The queen was very sick. She was nearly dead when they found the magic flower. She drank the cure, and was healed.
But they didn't know that the flower belonged to someone, someone named Gothel. The baby was born a few months later, and all seemed well.
Gothel sneaked into the castle that night, and saw that the baby had long, golden hair. She began singing the magic song. To her delight, the child's hair lit up, and she began getting younger. She took out a pair of scissors, and snipped a lock of hair. But to her horror, it turned brown, and she got old again.
She knew now that the only way to use her flower was through the child without cutting the hair. But she couldn't just take the child.
She grabbed the brown lock of hair that she had cut and sneaked out of the castle. She would be back.
Every few nights for four years, Gothel would sneak into the castle when everyone was asleep and find the child sleeping. She would sing the magic song, making sure that the princess was actually asleep before, and then leave.
When the child, whose name was Sybil, was almost four years old, the queen had another child. This child, of course, didn't have magic hair. The baby was named Aster.
Miraculously, Sybil's hair had never been cut, except for the small brown lock that Gothel had cut the day of her birth. So Gothel was able to continue using the child's hair.
It was one day, when Sybil was four years old, that Gothel found her bed empty when she came to be healed. She sneaked around the castle, and found that Sybil was in her parents' room. Gothel hid in the shadows as she watched what happened.
"Mommy, I had a bad dream," cried Sybil.
The queen sat up. "Sybil, go back to bed. You don't want to wake your father."
Sybil sat down on the bed. "But Mommy, I can't go back to bed. It was a really scary dream."
The queen pushed her off gently. "Sybil, you have to go back to bed."
Sybil shook her head. "Mommy, the monsters will get me!"
The king opened his eyes. "What is all this racket?"
The queen gasped. "It's nothing, go back to sleep," she said. She motioned for Sybil to go back to her room.
"I had a bad dream," said Sybil.
The king sat up. "I will not have anyone interrupting my beauty sleep!" he cried. He picked up a big wooden rolling pin that was on his nightstand.
The queen wrapped her arms around Sybil.
But the king gave the rolling pin to the queen. "Hit her," he told her.
The queen shook her head. "I won't hit her."
The king got angry. "Hit her with it or I will hit the baby with it!"
The queen gasped and picked up the baby to protect her. Tears were in her eyes. She could not let him hit the baby. If she hit Sybil, it would hurt her, but the baby was so little that it could be fatal. With tears in her eyes, she hit Sybil with the rolling pin on the wrist.
But that wasn't enough for the king. "That wasn't even hitting, that was just tapping!" he yelled. "Hit her harder!"
The queen hit Sybil harder on the arm, about to cry.
"That's more like it!" the king said. "What are you waiting for? You have to punish her!"
The queen's heart wrenched as she hit the child hard with the rolling pin multiple times. When she had hit Sybil on the cheek, the king smiled, finally satisfied, and walked out of the room.
Sybil was screaming and crying, and her mother, finally able to cry, began weeping too. Bruises began forming on the places where Sybil had been hit, and the queen held her tighter. "I'm sorry, Sybil," cried the queen. "I didn't want to do it."
Gothel had watched, horrified, as the scene had unfolded. She knew that, if she didn't do something, this would not be the last time something like that happened. In fact, it would probably be only the first of many awful times to come.
She could not let that happen to her flower again. She stepped out of the shadows.
"Who are you?" asked the queen.
Gothel smiled. "I saw the whole thing, and I am here to help."
She went to the child, who by then had terrible purple and green bruises all over. The one on her cheek was especially bad.
She touched the child's hair and began singing the magic song. The child's hair began to glow, and both the queen and the princess watched in wonder. The hair did its magic, and the bruises went away.
"Wow," breathed the queen.
Sybil smiled. "It doesn't hurt anymore!"
Gothel smiled sadly. "I know this won't be the last time something like this happens. I don't want your daughter to keep getting hurt, even though she does have magic hair."
The queen frowned. "What can I do?"
Gothel smiled. "I can take her away, where no one will ever hurt her again."
The queen frowned. It would be very hard to give up her firstborn child. But she couldn't keep letting her get hurt. She squeezed her eyes shut and saw an image of Sybil with bruises all over her body.
"Take her," said the queen. She gave Sybil one last hug, then let go.
Gothel took the child's hand.
"Where are you taking me?" Sybil asked, looking up at Gothel.
Gothel looked at her. "Somewhere your father will never be able to hurt you again."
