Once upon a time there lived a couple in a small cottage just outside the woods.  Their names were Brian and Ashley. The couple had been expecting their first child within the next month and they couldn’t be happier.  One day Ashley had gotten a craving for a salad. Brian had gone to the kitchen to make her one, but he noticed her favorite ingredient, Rapunzel, was absent from their shelves.  Instead of going out to the market and getting more, he decided that he was going to go to his neighbor, the witch,and just take some Rapunzel from her garden. He walked out of his house and made his way to the fence separating the two houses.  He thought about his decision one more time before ultimately deciding to climb. He got to the top and jumped over to the other side. Brian quickly grabbed some Rapunzel and stuffed it into his small knapsack.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the witch shrieked as she stomped out to her garden.

“I’m sorry,” Brian quickly apologized.  “My wife is pregnant and she craved salad, but we didn’t have any Rapunzel.  I figured I could just pop over and get some.” The witch thought it over for a second before she spoke again.

“Very well, you can take the Rapunzel,” the witch said.  “However, I want your baby in return.”

“Absolutely not!” the man exclaimed.  “The Rapunzel isn’t that important! You can have it back!”

“The deed has already been done,” the witch shook her head.  “You’ve already plucked the plant from my garden. Now off with you!”  The man stared at the witch for a moment before jumping the fence and returning to his home.  Brian made his wife the salad but didn’t tell her about what the witch had said. There were no complications for the rest of the wife’s pregnancy and at the end of the month she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  The witch quickly found out about the baby and showed up at the couple’s house the very next day. Ashley had opened the front door and greeted the woman in front of her with a kind smile.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to collect your baby,” the witch said.  

“I’m sorry?” Ashley lightly laughed with a confused look on her face.

“I’m here to collect your baby,” the witch said once again.  Ashley thought the witch’s request was a rather funny one. However, the witch did not show any sign of humor.

“Why would you be here to do that?” Ashley asked.

“Did your husband not tell you?” the witch responded.  Ashley shook her head and the witch continued. “Your husband exchanged his baby for some Rapunzel from my garden.”

“You must be mistaken,” Ashley shook her head.  “Brian would never make a silly deal like that.”

“Why don’t you ask him,” the witch suggested.  Ashley slowly nodded her head and turned her back to the witch for a moment.

“Brian, could you come here,” the confused woman called to her husband.  The man in question walked around the corner and felt his heart drop when he noticed who accompanied his wife at the door.

“Yes?” he questioned.

“Did you trade our baby for some Rapunzel from this woman’s garden?” Ashley asked.

“I didn’t mean to!” he exclaimed.  “It was an accident!”

“How do you accidently trade our baby for Rapunzel?” Ashley hissed.  Even though it was a question, Ashley’s glare encouraged Brian to stay silent.  “There must be something I can do to change your mind.” The witch shook her head and with a snap of her finger, their baby girl had appeared in her arms.  With another snap, both of them were gone. The witch had brought the baby girl to a tower she had hidden deep in the woods. This is where the girl would grow up.

The witch had decided to name the baby girl Rapunzel after the plant that had landed her this child.  As Rapunzel grew up, her hair had rapidly grown with her. By the time she was 16, her blonde hair could reach the bottom of the 60 foot tower.  The witch didn’t live in this tower with Rapunzel. She would come visit Rapunzel using the stairs she installed to the tower. After a few hours, the witch would leave again.   The witch had raised Rapunzel to believe the outside world was evil but the young girl didn’t believe her.

“I still don’t see why I can’t visit the outside world,” Rapunzel complained to the witch during one of her many visits.

“There are dangerous people out there,” the witch told Rapunzel.  “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Rapunzel scoffed.

“We’re done talking about this,” the witch tried to end the conversation.  She walked to the door that led to the stairs.

“You know I could just walk out when you’re gone!” Rapunzel snapped.

“We’ll see about that,” the witch laughed before exiting the tower.  At the bottom of the tower, the witch snapped her fingers and the stairs had disappeared.

From that day on, the witch would always climb the tower using Rapunzel’s hair.  She would call out the same phrase.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” the witch had called from the bottom of the tower.  Rapunzel let out a heavy sigh as she gathered her hair and threw it over the windowsill. She patiently stayed by the window as the witch climbed her hair to the top of the tower.  Her mother had been using Rapunzel’s hair to climb the tower for the past few months and Rapunzel was growing tired of it.

“Mother, I don’t see why you can’t just put the stairs back,” Rapunzel sighed as the witch arrived at the top of the tower.

