Seven months passed, and it was finally time for the queen to give birth. The baby was born in the night, and the exhausted queen named her Rapunzel.

But Rapunzel was not an ordinary baby. She had wisps of short blonde hair on her head, and her skin faintly glowed yellow. Her eyes were bright yellow and had no pupils. They glowed as bright as the sun. She had an extraordinarily hot touch, and her lips were a faint rose gold color.

Anise thought that Rapunzel was beautiful. But everyone else was horrified. Even Rapunzel's own father, the king, could not bring himself to look at his daughter. Rapunzel, they said, had been ruined by the Sun's magic.

After the birth of the child, the king tried even more to destroy all magic. But Anise would not let him lay a hand on her daughter. "Do what you want with our kingdom," she said, "but do not do anything to Rapunzel."

There was someone else watching the child closely. Gothel would watch just outside the castle for a glimpse of the child. The first time she saw Rapunzel, she had no doubt that the Flower of the Sun's magic was in her. She stayed around the castle, just waiting for the chance to find the child outside of the castle.

The baby grew as normal children do, and spoke her first words a few days after her first birthday. Her parents hadn't known if the child could see or not, but it became apparent when Rapunzel took her first steps. She was soon running about the castle with no trouble, and she spoke about all the pretty animals she saw outside.

After a year, the king and queen hired nursemaids to take care of Rapunzel. The entire kingdom was afraid of the child, and the nursemaids were no exception. They frequently allowed Rapunzel to wander out of their sight without doing anything about it.

When Rapunzel was three years old, she got what was supposed to be her first haircut. The barbers were terrified of the strange young princess, and neither wanted to be the one to cut her hair. Finally, one took the first snip, and a piece of hair fell to the ground. Immediately, the strands of hair that had been cut turned brown. The barbers were even more terrified, and there was no talk of cutting the princess's hair ever again.

When she was six years old, Rapunzel ventured outside of the castle on her own for the first time. Her nursemaids had not been watching her again, and the golden-eyed girl was walking around and humming to herself. When she reached the castle gate, she stopped for a moment, then continued walking. She began singing loudly.

"My sunshine doll went over the sea, and with her went the heart of me..."

It was the loud singing that told Gothel that the child was outside. She silently snuck up behind the girl and put a hand on her shoulder.

Rapunzel screamed and turned around.

"It's alright," said the old woman. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to teach you something."

"You're the first person besides my mother that is not scared of me," Rapunzel said. "Why aren't you afraid?"

"I know about magic," replied Gothel. "Come to my house. I must teach you something."