A/N – It has occurred to me that quite a lot of the stories I've read recently seem to require Eugene to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save Rapunzel as the weak damsel in distress. This isn't a criticism, I know I'm guilty of the same, but then it occurred to me that this isn't the Rapunzel that ended the movie. She's more than capable of holding her own and even rescuing Eugene once in a while! And that's when this little adventure drifted into my head.
Inspiration comes from many sources, so you'll probably recognise key elements of Le Morte d'Arthur, Interesting Times (specifically the real-life buried army which inspired that!), Earthfasts, a bit of Mayan legend and so many others I probably can't claim this to be original at all!
Please do review – it only takes a moment and I like to know how my stories compare with expectations and other works.
Disclaimer: I've already acknowledged my main inspirational sources. The DVD is on pre-order; but until then I own nothing to do with Tangled, except the movie ticket stubs.
The Library and Legend
Rapunzel's mother, her real mother, and father, had welcomed the return of their daughter with open arms and a week long celebration. To Eugene's surprise, he too was welcomed with open arms and given rooms within the royal castle. For the next few months Rapunzel and Eugene's lives were a whirlwind of ambassadorial engagements, public appearances, and royal tutorage. Rapunzel took it all in her stride, but Eugene found it overwhelming.
He had taken to wandering the castle corridors late at night, unable to sleep. The castle guards usually ignored him, or briefly nodded as he walked past. Honestly, he wasn't surprised Flynn had found it so easy to break in and out with the princess's crown. He tried to take a different route each evening, learning the layout of the rooms, through the maze of passageways and doors, but always, instinctively, finding his way back to his bed before the sun rose.
One evening his random footsteps took him to the east wing tower and an impressive set of double doors. Just as his hand reached for the latch, he stopped. His senses, carefully honed over the years, told him someone else was watching him. A gentle sniff of the air, catching the hint of lavender, told him who it was.
"How long have you been standing there, Princess?" he asked, without turning around.
"Only a minute," Rapunzel admitted, stepping out of the shadows. "I was curious to know where you walk to at night."
Eugene looked at his feet for a moment, before turning to look at the princess. She had a sleepy look, as though she had been dozing peacefully before her inquisitiveness disturbed her. He felt momentary guilt that his nocturnal activities had been noticed and become a cause of dream-interrupting interest.
"I've not been here before," he said. Then he grinned. "Wanna see what's behind door number one?"
The room beyond was dark, as they had expected, but it felt big. Eugene lit the candles on either side of the door, and was momentarily taken aback as some quiet mechanism whirred and cranked and the two candles rose up in their holders in carefully sculptured tracks. As the two points of light disappeared towards the distant ceiling, Eugene and Rapunzel just stared. A small smile stirred on Rapunzel's no longer tired face. She had a feeling she knew what would happen next.
Sure enough, the two candles reached and sparked an almost invisible dark wick and with an audible 'whoosh' the two main chandeliers lit all at once, filling the room with light. Rapunzel clapped her hands with delight.
"The servants told me about this!" she said, in an excited whisper. "It's a clever way to light the chandeliers without lowering them to the ground each time. The candles and long wicks are replenished during the day when they are not needed, and it only takes those two little sparks to light up…"
Her voice trailed off as she took in what this room was.
"A library," Eugene breathed. Neither of them had ever seen so many books. Shelves lined the walls all the way from floor to the ceiling. These higher books were accessed by a ladder on wheels attached to a rail. Rapunzel darted towards it and began to climb, pushing herself along the bookcases with such force that the ladder travelled a quarter of the way around the room before its momentum ran out.
"Be careful Rapunzel!" Eugene called out, his voice echoing around the chamber. "You don't have your golden safety rope any more, remember!"
But Rapunzel was too busy grabbing armfuls of books and rapidly descending to bother about any danger.
On the wall of the library opposite the doors were three tall wide windows, but since it was night time, there was nothing to be gained from sitting in the three big chairs beside them. On the adjacent wall, below a mezzanine level containing the older and less often read books, was a huge fireplace, surrounded by more chairs. There was still some warmth emanating from the embers and Rapunzel sank into one of the overstuffed chairs began to read.
Eugene didn't know where to start. He'd read one book, many, many times, and now he was confronted with thousands. Rapunzel appeared to be in her element, absorbing the words on the page like a sponge. He walked over to her and she handed him a book without being asked. He smiled at her, gratefully, and began to read.
Almost instantly his interest was stirred. He closed the book again and re-read the title. The Green King. Eugene thought he had heard most of the legends that Corona had to offer, but this one was new. Or rather, he checked the print date, old. Really old. The legend of the Green King predated Corona itself.
"Hey, 'Punzel," he said. "Have you ever heard this story?"
Rapunzel shook her head, closed the book she had been reading and looked at him expectantly. Eugene gave a little chuckle, returned to the first page and began to read:
xoxox
The Sun and Moon must never be seen together in the sky, for disaster befalls the Earth when they meet. Once, the Sun and Moon had crossed in the sky and the shadow fell upon the ground where a tall oak tree stood. The tree shook and quaked and pulled itself up by the roots. As the shadow left it, the mighty oak gave a shudder and split into two halves. From within the wood emerged a man. He was the Green King; King of the forest.
The world around him had fallen to tragedy by the meeting of the celestial bodies, but fifteen men from a nearby village had seen the Green King's birth and immediately pledged their allegiance.
The Green King made them his army, those fifteen men from the East. They were joined by fifteen men from the West, fifteen from the North and fifteen from the South. Sixty men in all, clad in jade green, to help him restore peace and order to the world.
