rag-punzel

So, I was talking with someone about twisted fairytales and it gave me inspiration for my own; different, not twisted. Don't worry! Here it is: rag-Punzel.

Once upon a time there was an Orphan named Rapunzel. While still too young to remember she was left in the church of a small town. This town held beauty in the highest respect. Women wore corsets to be thinner, dyed their lips with berries to be redder and carried umbrellas to stay pale. These were the beautiful things to do, and the beautiful thing to do was valued in that town. Rapunzel never did any of these things while growing up, for she was just a child, but even at the age of ten the townspeople could see she said becoming beautiful. She had flawless skin, silky hair and perfect posture. The women in the town, even the ones far too old to be pretty any longer grew jealous. If she was like that as a child, they could only imagine her as an adult. So they began plotting. They set Rapunzel to work as a maid.

Eventually her posture grew slouched and sideways from working, and her skin became so ridden with dirt she looked like coal. No one in town found her beautiful anymore. But no matter what they tried, Rapunzels hair grew a beautiful gold. Tired of being mocked, she grew her hair. Hair was the one most important factor in beauty the town believed. Her hair grew like a beautiful, golden river, soon the longest in the town. The women grew jealous again and started calling her rag-punzel. But they knew she could be more beautiful than them if she tried. Thankfully for them, Rapunzel didn't try anymore. She made up her mind to be kind to everyone she met, never to be jealous, and never to lie.

One day, when she was 16, a prince was visiting their town.  The mayors wife had every maid in the town come to serve the prince. Rapunzel was overjoyed. She wanted to hear his stories of travel, somewhere away from the superficial town. She wished to go there herself, and dreamed of leaving. When she finally met the prince she simply braided her hair, and felt she was bland and looked as every other maid there. "Surely," she thought, "he'll notice a more beautiful women." She kept her hopes, however, and went to serve him dinner. Throughout the night, whenever she stole a glance, she noticed the prince looking at her. She blushed and was overjoyed. Another women noticed it too. When the prince asked her about Rapunzel she replied, "oh? Rag-something-or-other I'm sure. Has she done something to upset you? I apologize for her incompetence and beg your forgiveness, but you need not concern yourself with such small matters as an uneducated and ill mannered maid." The women herself hoped the prince would take her for a bride. The prince said she didn't do anything wrong, and she was actually quite nice. Then he announced he would be staying a few days. The rest of the night he watched Rapunzel, and after dinner he talked to her until she was called away for work. The women grew jealous.

Later that night, she was going to ask the prince if he wanted to walk in the gardens when she heard the prince mention the maid to his advisor. "That girl will not steal my throne!" She decided. "Why, she isn't even that pretty anymore." But she knew Rapunzel, even dirty was beautiful. "If I can take away her hair..." She realized. When Rapunzel was asleep, the women came into her room and cut her hair. When Rapunzel awoke she sobbed, thinking her hair was the one thing that was still beautiful about her. She doubted the prince would even let such an ugly wench serve him, since she was stripped of the one thing about her the town still considered beautiful.

She hung her head in shame when she went to serve him again that night. The women smiled in defeat. With Rapunzel beaten the women was the prettiest in town. She thought there was no way the prince would choose anyone else; for in that town, only beauty mattered, and she was beautiful. But to her surprise the prince looked at Rapunzel more than he previously did. Whenever she tried to start a conversation with him, he seemed to be distant, still starring at her. Although they didn't speak again for the rest of the time he was there, he still stole glances at her whenever she was near.

When the day had come for him to announce his bride he stood up. The women sat up straighter. She was sure he would choose her, but when he began his speech she became puzzled. "This town is full of gorgeous people starving themselves and painting themselves to look more beautiful. Except for one person. A person who cares only about beauty can make mistakes, judge too quickly and be too stubborn. But one who knows there's more than meets the eye will do things for others, will know not everything is as it seems and do not care about what others think of them as long as they're doing what's right. I thought I would never in a million years find one with these traits. I certainly never thought I'd find one in a image obsessed town. But I did and she is more beautiful than even the richest women in this town." And with that he took Rapunzel as his queen. And they lived happily to the end of their days, with Rapunzel as the most beautiful and wise queen to ever rule.

I know, that's not  the best fairytale ever; in fact it's not even that good, and it's much better if you just summarize it in like, six sentences, but I like the theme and stuff... Anywho, tell me what you think!

Princess

Super-Chu

Raven DeWitt