The Tower

A dark and disturbing Rapunzel story

The Tower

Once there was a Prince whose father was very sick and would soon die. As this Prince would become the next king, he thought it best to find a wife to be his future Queen. He started meeting with beautiful Princesses of foreign lands, the educated noblewomen of his own kingdom, and even a few good looking commoners that had managed to put in a good word for themselves. Still, no matter how many women he interviewed, he didn’t think any of them would make a suitable Queen.

He’d nearly resigned himself to the idea of ruling alone, when one day he heard the palace staff whispering about a myth in the kingdom. It was a story about a girl with long beautiful hair, and he became intrigued, asking for more information. The female servants giggled with glee and began to tell the Prince the story of poor Rapunzel. She’d been kidnapped by the old witch Mother Gothel as a baby, and forced to live in a secluded tower, completely ignorant of the world around her and desperately lonely for human companionship. The only thing she could do to entertain herself was grow out her luxurious hair to an impossible length and brush it everyday. They went on to explain to him that, rumor had it, if someone could find this tower they had only to call to the girl to let down her hair, and she would gladly let them climb up it and into the tower to keep her company. 

After this, the female servants rushed off to finish their chores, leaving only the fascinated Prince and one male servant behind. The Prince was rather close to this servant, and confided in him that he wished to find this girl and make her his Queen. (In truth, someone who’d never left a locked tower and didn’t know anything about the kingdom would probably be the worst choice for a Queen, but in the Prince’s heart he was secretly thrilled by the idea of someone who’d never given a thought to another man and would love only him.)

When the servant shook his head disapprovingly, the Prince thought it was because this “Rapunzel” was only a myth circulating amongst the common folk, but on the contrary he looked quite grim. He told the Prince that this tower business was a dangerous idea. He said that the legend had been around since before the Prince was born, and many love struck men in the kingdom had set off to find the girl over the years, some of them his own kin. He said once they left, none of them had ever been seen again, and he asked the Prince, for the good of the kingdom, to please forget what he had heard. 

When he saw how shaken his servant was, the Prince calmly said that he’d forget every word, but his fingers were crossed behind his back. In truth, the element of danger excited the Prince even more. It presented a new challenge, something he could succeed at whereas all others had failed.

So the next day, the Prince saddled up his horse early in the morning and rode through the kingdom. He traveled along every well known road, and lesser taken paths, and rode by the shore, and through towns, and through the woods. He lost track of all the time he’d spent searching for this tower, but in truth it had turned into days, bordering on weeks. The capital had been in quite a stir with it’s prince missing, and had sent several guards to go and find him. Although he hadn’t encountered any yet, he assumed they were on the prowl, and was anxious to wrap up this search before he was discovered and dragged back home.

Finally, when his provisions had run out, he stopped at a small stream to replenish his water. The water pouring into the stream was gushing down a large rock formation, and in observing it, he noticed an opening in the rocks behind the water. It looked just wide enough for him to squeeze himself through if he walked sideways. Looking through the water that ran over the crack, he could see that behind these rocks there were trees and an open area, not just more rocks.

So he waded through the water and forced himself through the opening. The water beat down on his head and by the time he came out on the other side he was completely drenched. But he hardly even noticed because the great stone tower that rose majestically a few hundred yards in front of him had grabbed all of his attention. It was beautifully built, like a turret off of his own castle, except perfectly circular and much higher. The stones it was made from were gleaming white and perfectly laid.

The Prince’s fingers trembled a little in anticipation as he shook some of the water off himself and ran quickly to the base of the tower. He’d done it! He’d succeeded where all those other men had failed! Well of course he’d succeeded, he was the Prince after all.

He cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice as he shouted up to the one window of the tower, which was very close to the top. He beseeched the girl inside to let down her hair, and when a moment of silence followed he began to worry that she couldn’t hear him from way down here. 

