Rapunzel
Once again, Carrie here to help tell the world the true stories of my
best friends. Sadly, this is my last time writing to you.
We have reached the last of my dear friends' stories. This one is
about Miranda. Miranda is not like my other friends. She
never longed for her prince charming. She has always been
perfectly content without a man in her life. Miranda has never
needed a husband and children to feel that her life is complete, which
is probably why she was so surprised, and a little scared, when her
now-husband came climbing in her tower window. But I'm getting
ahead of myself. Miranda was promised, before she was actually
born, to an enchantress, Dame Gothel, who lived near Miranda's
parents. Why would her parents promise their only child a woman
they didn't even know? Well, shortly before Miranda was
born, her mother had a massive craving for rampion. It's this
kind of flowering plant that goes great in salad! The only place
it could be found was in the aforementioned Dame's garden. She
was almost obsessive about her garden as Samantha's husband is!
Anyway, Miranda's father was so devoted to her mother that he would
have done anything to get her this rare plant, including
trespassing. The first time, he was able to sneak in and out of
the garden unnoticed, but the second time he wasn't so lucky.
When Dame Gothel caught him, she agreed to give them all the rampion
they could eat if she could keep their first born child. Dame
Gothel raised Miranda from birth; when she turned twelve, Dame Gothel
locked her in a tower and destroyed all other ways to reach her except
for one: using Miranda's famously long locks as a ladder.
Now for the really juicy part! How she met her husband! Dame Gothel did not actually live in the tower with Miranda, but she did come to visit her every day, by the only way possible, using Miranda's hair as a ladder to climb up. Each day, Dame Gothel would come to the tower and ask Miranda to let down her hair so she could climb up. Each evening she would climb down again, leaving poor young Miranda alone. To pass the time, Miranda would sing, about anything really. One day a prince was riding by and heard Miranda's beautiful voice. He tried to find a way up into the tower to meet the young woman who sang so beautifully, but he could find no door or passage. Not to be discouraged, he returned the next day to look and again and listen. This time he saw the Dame approach and heard her give the command for Miranda to let down her hair. Knowing the secret, he came back the following evening and called out for Miranda to let down her hair for him. Not thinking anything of it, Miranda let down her hair like she always did, but this time she was very surprised by who came up. Miranda was extremely frightened of the prince, and his first impression was not the greatest. He was all sweaty and gross from riding around on his horse all day. Keep in mind she had never seen a man before because she had been locked in the tower since she was twelve years old. Wouldn't you be scared if a strong, yet handsome, prince came climbing into your bedroom window one evening? Her fright didn't last long, though. She soon realized that life with this man would be infinitely better than life with Dame Gothel and so they came up with a plan for her to run away and get married and be together always. Each time he would come to visit Miranda, the prince would being her a skein of silk and she would fashion a braided ladder our of it for them to both climb down.
Their plan had almost worked, until one day, Miranda was so distracted by thinking about her prince that she let it slip to Dame Gothel that someone else had been climbing up her hair. This angered the woman so much that she immediately cut off Miranda's long plait and banished her to a desert to live forever. While she was crushed to think that she would never see her prince again, she was not upset about being free from Dame Gothel, and she absolutely wasn't upset about not having to take care of all that long hair. She's always been a very low-maintenance person and that hair was just too much for her. This could be why I have never seen her with hair longer than her shoulders the entire time I have known Miranda. Back to the actual story and what became of Miranda and her handsome prince. Unfortunately, the prince was entirely too reliable and he showed up again the evening Miranda was banished with a skein of yarn, like every other night. Dame Gothel let him climb up as though nothing was wrong, but when he reached the window, it was not his beloved Miranda he found. Dame Gothel snarled and yelled horrible things at him and so, in a complete state of anguish, the prince leaped from the tower into the thorn bushes below. He managed to escape with his life, but not his eyesight. The thorns blinded him and he spent years wandering blindly, seeking nothing.
