The enchantress was furious. She grabbed Rapunzel's beautiful golden hair and — SNIP — cut it off with a pair of scissors. Then she used her magic to send Rapunzel far away, to a desolate wilderness where there was nothing but rocks, sand, and thorny bushes. Rapunzel was alone, pregnant with the prince's child, with no food, no shelter, and no way home.

But the enchantress was not finished. She tied Rapunzel's cut hair to a hook at the window and waited for the prince.

That evening, the prince came to the tower as usual. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" he called.

The golden braid fell from the window. The prince climbed up. But when he reached the top, he did not find Rapunzel. He found the enchantress, smiling a terrible smile.

"The bird has flown the nest," she said. "And the cat is waiting for the next visitor. You will never see your Rapunzel again!"

The prince was so shocked and devastated that he did something desperate — he threw himself from the tower window. He survived the fall, but he landed in a patch of thorns. The thorns scratched his eyes, and the prince went blind.

For years, the blind prince wandered through the wilderness. He could not see. He could not find his way home. He ate berries and roots and slept under trees. He called Rapunzel's name constantly, but nobody answered.

Then one day, in a distant part of the wilderness, he heard something. A voice. Singing. A voice he recognised — the same beautiful voice he had heard from the forest, years ago.

"Rapunzel!" he cried.

Rapunzel ran towards the voice. When she saw the prince — thin, ragged, and blind — she threw her arms around him and wept. Two of her tears fell on his eyes.

Something magical happened. The tears cleared his eyes. Light rushed in. Colour returned. The prince could see again.

He looked at Rapunzel's face — the face he had not seen for years — and he cried too, but these were tears of happiness. Standing beside her were two beautiful children — twins, a boy and a girl — who had been born in the wilderness.

The prince took Rapunzel and the children to his kingdom, where they were welcomed with great joy. They lived together in peace and happiness for the rest of their lives.

And the tower stood empty in the forest, slowly crumbling, slowly being reclaimed by the trees and the moss and the birds — a monument to the simple truth that you cannot keep a free spirit locked away forever.