“Silly girl,” said the prince complacently. “You’re wearing it.”
“I mean the dress I wore in the tower. Give it back. My mother sewed that dress for me out of the finest cloth, cloth she gathered from every corner of the earth.”
“Silly girl,” the prince said again in the same carefree tone of voice. “Do you miss her already?”
Rapunzel nodded. And then emotion welled up inside her, and she began to weep. It wasn’t that she couldn’t face being without her mother in a castle full of strangers—she’d resigned herself to that before fleeing. Nor could anyone say that the old woman had been a good mother to her; although even if she had been, it wouldn’t have mattered. The nature of any young woman is such that as long as she’s with the one she loves, her birth family is only a secondary concern. Rapunzel wasn’t weeping out of loneliness, but out of shame and frustration. Having fled blindly to the castle, she’d been dressed in that exquisite sheer gown and shown to that soft, downy bed, where she’d fallen asleep, dead to the world; then, on awaking and seeing the situation with clear eyes, she’d been struck by the realization that she, the daughter of a despicable witch, was out of her element, a realization that made her feel demeaned and humiliated. Was this not why she’d blurted out that she was going home? It seems that she did indeed still retain some of the recalcitrance and willfulness she’d evinced as a child. The prince, for his part, having never known real hardship, was not likely to understand these feelings of hers. He was bewildered by Rapunzel’s sudden tears.
“You’re still tired,” he decided offhandedly. “And you’re hungry. We’ll have them prepare breakfast.” And with that he breezed out of the room.
Five ladies-in-waiting came for Rapunzel and gave her another perfumed bath, then dressed her in a crimson gown of thick velvet. They powdered her face and hands lightly, skillfully bound up her cropped golden hair, and secured a string of pearls around her neck. When at last Rapunzel rose serenely to her feet, the five let out a simultaneous sigh of admiration. Never before had any of them seen—nor could they imagine ever seeing again—such an elegant and stunning young lady.
Rapunzel was shown to the dining room. The king, queen, and prince stood by the table, waiting for her with radiant smiles.
“You look lovely,” the king said, spreading his arms wide to welcome her.
“Doesn’t she, though?” The queen nodded contentedly. Neither she nor her husband was the least bit arrogant or pretentious; both were gentle and compassionate people.
Rapunzel smiled somewhat sadly as she returned their greetings.
“Have a seat.” The prince took Rapunzel’s hand and led her to the table. “You can sit here,” he said, “right next to me.” The expression on his face was so triumphant as to be almost comical.
The king and queen took their seats, smiling their gentle smiles, and soon they all began to enjoy a congenial meal—all, that is, except Rapunzel, who was quite at a loss. She had no idea how to go about eating the succession of dishes that were served. Even when, by stealing glances at the prince beside her and imitating what he did, she managed to get the food to her mouth, the strange taste of the royal delicacies only nauseated the girl who’d grown up eating her mother’s salads of caterpillar innards and maggots boiled in soy sauce. She did think the egg dish quite good, although the eggs of chickens struck her as no match for those of the forest crows.
There was no lack of topics for conversation at the table. The prince told about his terrifying experience of four years before and boasted of his most recent adventure, and the king, deeply impressed with each incident his son recounted, nodded emphatically and drank toast after toast, the upshot of which was that before long her was so thoroughly drunk that his wife had to carry him piggy-back out of the room.
As soon as Rapunzel was alone with the prince, she spoke to him in a quiet voice.
“I’d like to step outside. I don’t feel very well.”
She was deathly pale, but the prince was in such high spirits that it didn’t even occur to him to be concerned. It seems that when people are in a state of euphoria, they don’t always notice the suffering of others. Rapunzel’s wan complexion didn’t worry him in the least. He stood up and light-heartedly said: “You ate too much. All you need is a walk in the garden.”
It was a lovely day outside. Though summer was long past, a variety of flowering plants were in bloom in the castle garden. At last Rapunzel smiled.
“I feel much better now. It’s so dark inside the castle, I thought it was nighttime.”
“Nighttime? You were fast asleep from yesterday afternoon until this morning. You slept so deeply you hardly seemed to be breathing. For a moment I thought you were dead!”
“It would be fine if the girl from the forest had died and awakened to find herself transformed into a lady of quality... but when I woke up I was still the witch’s daughter.” Rapunzel said this with genuine sorrow, but the prince took it as a joke and laughed heartily.
“You don’t say. Ha ha! You poor thing!”
When they came to a spot in the shadow of a hedge of thorny shrubs where small, pure white, and very fragrant flowers were blooming in profusion, the prince stopped suddenly, and the look in his eyes grew serious. He took Rapunzel in his arms and squeezed her as if trying to crush every bone in her body, and then, without further warning, he began to do something that seemed like the act of a madman. Rapunzel bore up patiently. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. He’d done the same sort of thing three times during the sleepless night and day they’d fled the forest and crossed the wilderness.
“You’ll never leave me now, will you?” the prince said softly, once his passion had subsided and he and Rapunzel were strolling along again side by side. They stepped out from behind the thorny shrubs and headed toward a little pond where water lilies bloomed. His question struck Rapunzel as a queer one, and she laughed.
“
What? What happened?” The prince peered at her face. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that you act so serious, I can’t help laughing. Where could I possibly go? I waited four years in that tower for you.” When they reached the edge of the pond, Rapunzel felt tears welling up; she collapsed to the green grass and sat there looking up at the prince. “Did the king and queen give us their blessing?”
“Of course.” The prince put on his carefree look once again and sat down next to her. “After all, I owe my life to you.”
Rapunzel buried her face in his lap and unleashed a torrent of tears.
A few days later an extravagant and lavish wedding party was held at the castle. That night the trembling bride looked like an angel who’d lost her wings. And as a month, then two months went by, the prince only fell all the more deeply in love with this exotic, wild rose whose upbringing had been so different from his own. He grew ever more fascinated with her outlandish thoughts, her almost savagely spirited manner, her fearlessness and courage, and her naive, childlike questions.
The cold winter had passed. It was growing warmer by the day, and the first flowers of spring had begun to open their petals. Rapunzel and the prince were strolling side by side in the garden once again. Rapunzel was with child.