by T F Carthick
Initially, I thought I would go to the old fellow and demand he hand over the baby to me. But I suspected he may not easily part with his child. These fathers go all possessive and clingy when someone wants to take away their children, but when they want to marry again, they themselves will give their child over to the tender mercies of a cruel stepmother. I saw no point in any conversation with that stupid thief. I mean I could have scared him out of his wits, cowed him down and walked away with the child, but I did not want all that unpleasantness associated with the good feeling of doing a kind deed. I just had to act in the best interests of the child. So, I decided to use stealth rather than brute force. See! I was already becoming a better person—learning tact, diplomacy and all that. I crept in one night when the fellow was asleep and took the child away. I did not know if he had named the child yet. But it didn’t matter. The child was mine now and I would name her—I gave her the name ‘Rapunzel’ after the plants that had been responsible for bringing her to me.
From that day on, I forgot all about everything else and dived heart and soul into baby care. This was way tougher than any magic I had mastered. Once I got into it, I could kind of understand why Mathilda had given Cinderella a short shrift during her growing years. I half-wished I had not kidnapped the child sometimes, but having gone and done it, I had to see this through to the end. So, I grit my teeth and applied myself to the challenging task. There was only one thing I knew, and I somehow had to make use of that to help me through this Herculean undertaking—magic! Summoning spells were deployed to summon milk whenever she cried. When it came to getting rid of pee and poop, banishing spells came in handy. Presto! And they were all gone. Repelling spells kept away the mosquitoes and all other vermin from the little one. When the baby was angry, sad or just irritated, the magic broom had to be called upon to reprise the role of a dancing broom to entertain her. Caring for a child is no ordinary chore; I was stretched to the fullest extent of my magical powers. It never ceased to amaze me how ordinary human women with no magic manage this onerous task.
* * *
I cast a telescopic vision spell and scan the seas. I can see a boat in the distance. It is heading straight for the island. It is coming nearer…yes. It is he. So much for my fears and apprehensions! I tend to overthink situations. I can even vaguely make out his form now. So, he has decided to come back after all. My heart skips a beat as I see the boat getting docked and a man getting out. Any moment now the mouse would walk into the trap. I just cannot wait to see the trap snap on the mouse. I will then have the dratted Prince in my power.
* * *
Now don’t think I am a callous woman- the kind witches are depicted to be. For most of my life, I have stayed by myself, minding my own business. But no one can get away with deliberate provocation. Here I am, living all by myself with my daughter, so far away from human civilization. Why did he have to come sneaking in here like a snake in paradise? Did he find no other place in the whole world to go to? And having come here, did he have to lay his evil eye upon my God-daughter, the only thing I had to call my own? He asked for it. And he is going to have it. I have taken so much care to bring up my little God-daughter, protecting her from all threats and dangers. Did he think he could just walk in and snatch her away from me?
I remembered how I had taken the hard decision to forsake my comfortable mansion and come away to this desolate island to bring her up. For the first few years, I had continued to stay in my mansion. But as she grew up, I began to grow more insecure. So many nasty men and women were prowling all around the place. The place was practically infested with them. I was so scared one of them would break into my house and take her away from me. Generally, people kept away from my house, but Rapunzel’s father had managed to break in, hadn’t he? So, it was quite possible another may do the same. And if no one broke in, now that the little angel was able to walk, there was a chance that she may stray away when I was not looking and get picked up by someone. No. It was too much of a risk. I could not bear the thought of losing her. So, I decided to leave the mansion and come away to this remote island. She would be safe from prying eyes here.
For a few years, I lived with her in a cabin on the island. But as she began to prance around, once again my fears began to surface. She was growing into a vivacious child full of spirit, and not always obedient. It was true this place was safe from humans, but humans were not the only dangerous creatures in the world—there were wolves, bears and the like. What if she escaped into the jungle one of the days and encountered one of these fearsome beasts? What a pity that would have been—to raise a child with so much care only to feed the hunger of a wild carnivore. No, I would not have it. I would have to protect her at all costs. So initially, I used to lock her up in the cabin whenever I had to go out to hunt or fetch wood for the fire. But I still felt it was not secure enough. What if I forgot to lock the door someday? Or some strong beast managed to knock down the door? You probably know the story of the big bad wolf who just blew away the poor little piglets’ cottage. That may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but the fact remained that strong animals of the jungles can breach weak structures like cabins. I decided I needed a safer place for her. So, I used my magic to conjure up a tower of metal and wood. She would be safe inside that.
