June Story: Chapter 1 the Unfair Exchange

    It was a gloomy day in Florence. The June gloom was above everyone’s head. The evil wizard Luigi was making his way through town. He was shopping for groceries. He would have to hurry, his love slave was waiting in the tower and she could not be left alone for long. Rapunzel was a tricky girl to please, Luigi thought if he flattered her with a stupendous feast, maybe she’d be sweeter to him.

As he made his way around the street square he suddenly ran into an old friend. She was one of the thirteen witches who he built a castle with on the far away witch mountain. Now the witch was in Italy with Luigi.

“Madame Gothel, how strange it is to find you here in this place”

“Yes, I grew wary over on the English countryside, all the children are disappearing. There are no more subjects for us to rule. I flew over here last night, I looked over my shoulder, but don’t think I was followed.  Tell me, are there lots of witch hunters in this town?”

“No, apparently witchcraft is the last thing on anybody’s mind. This is a new age and a new way of life.  You and I are living on the edge of the civilized world.”

“You don’t say, I have a bag of gold and need to find the right kind of guild to invest in. I heard that’s the kind of thing they do in Italy,”

“I know of a land that the owner is willing to sell, it as a garden and is near a forest, so you can sell herbs and firewood.

“My? where is this land? Who is the owner?”

“Actually, it’s mine and it sure is a lovely place, there’s just one small problem”

“Whatever it may be, I will take care of it”

   So Luigi told her the story of how he brought out a vegetable farmer of his land and house, but found that the farmer’s wife, Rapunzel was a lovely creature and so locked her in a dungeon until she submitted to his advances. He tried his hardest to persuade her to join him, but she lived under the delusion that her husband was coming back. 

He had decided right then and there that she was too much trouble and gave her and her husband’s land away to the witch.

    So Luigi sold the place and left town for more adventures. The witch put Rapunzel in the high tower and locked her in. Rapunzel had no way out.  

She cried out the window, but no one heard because the farm and tower were in the middle of nowhere.

Gothel went to insect the garden and decided to tend to the vegetables and herbs. As the sun set over the countryside farmers returned home from a hard day’s work of harvesting the hay.

Rapunzel lay down on the straw on the floor, alone and hungry. She fell asleep in the dark room and slept through the night. The witch would buy some new furniture tomorrow and spruce up the old farmhouse.