Suddenly at the top of the tower, the prince saw something that looked like a long banner being unfurled fly out the window, and roll down the wall of the tower. His heart pounded in excitement as he realized it was hair. He was a bit surprised though, when he saw the color of the hair. He’d imagined the girl as having golden blonde hair, as was his personal taste, but this hair was colored yellow, orange, brown, black, and grey. It was like a collage with squares of color. He didn’t find it ugly though, in fact it resembled a calico cat which he rather liked.

He nervously grabbed hold of the hair and ran his fingers through it. It was soft like silk, so he gripped on tightly with both hands to be sure he wouldn’t fall. As he propped his feet against the tower, and began climbing up her hair like a mountain climber using a rope, he felt awkward at first, worried he was hurting her. Though, the higher he climbed the more he became concerned with his own safety. 

Towards the top his hands had gotten rather tired, and for a moment he was about to slip. He thought he would fall to his death, when suddenly a slender hand shot out from the window and grabbed his, pulling him the rest of the way up and in through the window. When he looked up, he saw the frame of the girl, who wore a purple dress. However, he was unable to see her face clearly as it was obscured by long bangs. It was also evening time and the sun was nearly gone, making it hard to see much of anything. 

He watched her silently pull her incredibly long hair back up into a neat pile on the floor, and then turn towards him. Although he couldn’t see her eyes, he could tell by the way she folded her hands and tilted her head that she was curious about him. He cleared his throat and confidently announced himself as the Prince of the Kingdom here to save her and make her his Queen. From his experiences with other women, he assumed she’d be thrilled by the news, but instead she just stood there silently.

The Prince was a little nervous and didn’t know what to do, when gently the girl walked up to him and started removing his wet clothes, gathering them up in her arms. Then she gracefully walked over to the fire and laid them out to dry. The Prince awkwardly thanked her and sat down on a pile of cushions on the floor. 

After a moment, the girl came and sat down next to him, delicately placing her hands on her lap. Her back was to the fire, so her face, and entire front for that matter appeared like a dark silhouette. The Prince was entirely unsure what to do, as he’d never encountered a woman with behavior like hers before, but when she suddenly kissed him, things were moving into more familiar territory. 

He struggled in his mind at first, wanting to be as gentlemanly as possible. After all, this girl didn’t know the difference between right and wrong, and probably not even between men and women. Would it really be right to take advantage of her? However, when she kissed him a second time, he rationalized that he was going to make her his wife anyway, might as well get her used to it now.

As the night rolled in outside, in the dim light of the fire, the Prince slid off the girl’s dress and did what he had been wanting so very much to do all this time. Afterward, he fell asleep wrapped up in the girl’s hair. The girl smiled and put her hand on his face.

After making sure he was asleep, she suddenly grabbed her hair and tightly wrapped it around his neck. She pulled as hard as she could, and he gasped and choked a little, half asleep. Finally, all of his movements, including his breathing, stopped and she unwrapped the hair from his neck. Then she took a knife out from a drawer in her dressed, and carefully ran it over the top of his head, shaving off all of his hair. 

After she’d collected all the hair into a small pile, she pulled a rope which opened up a trap door in the middle of the room. Then she rolled his body through the hole and it fell down to the bottom of the tower, landing on the bodies of other foolish men who’d come to “claim” her. Then she set to work on weaving the Prince’s hair into her own. This time it would be a new patch of brown. 

She worked through the night, and when morning came she swept her bangs away and let the sun light hit her face. She wasn’t a “girl” at all, but wrinkled old Mother Gothel. She wondered how many years it had been now, that a Prince really had come and taken the real Rapunzel away. All she wanted was for Rapunzel to come back to her. She was heartbroken without her, and so distraught that she couldn’t even bring herself to leave the tower where Rapunzel had lived. 

But if she couldn’t have Rapunzel, then the next best thing was to become Rapunzel. So I’ll ask you, “Would you like to climb the tower?”.

Author's Note

Part of my "No One Special Fairy Tales", see my profile for more. This story was not influenced in the slightest by the Disney version, but is based on the Grimm version.