Rapunzel's Reflection
Once upon a time.
Okay, here’s one of my longer stories for you to get your teeth into.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then, I shall begin:
Rapunzel was the finest maiden in all of Hackney. Legend of her impeccably bleached, floor length hair, travelled across social media. Suitors from the surrounding manors would come to her bearing gifts of limited edition trainers and diamanté encrusted phones.
One day, whilst walking through the market, she came across an elderly woman whose stall displayed a single rose-gold mirror. Rapunzel was transfixed by its beauty.
“Sometimes we need to reflect,” the old woman said.
Rapunzel’s eyes widened as the compact mirror began to glow brightly.
“Buy me. Buy me,” it seemed to whisper.
“It’s meant for you,” the woman said.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any money.” Rapunzel replied.
“I accept card,” the woman said.
Rapunzel shook her head sadly, “I don’t get paid until Friday.”
“Perhaps we could make an exchange,” the woman said, pointing a withered, yet, immaculately manicured finger, towards the box of chicken and chips in Rapunzel’s hands.
“I am starving,” she said, staring deep into Rapunzel’s eyes.
Rapunzel too was starving, for she had not eaten since lunchtime. Then, she remembered she had been invited to a celebration that very evening, and had a PVC catsuit into which she needed to fit.
They made the exchange and Rapunzel hurried home as fast as her platformed Converse pumps would carry her.
Little did Rapunzel know, the mirror was cursed. It magnified her flaws tenfold. Hours passed as she sat frozen on her bedroom floor staring at blemished skin and eyebrow hairs too short to pluck. Rapunzel was entranced, unable to look away from her reflection.
Luckily, that evening Rapunzel’s housemate, Cinderella, was due to borrow some shoes for the celebration. She entered Rapunzel’s quarters and was shocked to find the maiden with unbrushed hair.
“Are you unwell, Sis?” Cinderella asked, running to her side.
Rapunzel did not speak.
No matter how loudly she shouted or violently shook her, Cinderella was unable to wake Rapunzel from the trance. Then, she noticed the mirror Rapunzel gripped in her hand. Recognising it from a warning video that had travelled across the Kingdom WhatsApp group, Cinderella knew what she must do to break the curse.
She ran to the west-wing and begged her other housemate, Lance, for his shears. He agreed on one condition. He was to have exclusive access to the communal living space, in order to observe pugilism. The deal was struck and Cinderella sped back to Rapunzel’s aid.
“Forgive me, Sis,” she said, as she began shaving Rapunzel’s golden tresses away from her scalp.
Rapunzel immediately awoke from the spell and threw the mirror against the wall, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
“Are you mental, Sis?!” She screamed at Cinderella.
“It was the only way to break the curse,” Cinderella said.
“I am hideous!” Rapunzel wept.
But Cinderella knew otherwise. She took a photo of Rapunzel on her phone and held it up for the distressed damsel to see.
“No Sis, you are blessed.”
Rapunzel looked at the image and nodded happily, realising she was indeed blessed. She stood up proudly, knowing she had exactly what was needed to overcome this trial. It had been there all along, she had just never been able to see it before. Previously obscured, the whole world would now be able to see it too. A nicely shaped head.
The End
This particular piece was for a Globe Soup competition.
Namely their flash-fiction ‘Genre Smash’ where they gave us a list of genre pairings. It was our job to create a piece of work using one of those pairs along with a designated theme.
The theme was ‘Transformation’.
We had a maximum of 600 words to play with, and the genre smash I went for was ‘Urban’ plus ‘Fairy tale’.
<If you prefer your story-time aloud, this one also took place over on YouTube>
‘Urban’ has A LOT of connotations these days so I referred to their definition below for guidance:
Urban fiction is often gritty and dark and is usually about the underbelly or harshness of the urban environment.
And for this particular competition, they wanted us to combine urban fiction with the elements of fairy tale.
You know, the typical stereotypes and tropes that appear time and time again within the fairy tale genre.
The princess.
The mysterious ‘old’ woman.
The moral.
I wanted to play with these and give them a bit of a freshen up.
Tongue firmly planted in cheek.
And Rapunzel’s Reflection was born.
<What’s your reflection on this version of Rapunzel?>