Very soon Rapunzel forgot her fear , and when he asked her to marry him she consented at once . ` For , ' she thought , ` he is young and handsome , and I 'll certainly be happier with him than with the old Witch . ' So she put her hand in his and said : ` Yes , I will gladly go with you , only how am I to get down out of the tower ? Every time you come to see me you must bring a skein of silk with you , and I will make a ladder of them , and when it is finished I will climb down by it , and you will take me away on your horse . ' They arranged that till the ladder was ready , he was to come to her every evening , because the old woman was with her during the day . 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 XXXXX his neck and wept .
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