The father was a simple glider, a Pest Control Officer who worked hard to feed his family from sunset to sunrise. Son followed in the footsteps of Dad and wanted to be a good bug hunter also. We don’t know what Mom did, that information was lost during the Dark Ages.

Rapunzel was the center of attention of the happy family. Beautiful coat, friendly personality, everyone loved her. She had big, dark eyes and was very gentle. What Rapunzel loved the most was her long silky tail. She would groom it with her tongue 100 times when waking and again before going to bed. And she would make sure to eat healthy so her furry tail would be as luminant as the moon.

As the months passed, Rapunzel and Son grew rapidly. Son was becoming a man glider and Rapunzel was becoming a woman glider. Rapunzel’s coat was as beautiful as any other glider and Son had become very muscular. As Rapunzel neared her adult size, however, her tail grew longer and longer.

Rapunzel loved her tail more than anything else. She couldn’t bear to let anyone touch her tail. Talk of seeing the forest Veterinarian to have it shortened drove her to tears which broke her father’s heart. The tail became so long that it nearly touched the ground below! Dad wondered what Rapunzel would do when it did touch the ground and became gnarled and dirty. He hoped Rapunzel would then let the Veterinarian shorten it, but he knew that would not be the case.

One morning, Dad was out on a limb drinking his daily nectar from a budding flower, when he heard a crabbing coming from Rapunzel’s room in the nest. He jumped 180 degrees in the air and scrambled to her room. There on her bed of leaves, caught between sobbing and frantically grooming the hair which had touched the ground, Rapunzel was holding her tail tightly bundled around herself. Try as he might, Dad was unable to comfort her. For days afterward time passed slowly. Rapunzel never left her room. She didn’t bark, and no happy chirping was heard in the nest. Something had to be done.

One night, after bringing Rapunzel’s food into her room, and joining Son and Dad at the dinner table, Mom broke the silence and told them Rapunzel would just stare out her knothole up at the neighbor’s 20-limbed eucalyptus. Life flew back into Dad’s face as he knew what would make Rapunzel happy again. He and Son would find another bigger tree and build a nest higher up. They would look for the biggest tree in their tiny forest. Rapunzel would once again be able to droop her tail out her knothole. Son, knowing the work involved, offered to gnaw off her tail while she was asleep, but Mom quickly hit him upside his ears and sent him reeling.

After many tough days and nights, Dad and Son had found another tree in the center of the forest. It was indeed the biggest tree in the forest. It was so huge it made their old tree look like a twig. Rapunzel took to it like other gliders would take to crickets and worms. She hung her tail outside the nest, and would prance and chirp around the room just like when she was younger.

The days passed and turned into months. Dad repeatedly built higher and higher nests for Rapunzel, reaching the top of the tree. Rapunzel could almost see the whole forest from her room. Mom and Dad knew they weren’t as young as they used to be, and wondered what would happen when Rapunzel’s tail outgrew the tree. Dad knew the last nest built would be the final one, and after it had been built Son had found a beautiful young woman glider and moved to her forest kingdom. Dad would no longer have Son to help him.

Dad and Mom knew what had to be done. All the other glider families thought they were a little strange anyway since nobody ever saw them anymore, and their tree looked tall and foreboding. One day, they decided to go to town in disguise as travelers. They quickly went to the Flower Bed Tavern which was where rumor usually started, and everyone was always willing to hear a good story to liven their nights. Mom and Dad told of an evil witch glider and warlock glider who lived in the middle of the forest and kept a beautiful, long-tailed princess glider in a cold, dark, towering tree. They scared the other gliders with frightful images, and told them only a brave young prince might be able to save the Princess, Rapunzel with the long, silky tail.

The word of Rapunzel quickly spread to nearby forests, then to the corners of the earth. The evil creatures shivered in fear of someone more evil and powerful than them conquering the world. Silky-tailed children would have their tails shaved and shortened so that creatures wouldn’t come for them. In the kingdom of the Acacia Forests, nobody was afraid though. For in these peaceful forests, they had Prince Angel, Bird Slayer, which only the bravest of princes could call themselves.

Prince Angel heard of this new evil, and knew he must find this small forest kingdom and put an end to the evil before it spread. Bidding goodbye to his friends, family, and pet June bug, alone he set out on the perilous journey.

Outwitting wild bands of dogs, becoming entranced under the spell of the evil Kitty, to be saved by the good witch, Fortune, and many more trials, Angel would overcome. For many months the prince traveled, and many battles against evil did he barely survive. Almost two years after he left, he saw in the distance the dark, towering tree.

Sunset almost one week later, Angel reached the giant tree. Indeed, it was a sight to behold, and the creatures who lived in it must be very powerful. It dwarfed the jungle trees he had passed through months earlier, and seemed to be held up by a miracle itself.

Prince Angel was preparing to climb, when he noticed a beautiful silky tail hanging slightly out a knothole high in the tree. Gasping at his first sight of the beautiful Princess Rapunzel, he could only stare up in awe. If anyone had been around, they might have heard words of wisdom coming from his lips, and no one knows for sure, but legend has it when he caught first sight, he could only look up and utter, ‘Pthhh...Pthhh...’

After recovering from the first sight, Angel knew there was only one thing to do. Shouting at the top of his lungs, knowing this would also be a challenge to any creatures inside, he exclaimed, "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your tail!" Again, he yelled, "Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your tail, that I may climb up to rescue you!"

Way up in the treetop, Rapunzel leaned out her knothole to see a handsome young glider as the source of this ridiculous request. Seeing as how he was so cute, she decided to play along and let down her tail. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad heard the yelling also and hurried to another knothole to watch for themselves. Careful not to be seen, they peeked around the corner and snickered thinking someone had fallen for their trick.

That fateful day, Prince Angel rescued Rapunzel from that huge, foreboding tree, at least, that is what Rapunzel lets him believe. The parents lived happily ever after knowing their children were happy. And Prince Angel took Princess Rapunzel to a mythical place called Redwood National Forest, to also live happily ever after.

Alternate ending:

That fateful day, Prince Angel rescued Rapunzel from that huge foreboding tree, at least, that is what Rapunzel lets him believe. The parents lived happily ever after knowing their children were happy. As for Angel and Rapunzel, they met a boy glider named Jack who had been swindled out of a family cow for three 'magic' beans, but that is another story. They lived happily-ever-after in a magic castle floating among the clouds.

Author: Thomas P. Patten
http://www.members.tripod.com/~Tpatten/Song/song.htm