Once upon a time a man named Carl married a girl named Ellie. They were a sweet couple and lived happily together in a little house that had once been their secret club house when they were children. Carl worked at the zoo selling balloon, and Ellie also worked at the zoo as an animal carer.

They were very happy except for one thing. They couldn’t have children.

So, one day, Carl, seeing his wife looking very unhappy, came up with a solution.

“Adoption?” Ellie looked up at him. “Really?”

Carl smiled. “I’m game if you are.”

And Ellie was.

So, off they went to Miss Hattie’s Home For Girls, where Miss Hattie told them a young baby had recently been given up for adoption.

“Her name’s Rapunzel,” she said, walking them over to the crib where the tiny girl with a shock of blonde hair lay curled up asleep. “Her mother was a woman named Gothel, of German origin; said she had no time for children in her life, so she’d rather we took her off her hands. Sometimes it’s like that,” she added, seeing the shocked looks on Carl and Ellie’s faces that any mother could say such a thing about her own child. “Some who give their children up don’t care if they never see them again. Children like Rapunzel need a loving home and I think you two can give her just that.”

And they did.

“I’m so happy,” Ellie told Carl.

“Me too,” he replied, with a smile as Rapunzel chuckled in the way that babies often do when they’re happy.