The old Witch , of course , knew nothing of what was going on , till one day Rapunzel , not thinking of what she was about , turned to the Witch and said : ` How is it , good mother , that you are so much harder to pull up than the young Prince ? He is always with me in a moment . ' ` Oh ! you wicked child , ' cried the Witch . ` What is this I hear ? I thought I had hidden you safely from the whole world , and in spite of it you have managed to deceive me . ' In her wrath she seized Rapunzel 's beautiful hair , wound it round and round her left hand , and then grasping a pair of scissors in her right , snip snap , off it came , and the beautiful plaits lay on the ground . And , worse than this , she was so hard-hearted that she took Rapunzel to a lonely desert place , and there left her to live in loneliness and misery . But on the evening of the day in which she had driven poor Rapunzel away , the Witch fastened the plaits on to a hook in the window , and when the Prince came and called out : ` Rapunzel , Rapunzel , Let down your golden hair , ' she let them down , and the Prince climbed up as usual , but instead of his beloved Rapunzel he found the old Witch , who fixed her evil , glittering eyes on him , and cried mockingly : ` Ah , ah ! you thought to find your lady love , but the pretty bird has flown and its song is dumb ; the cat caught it , and will scratch out your eyes too . Rapunzel is lost to you for ever -- you will never see her more . ' The Prince was beside himself with grief , and in his despair he jumped right down from the tower , and , though he escaped with his life , the thorns among which he fell pierced his eyes out . Then he wandered , blind and miserable , through the wood , eating nothing but roots and berries , and weeping and lamenting the loss of his lovely bride . So he wandered about for some years , as wretched and unhappy as he could well be , and at last he came to the desert place where Rapunzel was living . Of a sudden he heard a voice which seemed strangely familiar to him . He walked eagerly in the direction of the sound , and when he was quite close , Rapunzel recognised him and fell on his neck and wept . But two of her tears touched his eyes , and in a moment they became quite clear again , and he saw as well as he had ever done . Then he led her to his kingdom , where they were received and welcomed with great joy , and they lived happily ever after . -LRB- 23 -RRB- -LRB- 23 -RRB- Grimm . THE NETTLE SPINNER I ONCE upon a time there lived at Quesnoy , in Flanders , a great lord whose name was Burchard , but whom the country people called Burchard the Wolf .
Now Burchard had such a wicked , cruel heart , XXXXX it was whispered how he used to harness his peasants to the plough , and force them by blows from his whip to till his land with naked feet .
after as at beside for of than that though with