As she came into puberty, I began to get other fears—princes. Belle, Aurora, Snow White—all of them had fallen prey to princes. You never know in what forms these pesky princes pop up. One of them had made his appearance in the form of frog. Another one as a beast—a chimera of sorts. They say it was not the respective princes’ fault; they had been cursed by witches. Yes, put all the blame on witches. But these curses had not prevented these princes from enticing innocent little girls and making them fall head over heels in love with them, had they? I don’t know what fascination these princes exercise over those poor little innocent darlings. I for one consider royalty the vilest of the human race—parasites that grow fat gorging on the blood of their fellow humans! Still, these girls did show an uncanny propensity for falling in love with them. Possibly due to their good looks. You know how it is with these princes—years of indolence and good grooming. When one has nothing to do, all the wealth in the world, and servants at one’s beck and call, one can spend all the time in caring for one’s appearance and manners as well as deck oneself in fanciest of garments.
Now don’t get me wrong here. It was not that I did not want my darling God-daughter to enjoy marital bliss and all. After all, Mathilda was the one who helped Cinderella win her prince. But that was the whole point—it had her stamp of approval. One day, I too had plans of finding a suitable boy for my Godchild. I would find the bravest, smartest and handsomest boy in the entire kingdom and capture him and bring him to her. But all in good time. When the right time came, I planned on doing much more than waving wands to turn rats into horses and pumpkins into chariots. Any roadside hedge-witch could do all that. It took a proper God-mother to first evaluate if a boy was really suitable for her ward.
So, I had decided to add another layer of protection. Doors were not enough to keep out creatures like frogs that could crawl in through cracks under them or beasts that could batter them down. As I mentioned earlier, there had been stories of princes who had come in those forms. So, the best way was to take out the door and wall her inside the tower. I would visit her through the high window. I initially thought of having a rope ladder to enable me to access the window. But then I would have to leave the rope ladder with her and she could always escape using that. Not that I wanted to keep her prisoner, but kids of that age do not know what is best of them, do they? So as a parent, it was my duty to protect my child from herself. These young ones tend to be carried away by the soaring spirit of their youth and often end up doing things they would come to regret later. It is up to us parents to restrain them. So, instead of a rope ladder I hit upon an ingenious plan to reach the high window—her tresses. Yes, her tresses. She had long, thick golden tresses that could com
e all the way from the window of the tower to the ground. So, I decided I would ask her to let down her tresses and I would climb up, holding on to them for support. There was no way she could climb down using her own tresses. So, she was safe and sound.
* * *
He is walking towards the tower. Yes. He is almost here. He will now call out to Rapunzel to let down her hair. But just a few feet away from the tower, he stops. Why? What is happening? He is looking keenly towards something at the base of the tower. What could it be? Something or someone is communicating with him. What could it be? Does he have a companion who has already reached the bottom of the tower? But I didn’t see anyone coming from the direction of the sea. And there is no one here except Rapunzel and me. Who could it be?
As he stands there, I can see his face clearly. I had not seen it earlier. I had only observed him from a distance as he climbed down the tower holding on to Rapunzel’s hair. That time he had got away before I could get there. This time he won’t.
* * *
I first became suspicious when I began to see signs of the presence of another human in her room—items like a button off a man’s dress, a strange handkerchief, a gold coin and things like that. As I became more observant, I caught a whiff of a strange perfume in some corners of the room. She was definitely receiving someone in the room. Someone had breached the security I had erected around her. How was this possible? How did he ever find her? And how did he manage to beguile her into letting him use her tresses to climb up? And she was keeping it all from me! She had even learnt deceit from him. This was unthinkable.
* * *
I had fretted and fumed internally but I did not confront her directly. This had to be dealt with subtly. If she was keeping things from me, it meant she did not trust me any longer. Anything I did openly now would only aggravate the situation. I had to use tact. So, I kept a close watch over the tower from the distance, until one day I was rewarded with the sight of this fellow descending the tower. Somehow, he seemed to have slipped past my vigilant eye on his way up. Probably he must have come when I had dozed off. It is not humanly possible for one person to be watching all the twenty-four hours in a day, is it? But luckily for me, at least I had not missed him on his way back. He reached his boat and rowed away before I could get to him, but at least now I had definite evidence that someone had been visiting her.
I thought over for a long time and decided I would lay a trap for him. It was difficult to catch him from outside. So, I had to catch him within the tower. The best way to do that was for me to be waiting for him right within the tower. That way he would have no chance of escape. But I had to take care that Rapunzel should not know my plans. If she came to know, she would never forgive me. Somehow, she had to be made to think that her prince had himself abandoned her. She would eagerly wait for him for a few days and then, finally reconcile herself to the fact that her lover was never going to return. It would be heartbreaking for her, but she would get over it. That little bit of pain was much better than to let her be taken away by that worthless fellow and suffer lifelong pain and anguish. For a moment or two, I paused and reflected if I was doing the right thing. What if he did happen to be the right one for her? Would I be denying her a chance at happiness?
“No,” I had decided. “If he was a good man, he wouldn’t come to see her sneakily like this. He would have come straight to me and asked for her hand. Also, even if he was the right man, this was not the right age. Surely another ‘right man’ will come along when she is of the right age. It was not as if there is scarcity of good men, is there?”
