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Once upon a time there were three soldiers who had fought bravely in battle. However the war was over and there actually weren’t any more wars for them to fight in since peace had settled down on the lands so the three soldiers were tramping along without occupation or income. Which means that there is no great gain without some small loss. One evening they entered a forest and decided to pass the night there. One of the soldiers searched for firewood and after collecting an armful he suddenly saw a strange little man who stood about two feet high. The strange little man looked at him and said, “Barley and Rye sting my eye” and suddenly the strange little man vanished. The soldier thought much about this as he returned to camp and built a fire out of the fire wood.

A short time later the soldiers grew thirsty so a different one set out to look for water. He had just found a rollicking stream when he suddenly noticed a different strange little man who was filling a bucket of water. On observing the soldier the strange little man decided that he didn’t want to be on the same side of the stream with him so he suddenly said, “Acorns and Rope get my goat” and a pair of wings grew and carried the strange little man across the stream where he said, “Get my goat do Acorns and Rope” and the wings vanished.

The soldier was greatly interested and puzzled with this but he returned to the others without really understanding the importance of what he had just seen. The third soldier, who had heard the tales of the other two soldiers decided to go into the forest and see what he would find. So making an excuse he left the other two and began looking around for strange little men. Apparently the strange little men could only be found when they weren’t being looked for for the third soldier never saw them. But he did see a dazzlingly beautiful maiden locked in a high tower guarded by three ferocious dragons who attacked anything they saw.

Fortunately the dragons did not see the soldier because as soon as the soldier saw the dragons he was so frightened he said the first thing that came into his mind, which fortunately was “Barley and Rye sting my eye”. Suddenly the soldier became invisible. He was very pleased about this so he boldly walked forward and looked for an entrance to the tower. He couldn’t find one and he decided that the only entrance must be the tower window where he had seen the dazzlingly beautiful maiden. He was about to call out “Rapunzel Rapunzel Let down your hair” when he suddenly realized that the dazzlingly beautiful maiden’s gleaming golden hair was not long enough to reach the ground. And besides that, though the dragons couldn’t see him they could most certainly hear him if he shouted. The amount of gnawed bones in the vicinity made him decide to quietly enter the tower. But he did make a little bit of noise for he very quietly whispered, “Acorns and Rope get my goat”. A few seconds later he was flying up to the tower window and entering.

“How do you do this fine morning?” he said to the dazzlingly beautiful maiden. She started and and looked frighteningly around the room while saying, “Who speaks?”. The soldier suddenly remembered that he was invisible, and also that he didn’t know how to become visible again. This bothered him but he decided that he may as well be rid of his wings so he said, “Get my goat do Acorns and Rope”. Then, while the dazzlingly beautiful maiden looked around the room even more puzzled than ever the soldier decided to try something. So he said, “Sting my eye do Barley and Rye”. And then, from the dazzlingly beautiful maiden’s facial expression he knew he was visible again.

“It’s a lovely morning don’t you think?” he said with a smile and then the dazzlingly beautiful maiden smiled and looked even more dazzlingly beautiful than ever. It was not long before they were engaged for the soldier was young and handsome and moreover the dragons had eaten all of his competition. So the soldier and the maiden got married and lived happily ever after and the other two soldiers lived happily for as long as the lived but unfortunately they went looking for their comrade and encountered the dragons and… The dragons eventually died of indigestion.

MORAL: Due caution when in the vicinity of dragons should be observed and logical thinking is a great treasure and not all dazzlingly beautiful maidens locked up in towers are named Rapunzel.