One day as the prince was wandering, he happened to hear what he believed to be Miranda's voice. He followed it to the source, and sure enough, he found his would-be wife along with a pair of twins she gave birth to not long after they were separated. Overcome with joy, Miranda burst into tears, letting some of them fall onto her prince's face. Her tears magically healed his eyesight and the two have been happily married and living in New York (as far from the desert as they could get) with their two adorable children ever since.
Now for the really juicy part! How she met her husband! Dame Gothel did not actually live in the tower with Miranda, but she did come to visit her every day, by the only way possible, using Miranda's hair as a ladder to climb up. Each day, Dame Gothel would come to the tower and ask Miranda to let down her hair so she could climb up. Each evening she would climb down again, leaving poor young Miranda alone. To pass the time, Miranda would sing, about anything really. One day a prince was riding by and heard Miranda's beautiful voice. He tried to find a way up into the tower to meet the young woman who sang so beautifully, but he could find no door or passage. Not to be discouraged, he returned the next day to look and again and listen. This time he saw the Dame approach and heard her give the command for Miranda to let down her hair. Knowing the secret, he came back the following evening and called out for Miranda to let down her hair for him. Not thinking anything of it, Miranda let down her hair like she always did, but this time she was very surprised by who came up. Miranda was extremely frightened of the prince, and his first impression was not the greatest. He was all sweaty and gross from riding around on his horse all day. Keep in mind she had never seen a man before because she had been locked in the tower since she was twelve years old. Wouldn't you be scared if a strong, yet handsome, prince came climbing into your bedroom window one evening? Her fright didn't last long, though. She soon realized that life with this man would be infinitely better than life with Dame Gothel and so they came up with a plan for her to run away and get married and be together always. Each time he would come to visit Miranda, the prince would being her a skein of silk and she would fashion a braided ladder our of it for them to both climb down.
Their plan had almost worked, until one day, Miranda was so distracted by thinking about her prince that she let it slip to Dame Gothel that someone else had been climbing up her hair. This angered the woman so much that she immediately cut off Miranda's long plait and banished her to a desert to live forever. While she was crushed to think that she would never see her prince again, she was not upset about being free from Dame Gothel, and she absolutely wasn't upset about not having to take care of all that long hair. She's always been a very low-maintenance person and that hair was just too much for her. This could be why I have never seen her with hair longer than her shoulders the entire time I have known Miranda. Back to the actual story and what became of Miranda and her handsome prince. Unfortunately, the prince was entirely too reliable and he showed up again the evening Miranda was banished with a skein of yarn, like every other night. Dame Gothel let him climb up as though nothing was wrong, but when he reached the window, it was not his beloved Miranda he found. Dame Gothel snarled and yelled horrible things at him and so, in a complete state of anguish, the prince leaped from the tower into the thorn bushes below. He managed to escape with his life, but not his eyesight. The thorns blinded him and he spent years wandering blindly, seeking nothing.
One day as the prince was wandering, he happened to hear what he believed to be Miranda's voice. He followed it to the source, and sure enough, he found his would-be wife along with a pair of twins she gave birth to not long after they were separated. Overcome with joy, Miranda burst into tears, letting some of them fall onto her prince's face. Her tears magically healed his eyesight and the two have been happily married and living in New York (as far from the desert as they could get) with their two adorable children ever since.
Story: Rapunzel
Author: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Book: Household Tales
Date Published: 1884
Web Source: SurLaLune fairytales.com
Author's note:
Again with this story, I kept it as close to the version I found as possible, only updating the main character to more closely fit with the Sex and the City character. Miranda seems to be the only character that isn't on the constant look-out for a new man in her life. In fact, Miranda fights against having a man who loves her in the TV show. This is why I thought she would be perfect for this story since there is no indication in the original that Rapunzel is horribly unhappy, or waiting for her prince to arrive and rescue her. Because of this, it wasn't all that hard to adapt Rapunzel to fit Miranda.
This story was different from the others in that someone other than the main character was given a name. The name of the sorceress, Dame Gothel, was actually a part of the Brothers Grimm version I read. This one also seemed to give the least amount of information about the main character's personality. In the other stories in this collection, there is often a strong emphasis on the sweet, innocent, humble nature of the girls, but this one never described Rapunzel as an actual person.
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