Rapunzoycite

A long time ago, a husband and wife lived happily in a little cottage at the 
edge of a wood.  Azurite and his wife, Zoey were very content except for one 
thing - they lacked a child.   One night, upon seeing a bright blue star 
twinkling above, Zoey wished for a little daughter to raise.  Her wish came 
true and she became pregnant.  The couple was overjoyed and set to work 
preparing for a child. However, soon after Zoey began to feel very sick and 
weak. Gradually she became more and more ill, and she could eat none of the 
foods that her husband brought to her.  Azurite worried for his wife's 
health.  If she did not get better, she would die.  He searched for a cure 
in his sorcery volumes, and tried various healing spells on her.  Zoey 
believed that the only thing that could cure her was a special herb.  Its 
potent magic could take her sickness away and make her stronger.   Azurite 
found the herb illustrated in a book.   It had deep rose colored leaves 
shaped like hearts.  He knew he had seen it somewhere before.

"Then I can be cured!" said Zoey, relieved that her suffering could be 
ended.

"Yes, my dear, it does exist.  But unfortunately, this magical herb grows 
only in the garden of the witch Beryl."  Azurite felt a cold shudder 
thinking of her.  Beryl was the crankiest, nastiest witch in the land.  She 
delighted in making people suffer, and hated love most of all.  She kept a 
garden to grow herbs for her evil enchantments.  The garden sprawled out 
behind the cottage, surrounded by a thick wall of thorns.  Zoey and Azurite 
seldom ventured back there, preferring to avoid her as much as possible.

Zoey begged her husband to find a way into the garden to get the herb. 
Azurite could not refuse her, of course, and so that night, he crept through 
the shadows to find the strange herb among Beryl's weeds and plants.

But Beryl saw all that went on through her crystal ball.  She saw someone 
sneaking into her garden, and she stole soundlessly outside to catch him.

"What are you doing here?"  Beryl hissed at the man searching through her 
garden.

Azurite turned to see whom the voice belonged to.  In the moonlight stood a 
tall woman, with long blood red hair, fangs, and claws for hands.  Her eyes 
glittered menacingly.  Brave as he was, the sight of her still sent a chill 
up his spine.

"I came here because of my wife.  She is dying, and she needs the special 
herb called Rapunzoycite.  It grows only here, in this garden.  I ask you to 
let me take some for her."

"Oh, yes, that weed," said Beryl.  "It is of no use to me.  Take it."

"Thank you," said Azurite.

"But - for sneaking into my garden, I demand your child as soon as she is 
born," said Beryl with a cruel smile.

"No," said Azurite.  "Not our child!  Have you no heart?"

"Suit yourself then," said Beryl indifferently.  She waved her hand and the 
herb began to wither, shrinking back into the ground.

"No!" cried Azurite, knowing that Zoey would die without it.  "My wife can 
not live much longer.  She must have that herb."

"Then promise the child to me," hissed Beryl.  "Or these weeds will live no 
more, and neither will your wife."

"I - promise," said Azurite, gritting his teeth.  He dared not challenge 
Beryl, not with his wife so desperately ill.  Perhaps there was some way to 
outdo this witch, but for now, he must get the herb to save his wife.

"Then go," said Beryl.  "And remember that you have promised your daughter 
to me.  If you do not honor your promise when the time comes, your wife will 
die."

Azurite nodded stiffly.  "I give my word."  He gathered a generous amount of 
rapunzoycite and disappeared into the night shadows.

He brought the herb back to Zoey, who was lying motionlessly in her bed.  
She smiled weakly when she saw her husband.

"You have it?" she asked, trying to push herself up into a sitting position.

"Yes, my darling," said Azurite, helping Zoey to sit up.  "Here."

"Did you have any trouble getting it?"

"No, none at all," lied Azurite, not wanting to worry his wife with the 
witch's threats.   She would need all of her strength to recover.  Praying 
that the herb would do the trick, he held it out to Zoey.

Zoey ate the rapunzoycite and immediately she began to feel better.  Azurite 
made her some food, since she had not eaten a decent meal in days, and tried 
not to think about Beryl.  It was still many long weeks before Zoey was due 
to give birth.  Perhaps in that time the witch would forget about their 
baby.

The child was born seven months later - a fair little girl with copper hair 
and green eyes, just like her mother.  The couple named her Rapunzoycite, - 
Zoycite for short, after the mysterious herb that had saved Zoey's life.

Zoey loved her baby girl very much, but her joy at being a mother did not 
last long.  Beryl did come to take the child away.  Zoey protested with 
tears streaming down her face.  Her daughter was so dear to her.

"Don't take my baby," she said.  "I waited so long for her."

