Long, long ago, there was a kingdom called Elastine where long silky hair was seen as the ultimate symbol of beauty.

The King and Queen of Elastine had a son who was to be married in a few years. In order to do this, they were planning on holding a contest in search of a potential bride with the most beautiful hair. 

In one corner of the kingdom lived a girl who wanted desperately to become a princess, and her name was Rapunzel. Once she found out about the contest, she did everything she could to make her hair grow. One day, she heard that parsley had the ability to make your hair grow very long very quickly.  But in those days, parsley was very hard to come by for it was only grown in lands far from Elastine.

Rapunzel’s next-door neighbor happened to be a world-traveling fairy. She was young and pretty with one major flaw: she was balding. Coincidentally, she had brought back parsley from her travels in order to cure the balding and compete in the royal contest as well, but unfortunately the parsley had no effect on her.

Rapunzel could no longer help herself and snuck into her neighbor’s garden to take some of the parsley. She brought it back to her home and ate it faster than lightning. Moments later, she found herself craving for parsley once again, this time, more strongly than before. She continued to sneak into the garden, stealing the fairy’s parsley each day. Then one day, as Rapunzel was turning to go home with a handful of parsley, she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was the fairy.

“What are you doing in my garden?” the fairy asked.

“I’m sorry! I just wanted some of your parsley to make my hair grow faster and longer!”

The fairy thought for a moment and came up with a brilliant plan. She would keep Rapunzel close by and feed her all the parsley she could possibly want, making her hair grow long. She would then cut the girl’s hair to make into a wig, which would hide her balding head.

“How would you like to eat all the parsley you desire?” the fairy asked Rapunzel who replied that she would love to, but how. The fairy then took Rapunzel and locked her at the top of an enchanted tower in the forest. And…parsley man jot dah.

Meanwhile, the prince had been spending most of his time with Eugene, who was his tutor as well as his best friend. One day, Eugene and the prince were bored and looking for something to do. They had been studying children’s literature and recently read the story of The Prince and the Pauper, and decided it might be fun to switch clothes and live as the other for a while.

Back in the tower, Rapunzel ate parsley day in and day out. At first, she could not believe her luck. The fairy delivered parsley to her room, which Rapunzel gladly ate, several times each day by climbing up Rapunzel’s hair. After a few weeks, Rapunzel began to grow tired of eating only parsley. After another few weeks, she could not even look at it without feeling sick. On top of that, her skin had started to turn green. And she was getting bored of being in the tower alone. She tried to entertain herself with singing and weaving, but found that she was terrible at both. So she spent most of her days tanning outside the window with her long, silky hair floating in the wind.

Eugene, still in the prince’s clothes, had set out in the forest to hunt, but lost his way. Then he saw a glimmer of light and ran over to check it out. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the green-skinned girl tanning at the top of the tower and her waving, golden hair. It was the most beautiful hair he had ever seen. He was in love instantly.

Rapunzel, who had also been looking down at that exact moment, saw the prince’s clothes and was also in love instantly.

“Climb up!” she shouted below as she let down her hair to who she assumed to be the prince. Eugene was confused but did not hesitate to be united with his love. He quickly climbed up Rapunzel’s hair and found himself face to face with her at last.

“I love you,” he said, “Your hair is the most beautiful in all of Elastine and probably all of Camelot too.”

“I love you, too,” Rapunzel replied, “Take me to your castle, so I can win the contest and become your princess.”

Again, Eugene was confused, but then realized that Rapunzel had mistaken him for the prince. However, he was so in love that he decided to go along with the mistaken identity.

Eugene climbed back down from the tower using Rapunzel’s hair and ran back to the kingdom. He soon returned with a trampoline, which allowed Rapunzel to jump and escape from the tower. They set off together back towards the kingdom.

The fairy, who had come to deliver more parsley, had been watching this whole scene unfold from a tree nearby.  She followed them to the castle, where she decided it was best to let Rapunzel know the truth about Eugene.

Eugene and Rapunzel were standing outside the castle, but something did not seem right. Eugene was hesitant go in because he knew that his cover would be blown.

At that moment, the fairy appeared and began to tell Rapunzel…

“The guy you are with is not who you think he is.”

Rapunzel was more shocked to see the fairy at the castle than she was by what the fairy had just told her.

“You don’t even know him,” Rapunzel said. “Don’t you see his royal clothing? His royal shoes? His royal cape? How could you say he’s anyone other than the prince?”

“Trust me when I tell you that he is not. He is tricking you into thinking that because he is in love with your hair.”

“How could I trust you when you locked me in a tower and fed me nothing but parsley for so long? I hate you, and I hate parsley, and you’re lying. It’s my life! Mind your own business! You’re just jealous because you wish you had hair like mine, but you don’t. Your hair is ugly and balding!”

The fairy, frustrated and hurt, took out a pair of scissors and cut off Rapunzel’s long, golden locks before disappearing with it.

Eugene saw Rapunzel with her new haircut and was at a loss for words.

“Let’s go,” said Rapunzel, “I still love you, Prince, and my hair will grow back.”

But Eugene was no longer attracted to the short-haired girl with green skin.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I am not the prince,” he said as he threw her aside and went back into the kingdom.

Rapunzel, heartbroken, ran to the stream and found a small, wooden boat. And round the prow she wrote Rapunzel before stepping inside and lying down. The leaves upon her falling light—through the noises of the night she floated down to Camelot. And no one in the kingdom of Elastine saw her again.

The End.