He ruled for 100 years, with his army by his side. They crusaded to foreign lands to quell invading forces. Their kingdom grew and prospered. During this time they amassed a great fortune, although the Green King was known to be generous those who really needed it. As the years passed the Green King grew old and knew he would soon die. He fashioned a magnificent marble tomb for when his days would end and placed it in a hidden chamber, along with all his treasure.
After one final battle, to defend his beloved land, the Green King was cut down. His loyal army took up his body and placed it in his tomb and cast a spell: that he would sleep until the Sun and Moon met in the sky again, when disaster fell on the Earth. Then the Green King would rise again, and with his army, raze the forest to the ground and replant the world to start again. The jade army took their place, and slowly turned to stone.
xoxox
"There they still sleep," Eugene finished. "And that's just the introduction."
"Wow!" Rapunzel breathed. She looked down at the pile of books on her lap. "Here's another version," she said. She stood up and went back over to the bookshelves. "And another."
She returned with her arms full of books about the Green King.
"I can't believe I've never heard this legend before," said Eugene, grabbing another book and opening it.
He read in silence for a little while, until suddenly Rapunzel gave a huge yawn and Eugene realised it was nearly dawn, and that neither of them had slept.
"Come on, Princess," he said, reluctantly laying the books down and taking Rapunzel's hands.
He was almost carrying her by the time they reached her bedroom door. Eugene hesitated. The rules of his courtship of the princess had been made very clear; they did not allow the crossing of the threshold of her private chambers. Rapunzel sensed his reservation and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
"Sweet dreams, Eugene," she said, disappearing behind the bedroom door.
Eugene actually slept late into the next morning, and awoke feeling more refreshed than he had done in days. The servants had left a tray of food in his room, which he devoured eagerly, before seeking an audience with the Queen.
"Your Majesty," he began, wondering how much to share. "Last night, we... I... we found a book..."
"Yes, in the library," said the Queen, with a perceptive smile. "I'm so glad you found that room. I find it very restful. Let me guess: you read the story of the Green King."
"You know that legend?" Eugene was surprised. The Queen laughed. It was a gentle laugh, one that Rapunzel had inherited, along with the beautiful emerald eyes and chocolate brown hair.
"Not many people do," said the Queen. "Oh, it used to be a story told of an evening when the winter nights drew in, but once the story was written down, in those books you found, people just stopped telling it."
"And the books?"
"We have the largest and most comprehensive library in the kingdom, right here in this castle," said the Queen. "And I believe we have the only copies remaining of the legends."
Eugene was lost in thought. It was so strange that the legend could be forgotten so easily like that. Maybe there was more to the legend than that. He looked up, startled, when the Queen gave a gentle cough and realised he'd been staring at the floor, at nothing, for several minutes.
"I believe you may have found a project," she said, knowingly.
Eugene found it much easier to sleep that night, now that he had something else to occupy his mind. Instead of attending the next day's trade talks, he visited the library as the sunlight streamed in through the magnificent large windows. He pored over the books they had found that first night. He scoured the mezzanine level for the oldest books he could find containing the legend.
He was so absorbed in his reading that it took a slimy, cold tongue in his left ear to bring him back to the real world. He yelled and looked up, annoyed.
Pascal had already scampered back over to where Rapunzel was standing, arms folded across her perfect chest, one bare foot tapping on the floor.
"You weren't at dinner," she said, with more than faint annoyance in her voice.
"I missed dinner?" Eugene was incredulous. The meals in the castle were magnificent and so far from his usual fare that Eugene had almost eaten himself sick that first meal. Dinner was one of his favourite times of the day, and he had missed it?
Rapunzel's face softened and she stepped aside to allow a servant to pass carrying a tray with some cold meats and fruit.
"Actually, my mother told me about your interest in the library," Rapunzel explained, "so I asked if we could take a light dinner here together."
She took the seat opposite him and reached for some fruit. The light outside was starting to fade and as the food-carrying servant left, he lit the two candles that would ignite the chandeliers.
"So, tell me what you've learned," said Rapunzel, leaning forward eagerly as the room was bathed in fresh light.
"Well," Eugene began, "one of the stories tells how the Green King slew a ferocious dragon that roamed the land. He cut off its head with a single blow and where the blood fell it burned the ground to ashes. The Green King cut a piece off his beard and planted it in the scorched earth, and new plants grew. But I think that's definitely made up."
"Because the rest of the legend is true?" Rapunzel asked. She wasn't sarcastic, just curious. She knew legends had some basis in fact, but that they very rarely survived in their true form as the years passed. Eugene opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, working out how best to answer her question. He sighed.
"Actually, I sort of think it is," he said finally. "Not all of it, especially not the bit about the oak tree, but I really think his burial mound exists. Here, take a look."
He moved the tray of now mostly finished food to one side and pushed one of the books towards Rapunzel. The book was opened on a double-page spread of a map, showing the island of Corona and a portion of the mainland. Rapunzel could see the little tree images depicting the forest, including the blank space where she knew her tower still stood, undiscovered. There were some little triangles which she understood meant mountains. Eugene's finger pointed at the bottom of the second page, where there was a large crescent shaped lake with an island in the middle.
"There," he said. "It's the one thing all the books seem to agree on. I mean, the stories differ slightly each time on some of the details. Like whether the Green King killed a dragon, or drove the snakes off the island. Or if he married, or not. But all of the books say he was placed in his marble tomb, in a grass mound, on an island in the middle of the Crescent Lake. That has to be it."
"And you want to go and see it?" said Rapunzel, with a half smile. It had been a while since Eugene had looked so enthusiastic about anything, and she knew her boyfriend well enough by now to anticipate what he would want to do next. Eugene had the decency to look embarrassed.