"She was promised to me," said Beryl.  "By your husband."

"Yes, Zoey, I made a promise in order to save you," said Azurite sadly.  "In 
exchange for your life, we must give up Zoycite."

"I wish I had died then," said Zoey, and began to sob, collapsing against 
her husband.  Azurite held her tightly in his arms.

Beryl took the baby and told the couple that they would be able to see their 
daughter in the garden behind their house.  Zoey and Azurite were very sad 
to have their daughter taken from them, but they could do nothing but watch 
as Zoycite grew, year by year, into a pretty girl.  She possessed the 
special magic of her mother, and by instinct she knew certain little spells. 
  One of them was a tiny fire light she could conjure for herself in the 
darkness, when Beryl left her alone every night in the little spare bedroom. 
  But Zoycite knew no spell big enough to free herself.  Without her mother, 
or someone to nurture her ability, Zoycite could not spellcast as well as 
her parents could.

Beryl mostly kept Zoycite in her dark cottage, and never allowed her to 
visit her parents.  She allowed Zoycite outside only to tend the garden, and 
made her do chores like sorting and hanging herbs to dry.  Zoycite grew up 
to be a beautiful woman, just like her mother.  Zoycite caught glimpses of 
her parents through the wall of thorns, and asked Beryl who the woman was 
that looked so much like herself.

Beryl told her that she was her mother, who didn't care about her.  But 
Zoycite could see how kind the woman was.  She looked into her eyes once 
over the fence that separated them.  How sad the woman looked.  A woman like 
that could not simply abandon her daughter.  She must love her.

Zoycite made inquires to Beryl about her true mother and father, but Beryl 
grew angry and irritated when Zoycite asked too many questions.  So Zoycite 
learned to keep quiet if she wished to avoid her keeper's wrath.  But she 
always wondered about the handsome couple that lived over the thorny fence 
of Beryl's garden.

One afternoon Beryl came upon Zoycite as she was casting a little spell to 
cheer herself.  She was making heart shaped pink petals flutter about the 
garden in a gentle wind.

"What are you doing?" demanded Beryl.

Zoycite turned, startled, and her petals flittered to the ground.  "Oh!  I 
was just -

"You were doing magic!" fumed Beryl.  "I forbid you to cast any spells, do 
you understand!"

"Y-yes, Beryl, I'm sorry."  Zoycite was terrified at the witch's foul 
temper.

"Get in the house and go to your room!" ordered Beryl.

Zoycite hurried inside, not daring to look back.  She knew how angry Beryl 
would look if she turned around to see her.

Crestfallen, Zoycite sunk into her mattress.  She had only been trying to 
make herself happy.  What was wrong with that?

Resentful of Zoycite's beauty and magical abilites, and worried that she 
might find some way to escape as she got older, Beryl locked her away in a 
high tower, with only one small window.  Zoycite protested, for if she was 
locked away up there, she would not see her parents at all, not even a 
momentary view of them over the garden fence.  Beryl told her that the price 
of her freedom was her mother's life, so Zoycite silently bore her 
suffering.

Each day, Beryl would come to see her, bringing fresh food and water.  She 
stood at the bottom of the tower and called out,

"Rapunzoycite, Rapunzoycite, let down your long hair."

Rapunzoycite, whose long copper hair was bound into a single ponytail, would 
drop it down out of the window, and Beryl would climb up it to the window.  
Zoycite groaned a little as Beryl made her way up.  She was heavy, and the 
weight pulled hard on her ponytail.

When Beryl left, Zoycite would once again drop down her hair, and the witch 
would slide down to the ground.  During the long days, Zoycite kept herself 
happy by singing.  She had a high singing voice and could reach many notes.  
Sometimes she tried to imitate the songs of birds that perched on the tower 
or on her window ledge.

One day, the king's son Malachite was riding through the forest when he 
heard Rapunzoycite singing.  It was the most beautiful sound.  Mystified, he 
rode to the tower, but he could find no door, so he could not understand how 
someone could live there.  But he had never heard a voice so pretty, so he 
stayed and listened to the sweet singing from a short distance.  After a 
while Beryl came along and stood beneath the tower.  Malachite watched her 
carefully, as she called out,

"Rapunzoycite, Rapunzoycite, let down your long hair," and a long ponytail 
of golden hair fell almost to the ground.   Malachite saw the witch climb up 
the hair and disappear through the window, and he made up his mind he would 
wait until she had gone and see if he could do the same.

So after Beryl left, he stood where she had been and called,

"Rapunzoycite, Rapunzoycite, let down your long hair."

