What Really Happened: Rapunzel

Welcome to the second What Really Happened!  These are the missings from the story of Rapunzel.

Missing #1:  What father would give up his child to avoid punishment for stealing?  My guess is that the plant, rapunzel was some sort of drug and that the father had partaken of it.  And he was so addicted that he gave up his own child.

Missing #2:  I would assume that the tower where Rapunzel was kept was at least twenty feet tall.  If it weren't, it wouldn't qualify very well as a "tower" and it would be pretty easy to climb.  Keeping that in mind, along with the fact that the average hair growth is 6 inches per year, it would take her forty years for her hair to grow twenty feet.  

Missing #3:  Every girl with long hair knows that if you don't cut your hair, it will get frizzy and dry.  Forty-year-old hair is not going to stay strong and beautiful, like apparently Rapunzel's did.  Which leads us to our next missing...

Missing #4:  Maybe the witch could have managed it up Rapunzel's hair, endowed with her magical powers, but dry, dead hair is not going to bear a prince's weight, even a skinny prince.  Therefore, the rapunzel plant must have had something in it that kept Rapunzel's hair like it was.

Missing #5:  There are two versions to this part of the story.  In one, Rapunzel remarks that her dress is getting tight around her dress, indicating pregnancy.  In another, she asks the witch why she is so much easier to pull up than the prince.  In both, I think we can agree, Rapunzel could use a little common sense.  Although I must say, in that first version, if Rapunzel is forty years old, of course her dress is getting tight!  She came to live with the witch when she was twelve years old.  Of course, the witch could have been getting her new clothes.  She could have just been overweight, too.  Did the witch even think of that?

Missing #6:  Let me just ask you a question?  If you were blind, could you wander for months through the wilderness and survive?  I didn't think so.  The prince must have found someone to lead him through.

Thank you for reading.  If you have any comments or suggestions, please voice them.