“I can’t have you escaping from me,” the witch said.  Rapunzel simply sighed once again and hung around the witch for the few hours she was in the tower.  When their time had ended, Rapunzel threw her hair over the windowsill and the witch left the tower. When the witch left the tower.  Rapunzel pulled her hair back up and began searching for some scissors. She was fed up with her mother forbidding her from leaving, so she chopped her hair off.  When she was through with the scissors, her beautiful blonde hair was cut to her shoulders.

Unbeknownst to both the witch and Rapunzel, there was a spectator when the witch had arrived that morning.  Cass, a princess from a nearby kingdom, had been exploring the forest when she came across Rapunzel’s tower.  The princess had been observing the tower when she heard footsteps approaching. She hid in a bush as the witch called out to Rapunzel and Rapunzel’s golden locks were thrown out the window.  When the witch had left, Cass came out of her hiding spot and decided to call out to the girl.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” she yelled out.

“No can do,” Rapunzel yelled out.  “I chopped my hair off.”

“Why would you do that?” Cass shouted back up.

“I was tired of my mother telling me I can’t leave the tower,” Rapunzel responded.

“Did you want to leave?” Cass asked.

“Yes!” Rapunzel exclaimed.  “I want to explore the world!”

“I can take you,” Cass offered.

“How?” Rapunzel cried.  “I can’t escape this tower!”

“I have some rope,” Cass offered.  “If you’ll allow me to, I can come up and throw the rope down for you to escape.”

“But how will you get up?” The blonde asked.  “I can’t pull you up. I don’t have my long hair.”  Cass held up some climbing tools and shot the blonde a grin.  The blonde hesitantly nodded her head and asked Cass to promise her something.  “Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Of course!” Cass smiled.  After shooting another grin at Rapunzel, Cass began her climb.  It took her a few minutes but she eventually reached the top. Cass heaved herself over the windowsill and shot Rapunzel another smile.  “Hey! I’m Cass.” The dark haired girl threw out her hand for Rapunzel to shake. Rapunzel hesitantly took her hand with a small smile.

“I’m Rapunzel.”

“I figured that much,” Cass laughed.  “Now, let’s get you out of this tower!”  Cass found a sturdy pipe to tie the rope to and she threw the line out the window.  “I’ll go first so I can catch you if you fall.” Cass gave Rapunzel a warm smile and the blond girl felt a blush creep up her neck.  With one last glance, Cass climbed back down the tower using the rope. As her feet hit the soft dirt, she looked up at Rapunzel and waited for the blonde to climb down.  Rapunzel was fine for the first minute, but when she was about 10 feet from the ground, she lost her grip. Rapunzel began plummeting to the ground but she was quickly caught by Cass.

“Thank you,” Rapunzel smiled at her as she was set back on her feet.

“No problem,” the dark haired girl waved it off.  “So where do you plan on staying?” Rapunzel began thinking for a minute before she let out a small chuckle.

“To be honest, I’ve never thought that far ahead,” Rapunzel began to wrack her brain for a solution when Cass spoke again.

“You could probably come stay with me,” Cass suggested.

“Really?” the blonde exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Cass nodded.  “My home has more rooms than my parents know what to do with.”

“Thank you!” Rapunzel yelled out.  She threw her arms around Cass’ neck and hugged her.  The dark haired girl felt a blush creep on to her cheeks as she slowly wrapped her arms around Rapunzel.

After that encounter, Rapunzel had begun to stay in the castle and the blonde haired girl began to get closer to Cass.  Eventually the two girls started to harbor a crush on one another and after a year of knowing each other, Cass asked Rapunzel to be her girlfriend.  She said yes and all was good in the kingdom. That is until the witch showed up at a party she wasn’t invited to.

“You are coming with me!” The witch exclaimed to Rapunzel.

“No mother, I’m not going back to that tower,” the blonde girl responded.

“Why did you keep her in that tower anyway?” Cass questioned

“Her father took some rapunzel from my garden, so I took his baby,” the witch explained.

“You took someone’s baby because they took a plant from your garden?” Cass question.

“Now that you say it out loud it’s kind of silly,” the witch stated.

“Why don’t I just provide you with money to replace your rapunzel,” The dark haired girl suggested.

“That could work,” the witch nodded her head.  

After the witch got her money, she never bothered Rapunzel again.  After dating for two years, Cass asked Rapunzel to marry her. She said yes, and everything was finally right with the kingdom.