When the copper ponytail came tumbling down, Malachite climbed up as Beryl 
had done and found to his astonishment the most beautiful girl he had ever 
seen.  She had deep green eyes framed by long lashes, fair skin, and a 
delicate figure framed by her long, glorious hair.  Malachite was instantly 
enchanted by her.

"Who are you?" asked Zoycite.  "Do you know Beryl?"

"Only from the stories I've heard," he replied.  "I am the king's son, 
Malachite."

"The king?" asked Zoycite.

"Yes, my dear.  I am a prince.  Surely you know of the royal family?"

Zoycite flushed.  This Malachite was very handsome, and she felt a strange 
reaction to him.  He seemed like someone she could trust.  "I do not know 
much about the outside world.  I have lived most of my life in confinement, 
forbidden to talk to strangers or to wander free," she admitted softly.

How sad, thought Malachite.  Such a lovely girl, kept in captivity.  Well, 
talking to her would certainly be a pleasure.  "Do you mind if I stay for 
awhile, sweet one?" he asked.

Zoycite shook her head, and indicated that he could sit.

"We won't be caught, will we?" asked Malachite.  He hated the thought of 
that witch taking her anger out on such a pretty creature.

"No," said Zoycite.  "We have plenty of time.  Beryl only comes by once a 
day to bring me a meal.  Then she is gone until the next afternoon."

Malachite sat down beside Zoycite on a bench in the little tower room.  They 
talked for a long time and then the prince left, promising to come again.

Zoycite waved as Malachite faded into the sunset - streaked horizon.  She 
looked forward to Malachite's visits, for she had been feeling lonely.  
Malachite told her all about the world outside the tower.

"Do you know of a little cottage at the edge of the woods?"  Zoycite asked 
him one afternoon.

Malachite wasn't sure.  "There are many little cottages, my dear."

"It's right near the witches' garden," she added.

He thought for a moment.  "Yes, I think I do," said Malachite.  "Though I 
tend to stay away from there.  Beryl is certainly not known for her 
hospitality.  Why do you ask?"

"I used to be kept within Beryl's wall of thorns, and in that cottage nearby 
there is a handsome man and a woman who looks like me.  I think they are my 
father and mother."

"Why do you not live with them?" asked Malachite.

"Beryl told me that they did not want me," replied Zoycite.  "But I can't 
believe it's true."

"I will visit this cottage and find out," said Malachite.

Malachite found that the couple was indeed Zoycite's family, and they did 
love her very much.  When he told this to Zoycite, she was very happy.  
Malachite often visited Zoycite's parents to let them know she was all right 
and exchanged messages back and forth between them.  Zoycite learned all 
about the loving parents she was forbidden to live with, and Malachite gave 
her a companionship that she never knew she could have.

Days went by, and they fell in love.

One day Zoycite asked Beryl, "Why is it that you are so unkind compared to 
other people?  The handsome prince who comes is much nicer than you."

At this, Beryl flew into a rage.  She took Zoycite deep into the forest to a 
lonely spot, and told her that she must stay there without food or shelter.  
Beryl cut Zoycite's long ponytail to her waist, and hurried back to the 
tower with a long mass of hair in her claws, determined to put an end to the 
prince.

Late that afternoon, when Malachite came by, he called out as usual,

"Rapunzoycite, Rapunzoycite let down your long hair."

Beryl, who had secured the ponytail inside the window, threw it down.  
Malachite climbed up eagerly, only to be confronted with the ugly wicked 
Beryl.

"Aha," she cackled, "so you are the visitor who has been coming to see my 
little Rapunzoycite.  I will make sure you don't see her again."  Beryl 
hissed and tried to scratch out his eyes.

Malachite leaped out of the high window, but he was not killed, for he 
landed in a clump of thorny bushes.  He was badly scratched, however, and 
his eyes hurt so he could not see.  He walked blindly into the forest, 
feeling his way with his hands.

After several days of wandering and suffering he heard a voice just like the 
one he had heard from the tower.  Recognizing the sound, he followed it and 
came upon Zoycite who was singing as she picked berries to eat in the 
forest.  He ran towards her, calling her name, and she came and kissed him.  
As she did so, he was healed and he could see again.

"Zoycite, I've found you again," he said, hugging her close.  He looked into 
her deep green eyes, which were sparkling happily.  "We will never be apart 
now."

Malachite guided Zoycite back to her parent's cottage, where he told his 
story of what happened at the tower.  A happy reunion and then a grand 
wedding took place.  Zoycite went to Malachite's castle and lived with him 
for many years. The purity and strength of their love destroyed the evil 
witch Beryl, who could not stand against its power.  No more would she 
separate Zoycite and the ones she loved.