Once upon a time, way back before there were televisions or computers or chocolate-covered raisins, there lived a handsome young prince named Cort. Cort had the ordinary life of a prince.He attended parties, banquets, and dances.He had fittings for crowns and capes and purple velvet robes.He learned to ride a horse,and he learned to make wise decisions when two of his subjects had a disagreement.His father, King Ben, and his mother, Queen Jen, were very proud of him.

When Prince Cort turned 16, his father called him to the throne room."My son," he said, "now you are a man. Soon I will pass the throne on to you."

"Oh, no!" said Prince Cort. "Are you telling me that you're dying?"

The king shook his head. "What? No, of course not.Your mother and I are just getting tired of being in charge.We want to retire to that cottage behind the palace.I want to raise a flower garden, and the queen wants to take up blacksmithing.You know, she's always dreamed of making fancy new armor for the knights."

"Oh, okay," said Prince Cort.

"Before you take my place as king," said King Ben, "there are some tasks you must accomplish.They are the very same tasks that every ruler of our kingdom has had to undertake."

Prince Cort sat down on the throne next to his father.King Ben unrolled a small scroll and read, "You must feed hungry people,clothe people who are cold, protect the kingdom from a savage danger,save a person in trouble, and find a loving bride."

"Wow," said Prince Cort. "That's a lot of stuff to do."

"You bet it is," said the king. He handed the scroll to Prince Cort."And there's no time like the present.I'd like to get started on my flower garden before the weather gets much chillier."

So Prince Cort set off to complete his assigned tasks.He rode his palomino horse, Mustard,into the forest and brought back two huge sacks full of quail, rabbits, apples, and pears.These he distributed to the hungriest people in the kingdom.

Next he chopped down several large oak trees and cut the wood into long planks.He fashioned the planks into a loom.Then he sheared all the royal sheep and spun the wool into thread.With the help of the palace weavers,Prince Cort produced a bolt of warm wool fabric so long it could wrap around the castle five times.He gave this cloth to the chilliest people in the kingdom so they could fashion coats, trousers, smocks, and leg warmers.

To show her appreciation, one lady sewed Prince Corta wool jacket with fringe and tassels and big puffy pompoms on the shoulders."I hope you wear this all the time!" she said, with a curtsy.

"You're not really going to wear that, are you?"asked Cort's older sister, Delia, after the lady had left the castle."It has big puffy pompoms on the shoulders."

Prince Cort tried it on and grimaced."I guess I have to," he said, "or I'll hurt the lady's feelings."

So Prince Cort wore the jacket as he set out to tackle the scariest of all the tasks.He had to do something to protect the kingdom from a savage danger.

The most savage danger facing the kingdom at that time was a winged dragon that lived in the mountains near the palace.The dragon had frightened hunters and peasants for years with his fiery breath and sharpened-silver claws.He burned down huts and chased people across the rocky ridges.His hearing was so keen he could detect an ant crawling underground a mile away.Because of this, no one could ever sneak up on him.

Prince Cort rode Mustard to the mountains, and before he reached the peak of the first ridge,he heard loud laughter coming from the sky.He looked up to see the dragon hovering beneath the clouds, wings spread, cackling madly.

"What the heck are you wearing?" the dragon asked Prince Cort.

Prince Cort's face reddened. "It's my fine new jacket."

"Love the pompoms," said the dragon sarcastically."You must be a very brave soul to wear that in public.In fact, it appears that you're the bravest man I've ever met, and I've lived a thousand years."

Prince Cort sat up straight in his saddle."Yes!" he declared. "That's exactly what I am, the bravest man in the whole kingdom.Aren't you impressed with me?"

"You bet," said the dragon.

"Then you know I could capture you easily, as brave as I am," said Prince Cort.

"I don't doubt it," said the dragon.

"Then this is what I command of you. You shall come with me and be my friend.You will no longer terrorize anyone in my kingdom,and when I need your help, I will whistle and you will come to me."

"Sure," said the dragon, and that was that.The savage danger was over.Now Prince Cort faced the fourth task - rescuing someone in peril.

Over the previous few years, Cort had heard rumors that in the neighboring kingdom,an evil queen had imprisoned someone named Rapunzel in a tall stone tower with no stairs, no doors, and only a single window at the very top.Rapunzel could be heard singing a sweet, sad song every morning at dawn.

Each evening the evil queen would stand at the base of the tower and call,"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair!"With that, Rapunzel would let a long cascade of yellow hair out through the window,and the queen would climb up the hair and go into the tower.

"Rapunzel must long to be free," Cort told Delia as they walked in the palace garden,"and yet the evil queen won't allow it."

