Flynn was jolted¹ awake just in time to see the palace guards running toward him. He looked around in confusion, having no idea how he had gotten on the ship.

 

Then he heard a palace guard say, "Look! The crown!" And Flynn remembered the Stabbington brothers. Flynn knew they must have set him up, but all he cared about was what had happened to Rapunzel.

 

"Rapunzel? Rapunzel!" Flynn shouted out desperately².

 

The only witness to the whole sequence of events was Maximus. He knew he was supposed to keep Flynn out of trouble for twenty-four hours, and he was not happy. He snorted angrily and followed as the guards hauled Flynn off to the palace jail. Then he galloped³ straight toward the gates of the kingdom. He had to find help.

 

While the guards were busy locking up Flynn, Mother Gothel led Rapunzel back to the tower.

 

Rapunzel went directly to her loft⁴. Pascal still clung to her hair near her shoulder, hoping to help somehow. But Rapunzel was dazed by everything that had happened. She couldn't believe Flynn had taken the crown and left her. As she slumped⁵ at the edge of her bed, her hand strayed to her pocket, from which she pulled out a small kingdom flag — purple, with a gold sun on it. She stared at the flag and sighed, thinking of Flynn, the friendly thugs in the tavern⁶, the people in the kingdom. What had gone wrong? Pascal heaved a sigh as well and turned blue, reflecting Rapunzel's sad mood.

 

Rapunzel looked at poor Pascal. At least she still had one friend. Playfully, she tossed the little flag at him. She wanted to see him turn a happy yellow again.

 

"Oh, come on," she said to him, as she always did when he turned blue on her account. "It's not that bad."

 

Rapunzel looked at her painted wall. That sun seemed to be everywhere, showing up in bright spots on the painting. She could see them now. Rapunzel slowly focused more closely on her handiwork. The kingdom's sun fit into every small blank place on her mural. All these years, without realizing it, Rapunzel had been incorporating the outline of the golden sun in the empty spaces of the picture!

 

A flood of images suddenly filled Rapunzel's head. She recalled Flynn saying that the lights were floating lanterns that the kingdom sent up every year on the lost princess's birthday — her birthday. She remembered the mosaic⁷ of the royal family. The King and Queen were holding the lost princess. The Queen and the baby both had green eyes just like Rapunzel's. She remembered her reflection in the mirror when she placed the crown on her head.

 

As Rapunzel looked up at all those golden suns, everything fell into place. Rapunzel, at last, knew exactly who she was.

 

"Rapunzel?" Mother Gothel called up to her. But there was no answer. Mother Gothel, anxious to be on her way and put this whole nasty business behind them, slowly began to climb the stairs to Rapunzel's room.

 

"Rapunzel, what's going on up there?Are you all right?" she asked impatiently.

 

Mother Gothel's eyes grew wide when she saw Rapunzel standing⁸ above her on the stairs.

 

"I'm the lost princess," Rapunzel said softly.

 

Mother Gothel tried to dismiss it all. "Oh, please speak up, Rapunzel. You know I hate mumbling," she snapped, but Rapunzel saw the fear in the older woman's eyes.

 

"I am the lost princess, aren't I?" Rapunzel repeated loudly and clearly. "Did I mumble⁹, Mother?"

 

就在宫廷卫兵向费林跑来的时候，他被颠醒了。他疑惑地看着周围，不明白自己怎么会在船上。

 

接着，他听到一个宫廷卫兵说：“瞧！皇冠！”费林记起了钉刺兄弟。费林知道他们陷害了他，但是他关心的却是乐佩的下落。

 

“乐佩？乐佩！”费林绝望地喊道。

 

整件事的唯一目击者只有捍马。他知道自己本该让费林在二十四小时内免受麻烦，所以他不高兴了。他愤怒地喷着响鼻，跟在押送费林去宫廷监狱的卫兵后面。然后，他径直向王国的大门飞奔而去。他要去找帮手。

 

卫兵们忙着把费林关起来的时候，高瑟妈妈正带着乐佩返回高塔。

 

乐佩径直回到她的阁楼。帕斯考仍然在她的肩头，抓着她的头发，希望能帮上忙。但是乐佩被刚刚发生的一切弄晕了。她不相信费林带着皇冠离开了她。她倒在床沿，一只手在兜里摸索，从里面掏出一面小小的国旗——紫色的，上面有一个金色的太阳。她凝视着旗帜，叹了口气。她想着费林，酒馆里的恶棍朋友们，王国里的人们。到底是哪里出了错？帕斯考也叹了一口气，变成了蓝色，映照出乐佩的悲伤情绪。

 

乐佩看着可怜的帕斯考。至少，她还有一个朋友。她玩笑般地把小旗朝他扔过去。她希望他再次变成快乐的黄色。

 

“哦，行了。”她对帕斯考说。每次帕斯考因为她而变成蓝色的时候她总会这么说：“没有那么糟糕。”

 

乐佩看着她画的墙壁。太阳似乎到处都是，在画上呈现出明亮的光点。她现在能看到它们了。乐佩慢慢集中起精力端详她的画作。壁画的每个空白处都恰好是王国的太阳。这么多年来，乐佩在不知不觉中把金色太阳的轮廓嵌进了壁画的空白处！

 

突然，无数的画面涌进乐佩的脑海。她想起费林说过，那些光是飘浮的天灯，是王国每年在失踪的公主生日那天——她生日那天放飞的。她记起了那幅皇家的马赛克画。国王和皇后抱着他们失踪的公主。皇后和婴儿都有和乐佩一样的绿眼睛。她想起了自己把皇冠戴在头上照镜子的模样。

 

乐佩抬头看着金色的太阳，一切都清楚了。乐佩终于知道了自己到底是谁。

 

“乐佩？”高瑟妈妈在喊她。但是毫无回应。高瑟妈妈焦急地迈开脚步，把手里的活统统放下，开始慢慢地爬上楼梯，向乐佩的房间走去。

 

“乐佩，上面发生什么事了？你没事吧？”她不耐烦地问。

 

高瑟妈妈看到乐佩站在高高的楼梯上，她瞪大了眼睛。

 

“我就是失踪的公主。”乐佩轻声说。

 

高瑟妈妈试图不去理会。“哦，请大声说，乐佩，你知道我讨厌喃喃自语。”她咬牙切齿，但是乐佩分明见到了这个老妇人眼中的惊恐。

 

“我就是失踪的公主，不是吗？”乐佩用清晰而响亮的声音重复了一遍，“我这是喃喃自语吗，妈妈？”

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