There was a lonely old witch, Mother Gothel. She longed for a companion, however there were stories as old as time told all around Corona Kingdom. Mother Gothel was quite old, one thousand years old to be exact. Her age was worn with the wrinkles and the matted gray hairs and the brittle bones, safe to say most of the townspeople wanted nothing to do with her. Until one day a desperate young couple came knocking on her door in the middle of the woods late at night. They were in search of the sundrop flower. The woman was very ill and even more so pregnant. She agreed and gave them the flower, under one condition, they gave her their first born child in return. Mother Gothel told them she could use the help with her plants and house work. They offered several other options but Mother Gothel insisted on the child.

“But mom, please let me leave this tower. It’s unfair!” Rapunzel begged and pleaded.

“ You know the outside world is too dangerous for you Rapunzel. They will hurt you and cut off your long beautiful hair.” Mother Gothel’s voice was stern.

All Rapunzel ever wanted to do was explore and see the world but her stubborn mother had forbidden it. So she had to find other ways to keep herself busy. She would garden, paint, read books, and brush her extraordinarily long hair. Her hair was her pride and joy, it was so long she would use it to hoist her mother up into the tower that her mother kept her locked away in.

One day Mother Gothel left to go to town and Rapunzel was, once again, left in the tower. Except for this time a few hours after her mother left Rapunzel was doing some light cleaning and she heard a noise. She grabbed a pan and went to the living room to investigate. What she saw startled her and she immediately smashed the pan into an intruder. When he woke she had some questions for him.

“The names Flynn, and look I’m sorry that I broke in but could you untie me please.” He said, giving her a slightly strange grin.

She didn’t and she continued to question him. He said that his name was Flynn and that he was running from some bad guys and needed somewhere to hide and he just happened to stumble across her tower. She thought this was a bit strange since no one had ever found her tower before but she suddenly had an idea. Rapunzel said that she would let him go as long as he took her to explore the kingdom. 

“I- I can’t.” Flynn paused and thought for a moment. “They don’t like me there.”

“Why not? Did you do something bad?” She panicked thinking about if he was one of those bad men her mother was warning her about. Oh no. What if he’s here to kidnap me? OR WORSE kill me!

“Well I took something. But if we’re honest with ourselves here they don’t really need it because they’re filthy rich. Right? They can just buy a new one. No big deal.” 

Rapunzel didn’t trust this guy, but she needed a way to go explore and he was her only hope. So, she asked again. He reluctantly agreed after rambling to get out of it. She then grabbed a pan for safety and untied him.

They set off into the woods and for the first hour Rapunzel was freaking out about her mom and leaving home but they then arrived at a cute place with a duck. She figured out it wasn’t so cute and the men in there were scary and mean. Oh but Rapunzel knew how to work a room. By the time they left she had them singing a song about what their dreams were. 

The walk to the kingdom was exciting to say the least. They had been chased for days by a horse, scary men in uniforms were after them, but they only had a little bit further to go. 

When they finally reached the village Rapunzel was noticing that a very familiar symbol of a sun kept popping up everywhere. It was strange because her mother painted them all over her room before she was born. She didn’t have much time to look though, she was swept away into a dancing crowd of people. Before she knew it her and Flynn were dancing in the castle. They hadn’t a clue how they got there.

“Rapunzel…” A man's voice whispered at her.

Rapunzel turned to see a large man with brown hair and a beard and beside him was a small woman that looked almost identical to Rapunzel. The only difference was that her hair was brown and Rapunzels was blonde.

Confused Rapunzel replied. “How do you know my name?”

The queen gently grabbed Rapunzel’s hand and suggested that they should find somewhere more private. She took them down the hall to the balcony and there, she explained that she was ill and her and her father thought it would be best to trade her for the magic flower when she was born  and return a few days later to retrieve her but when they went back everything had disappeared. That is how she had golden blonde hair, the flower.

Rapunzel was distraught and out of anger she fled. She barged out of the gates and jumped on a horse heading back to her tower where her ‘mother’ was waiting.

When Rapunzel confronted Gothel she lost it and tied her up so that she could never leave her again. Gothel never expected that Flynn followed her out there. In the midst of fighting Flynn is forced to cut Rapunzel's hair, when he did the color faded and the golden long blonde turned to short brown hair.

After the fight with Mother Gothel Flynn and Rapunzel return to Corona and the king and queen banish Mother gothel to a forbidden land.