to heal herself and to help others find their own.
She was no longer just a girl with extraordinary hair.
She was the queen of giving people second opportunities.
A Soft Goodnight
And now, my dreamer, as Rapunzel’s story comes to an end…
Think about it:
What would you have done if you were stuck in a tower?
What helped Rapunzel get through her loneliness and get stronger?
What makes love and friendship strong, even when people are far away?
Close your eyes and let yourself drift into your own magical dreams, where you can climb buildings, light can come back, and every brave heart finds its way home.
The end.
