The Tortoise and the Hair (A Fairy Tale) By Bryan Paul

THE TORTOISE AND THE HAIR

By Bryan Paul

Once upon a time in a tower on a hill, a princess slept in her prison cell, angry and barking at her captors and when she awoke at the sound of footsteps, she spat on the gentleman servant’s boots, as he brought up her meal.

“Please, your highness, I’m just a slave as you are-“ the humble boy servant, with the golden hair said.

“You serve the wicked queen!” the prisoner said, “You’re just as much filth as she is!”

The young boy put down the plate of rations for the ungrateful princess and hung his head as he walked away toward the steps and the princess continued to taunt and berate him, “and don’t dare compare yourself to me, I am still of royal blood! My mother once ruled these lands before my father married that nasty wretch and you and your future kin will always serve those above! We are not alike!”

But the boy ignored her and he departed, descending the long winding tower steps. Once he had gone, the princess, clutched the bread and spoiled potato slivers and gorged and drank from her filth water trough.

She spat once more on the floor as she heard a soft patter coming up from the steps. She looked up at the nasty animal, crawling up from the chamber entrance. It was an old warty tortoise. She spit at it again.

“Ha!” she said, getting up from where she crawled, “Ha!’ she said again kicking the tortoise aside.

“And just how did a filthy thing like you come up this way, Huh?” she asked.

The tortoise answered in a kind, gentle lady’s voice, “Please your highness, please, don’t kick me aside-“

But the princess didn’t let the tortoise continue talking, “How dare! How dare you ugly thing-whoever gave you the power and right of speech, surely did not give you the right to question my actions. If I want t kick you aside, you let it be so! Know your place, you are but a small animal, and I am the late Queen Ursula’s daughter! Only held prisoner here by an evil witch who stole her crown!”

“But we are both slaves, your highness, both prisoners, I have traveled all the way here from-“

“Traveled? How long? Many centuries? Hah! I could grow out my hair faster than you could crawl to the end of my cell, out the window and down the tower-and while we’re up here, we might as well see! I already have a lush crop of beautiful locks,” the princes said, standing proud and brushing and stroking her long, luminous blond hair, which had already grown out long enough to reach her toes and was perfectly straight like a beam of the sun’s ray.

“How the villagers, used to envy my beautiful hair,” the princess reminisced, “I’m sure they're having a laugh now that I am captive, but soon my hair will grow long enough so that I can cast it out the window for my lover to come climb upon it and rescue me! How jealous the villagers will be then!-and I will reclaim my royal status, by marrying my love, Prince Anthony, to rule over the village of Oleander…”

As the princess talked the tortoise ignored her as it crawled and crawled, taking one step at a time, raising one little foot at a time and going forth and forth, as the princess would eat her rations, sleep, and night would turn to day and the tortoise still would crawl and the princess's hair would grow. As the princess's hair continued to grow the tortoise continued to crawl until it made its way to the window and began its slow glide down.

The princess’s hair grew so wild that she had to dangle most of it out the window, so as not to trip and fall over it, and out the window it hung and kept growing, soon almost reaching bottom, but the tortoise, by that time was only halfway down the wall.

Galloping horses reached the princess’s ears and awoke her some days after her hair had reached just an inch above the ground and she had nearly won the race with the tortoise.

“Rapunzellll!! Rapunzellll!!” Prince Anthony shouted, “Rapunzellll!”

“I can quite hear you all right you stupid twit!” She hollered, she got  up from where she lay, unfolded the curtains of hair in front of her eyes and stuck her hair out the window.

“Has it occurred to you to be discreet! What if the queen should hear you and awaken!”

“I’m sorry my dear-“ the prince began but was interrupted by Rapunzel who shouted, in a not at all discreet way, “HURRY UP!!” Climb up my long hair!”

Prince Anthony dismounted from his horse, looked up at his future bride, with a touch of misgivings, and he walked toward the tower wall, took the end of Rapunzel’s hair in his hands and paused, in contemplation.

“HURRY UP!” Rapunzel shouted and he squeezed the lock of hair in his fist and began his climb up as Rapunzel screeched, “YYYAAAHHH!”

Prince Anthony struggled as he climbed, wiping sweat from his brow. He breathed heavily as he worked his way up and paused about halfway.

He stopped at the tortoise, turned his head and watched it, steadily make its way down, determined to make its way home.

“Hello, little fellow! Long way down, right?”

“No, not fellow, sir,” replied the tortoise, “but a lady, merely a young peasant turned to ugly tortoise by the evil witch queen.”

“My, how terrible,” Prince Anthony responded, “and there is no way to undo the wicked spell?”

“A kiss from a kind gentleman would undo the spell and I would be a young lady again, with two legs and a small crop of short brown hair, but surely that can’t compare to Rapunzel’s long length of fine silky-“

“You’re pulling at my roots!” Rapunzel screamed, “Why have you stopped to talk to that disgusting thing, HURRY UP!!”

But, slow and steady wins the race and the Prince decided to give the tortoise a helping hand, by letting one hand free and snatching it up.

“YAAAHHHAAHHHHH!!!!!!!” Rapunzel shrieked as Prince Anthony slid down her hair and leaped off the tower.

He knelt on the ground, to let the tortoise free, but before resting its four legs on the dirt, Prince Anthony pressed his lips to the creature’s cheek-

The tortoise flew out of his hands as if propelled, but in midair it seemed to vanish and the prince was blinded from a bright light as if from an eclipse.

A lady with shoulder length brown hair stood in sandals and a once pink peasant dress that had turned a dull almost violet-gray from labor.

She had the most beautiful green eyes the prince had ever seen and she stood blushing at him and smiled, thankful that he had saved her.

There was a tear forming in her eye and another and the tears slid down both her red cheeks, but the prince approached her and wiped them with his sleeve. She wasn’t used to such kind treatment and she shuddered almost as if afraid of him.

“Tears of happiness, I hope,” Prince Anthony said, “You are free from the spell…”

The servant girl sniffled but didn’t sob, yet her watery eyes met the prince’s and she explained, “Sure, I’m free I suppose, but only free from the spell, only free now to return to my work serving the queen.”

“You won’t have to suffer her cruelty now that you're with me.”

“You’d take me in as your servant?” she said smiling.

“No! I'd never want you to be that. To me you'd be a partner and companion, as much as or more than my wife and princess…”

He took her hands and they both smiled in bliss and he asked for her name in a whispered and she blushed and said softly, "Marietta"

Rapunzel never said a word from her tower, after her hair had been shamelessly yanked and tugged at by the prince, she wound up laying her head and her aching scalp in the dirty trough, nursing the pain from her tortured roots.

The prince helped the servant girl up on his horse, while he mounted and as she sat behind him and held his hips, he placed one of his calloused hands on hers and brought it up to his lips and kissed it as the horse whinnied and gallop off to the Prince’s castle in the Oleander village.

A month would pass until finally princess Rapunzel was rescued. A young golden haired gentleman who was once a servant, who had become a knight, escorted her out of her tower prison.

Rapunzel would become private servant to the knight’s sister, Princess Marietta of the Oleander Village and be, of course, treated with great respect, far greater than Rapunzel ever gave to any of the servants that served under her, and thus she would grow wise enough and humble enough to be a fitting companion to the golden haired knight who had once been a servant.

For the tortoise never did make it up those winding tower steps by herself. She did have a helping hand and in return, for his help, the knight would have his chance to win the heart of Rapunzel so that one day they would marry and live happily ever after.

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