"What are you going to do?" asked Delia.

"Yeah, what are you going to do?" asked the dragon, who had flown in behind them.

"Rescue her to accomplish my fourth task," said Cort."And maybe she'll fall madly in love with me and marry me.That way I'll have taken care of two tasks at once!"

"Good luck with that!" Delia and the dragon said at the same time.

Prince Cort saddled Mustard and galloped off to the neighboring kingdom.The journey took three days and three nights, and when he got there,it was very late in the afternoon.He and Mustard sneaked through the castle gate behind a company of mounted knights and then hid quietly in the long shadows beside a tall stone tower with a single window at the top.

"I'm sure that's it - Rapunzel's tower!"whispered Prince Cort to Mustard, who was eating grass and couldn't have cared less.

When the sun went down, Prince Cort spied the evil queen- a gaunt-faced woman in a dark velvet cape and golden crown- leaving the castle and strolling across the courtyard alone.She carried a basket covered with a satin cloth.Prince Cort could smell the freshly baked bread inside the basket.

At the bottom of the tower, the queen called out in a squeaky, raspy voice,"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.I will climb to you without a ladder or a stair!"

There was a soft rustling sound, and suddenly a beautiful waterfall of long,buttercup-colored hair dropped out.It was so long it reached all the way to the ground.The queen grabbed the basket handle in her teeth, took hold of the locks,and proceeded to climb the hair to the tower window.

"Oh, that has to hurt," Prince Cort whispered.Mustard grunted and sneezed at a fly.

The queen was gone for a good long time,and then she quietly crawled out the window and lowered herself down the length of yellow hair.Safely on the ground, she hurried across the courtyard and back into the castle.

"As soon as all the lights are out in the castle,I'll know the royal family and their servants are asleep," said Prince Cort."Then I shall rescue the lovely Rapunzel!"

As the last light in the castle windows winked out,the clock tower in the town rang twelve times - midnight.Prince Cort tiptoed into the moonlight and stood by the tower.

In a voice he hoped sounded like the raspy voice of the evil queen, Prince Cort called,"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.I will climb to you without a ladder or a stair!"

A moment later, the long yellow hair was lowered out through the window.Prince Cort grabbed hold of it, his heart pounding.He wanted to make a good impression on Rapunzel in case she might make a good bride one day.

Up, up, up he went, drawing closer and closer to the window.Then, at last, he grabbed the sill and pulled himself through with a grunt.The room was tiny and lit only by a small lantern on a table.

"Who the heck are you?" came a deep, guttural voice from the shadows.

Startled, Prince Cort nearly fell backward out of the window.He grabbed hold of the long rope of yellow hair to keep from taking a tumble.

The lantern's wick was turned up.There, in a small chair beside the small table was a huge, broad-shouldered, bushy-browed man with a very long yellow beard.He was so tall he had his legs drawn up nearly to his chin, and his head nearly touched the ceiling.

"I'm Prince Cort from the neighboring kingdom," said Prince Cort. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rapunzel," said the huge man. "But I prefer to be called Rappy."

"Really?" "Really. So what's with the jacket and the pompoms?"

"It's a long story," said Prince Cort."I've come to rescue you, even if you aren't a beautiful young lady."

"There's no way out, though," said Rappy. "I can't climb down my own beard."

"Hmm, I hadn't thought about how I would get you out."

Rappy rolled his eyes. "So now what?The evil queen loved my singing, so she stuck me up in this place.I have to sing for her every morning so she'll bring me food every night.It's mighty cramped and cold, and I'm tired of eating biscuits.What I wouldn't give for a chocolate-chip cookie!"

Prince Cort squinted out at the full moon.Then he thought of something else that could hover in the sky,something that had better hearing than any other creature on Earth.Leaning carefully out the window, Prince Cort whistled for the dragon.In a matter of minutes, the dragon appeared in the glow of the moon, his huge wings flapping.

"Knock down this wall!" cried Prince Cort.The dragon obeyed, using his huge claws to tear down the stones.The prince and Rappy climbed onto the dragon's back and flew in a matter of moments back to Prince Cort's kingdom.

After a hot shower, Rappy was introduced to Delia,who did not have a beard and knew how to bake chocolate-chip cookies.They immediately fell in love and set a date to be married.Three days later, Mustard returned to the castle, irritated at having been left behind.After a fine meal of oats and apples, he was satisfied.

As Rappy and Delia began their happy-ever-after,Prince Cort headed out again to find a loving bride.He'd heard there was a young princess who had been put under a sleeping spell in yet another kingdom far, far away.