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she let the hair down. The king's son ascended, but instead of

finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed

at him with wicked and venomous looks. 'Aha!' she cried

mockingly, 'you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird

sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will

scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will

never see her again.' The king's son was beside himself with

pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped

with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his

eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing

but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over

the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for

some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with

the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived

in wretchedness.