So, to avoid Rapunzel coming to know of my plans, I had to get her out of the tower. The next day when I went up to her as usual, I informed her that it was time she was released from the tower and taken to see the beautiful world outside. She had clapped her hands in glee.
“But there is one sacrifice you need to make in order to get out of here,” I had told her.
“I would do anything to get out of here, mother. I really want to get out of here.”
“You need to lose your braids.”
“My braids? No. Anything but that, mother. How would I look without them?”
“I am sorry, my dear. But that is the only way you can get out of here. Don’t worry. It will take time, but your hair will grow back.”
She had agreed reluctantly and let me cut her hair. We pulled the bed closer to the window and knotted the hair to the bedstead. I helped her descend down. I then asked her to cut off her hair. I then pulled up the braids and descended down after her. As soon as she was in the outside world, she was keen to explore the jungle. Seeing all her excitement, I had half wondered whether there was even anything at all going on between her and that stranger. That, or she was a very good actor. I had brought her up completely guileless. It seemed impossible that she had suddenly developed so much cunning.
“Not now, my dear. You are new to this world. You need to take it bit by bit and get used to it. Today you come to my cabin and take rest. Tomorrow you can look around.”
I waited for her to sleep and then locked up the door and once again went back up the tower, climbing up the tresses that were hanging from the window tied to the bed stead. As soon as I was inside, I untied the thick braids from the bed stead, pulled it up and began to wait for the stranger.
* * *
He is now beginning to retrace his steps. What the hell is happening? I don’t have long to find out. For within a few minutes a figure rushes out from under the tower to join him. It is a familiar figure—a female figure—it is Rapunzel. I just can’t believe my eyes. How did she manage to get out of the cabin? Had I underestimated her? Had she been aware of my plans all along and played me up?
I quickly tie the tresses to the bed stead and climb down. By the time I reach the ground, they are already quite some distance away. In an impulse I run after them. But I am too old for such strenuous physical exercise and I soon start panting. I muster every last bit of my energy and try to keep running. By the time I reach the shore, they are already into the man’s boat and are fast sailing away. Close by is my boat. I push it into the water to go after them. But the moment it enters the water, it begins to sink. I pull it back and examine it. There is a hole at the bottom. Oh no! They seem to have thought of everything. Was it Rapunzel or that stranger? Even in the hurry, they have remembered to sink my boat to evade pursuit.
Now I am marooned here. I sit down for some time to calm myself and collect my wits. Then suddenly it comes to me—all is not lost yet. They have forgotten a most important thing—I still have my magic. All I need to do is to get my magic broom and I would be upon them in a trice. Then they shall know what happens to those who cross me. But I need to walk all the way to the cabin to get my broom. Still, that is not a problem. Once I have the broom, I shall make up for all lost time. No boat is a match for my broom. I reach my cabin in fifteen minutes. I find the door still locked. I open it and enter, only to be greeted by a strange burning smell. I rush towards the source of the smell. I can see something smoldering in a corner, ash all around it. I rush to examine it. From the remains I know what it had been—my broom. My beloved broom! It is gone! I am stranded here on this island! She has well and truly beaten me. I am sure now it had been her all along, for the stranger could not have known about the broom.
She has completely outwitted me. I never knew her to be possessed of such shrewdness. In normal circumstances, I should have been proud of her. But she has broken my heart. I might have been a bit over-possessive, but still, I truly loved her. I had showered love and affection upon her and devoted myself heart and soul to ensure her happiness. Is this how she has chosen to repay me for all that? I am more sad than angry. I notice one of the windows is still open, as a draught of cold air sweeps in. So that is how she must have escaped, eh? I had totally forgotten that the windows of the cabin were not barred—the cabin was never meant to hold a prisoner. I had thought her too gullible to escape.
All I had
wanted to do was to put her out of harm’s way for some time while I dealt with that pesky stranger. I was so sure she would just sit quietly and patiently wait for me to come and get her out. But no! She has taken the initiative and managed to escape on her own.
As I look around, I notice a piece of folded paper under the pillow on the bed. I pick it up and open it. I can see Rapunzel’s clear handwriting—despite her seclusion I have not neglected her education. I have taught her to read and write and even give her some grounding in the social and physical sciences.
“Dear Mother,” the letter reads.
“By the time you find this I shall be gone. I know you will be very angry with me and probably even think me ungrateful. But that is not so. I am extremely grateful to you for all you have done for me. It is not without pain I made this decision to leave you.
“The thing is, I can’t always remain under your protection. I had started to find it stifling. I too want to go out and experience the world. I can’t be locked up like this all my life. You probably fear I may make the wrong decision, but that is better than living out my entire life inside a golden cage, for that is how I found my life inside the tower to be. I need to go out into the world, make my own mistakes and learn. I can’t be living in your shadow all my life, can I?