“A girl like that,” the baker was heard to mutter, “was bound to get into trouble sooner or later.” “Her parents let her get away with too much,” said the gossips in the village tavern. “Dressing like a boy, spending all that time alone in the woods, it was only a matter of time until her adventuresome spirit caught up with her.” Even her parents seemed as resigned to Rapunzel’s fate as they were saddened to lose their eldest child. “She was a quarrelsome girl,” they admitted to the priest when he stopped to offer them his condolences on the church steps the first Sunday after she disappeared. “Perhaps this is God’s hand at work.” **** Of course, the Sallets had arranged the whole thing themselves. It had been bad enough when, at twelve, Rapunzel had cut her beautiful, blonde hair and bound her breasts to try to win herself an apprenticeship with the blacksmith in the next village. Her parents had managed to put a stop to that before any of their friends learned a thing.
