Mother Gothel froze. Her mind ran wild. Her secret was finally exposed. Desperately¹, she tried to regain² control, saying brusquely, "Rapunzel, do you even hear yourself? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?"

 

Rapunzel walked past Mother Gothel and went down the stairs. Mother Gothel had lied to her. She had been lying to her ever since she had stolen her away from her true parents.

 

"It was you!" Rapunzel said coldly. Now she was thinking of Flynn. Mother Gothel had set him up. "It was all you!"

 

"Everything I did was to protect you," Mother Gothel said, pleading with Rapunzel.

 

"Where will you go?" she suddenly asked sharply. "He won't be there for you!"

 

Rapunzel turned and looked at her. "What did you do to him?" she demanded. She felt her heart swell³, her love for Flynn giving her the courage to stand up to Mother Gothel at last.

 

"That criminal is to be hanged for his crimes," Mother Gothel said cruelly.

 

"No," Rapunzel murmured, horrified⁴. "No."

 

Mother Gothel could see that Rapunzel was upset, and she moved closer to make the most of the opportunity.

 

"Now, now. It's all right," Mother Gothel said in her most soothing⁵ voice. She held out her arms as she always had. "All is as it should be."

 

"How could you do this? I love him," Rapunzel said.

 

Mother Gothel reached out to pat Rapunzel's head as if she were a small child. "I know you think you do, dear," she said in her silkiest, most soothing voice.

 

"No," Rapunzel said firmly as she grasped Mother Gothel's outstretched arm. "You were wrong about the world, Mother. And you were wrong about me. I am not stupid, and I am not small. And I will never let you use my hair again!" Rapunzel twisted Mother Gothel's arm and pushed her away. The older woman stumbled backward and crashed into her full-length mirror. The mirror shattered, its broken shards⁶ dropping to the floor. Rapunzel turned and defiantly⁷ walked away.

 

Mother Gothel glared at her. "Fine," the older woman said under her breath. She had given Rapunzel her chance to go back to the way things used to be. Now Mother Gothel would use stronger means to keep the girl with

 

In the kingdom's jail, Flynn sat in his cell, wondering where Rapunzel was and whether she was hurt or in trouble. He blamed himself. If he hadn't stolen the crown, he never would have gotten mixed up with those Stabbington brothers.

 

"Let's get this over with, Rider," a jail guard announced as he unlocked the cell door. Flynn knew he was in trouble. After all, he had stolen the lost princess's crown. The punishment was death by hanging.

 

Still, he was more worried about Rapunzel. As two guards escorted him through the jail, Flynn spotted⁸ the Stabbingtons in one of the cells. Breaking free from the guards, he grabbed one of the brothers by the collar.

 

"How did you know about her? Tell me, NOW!" Flynn needed to know what had happened, how they had known about Rapunzel — where she was!

 

"It wasn't us. It was the old lady."

 

Flynn tightened⁹ his grip, but the guards rushed up and pulled him back roughly.

 

"Wait, wait!" Flynn shouted to the guards. "Wait! You don't understand, she's in trouble!" He didn't care that they were leading him to his death. He needed to save Rapunzel!

 

Suddenly he heard a ruckus outside. Flynn's jaw¹⁰ dropped. The thugs from the Snuggly Duckling had arrived! And they had come to break Flynn out of jail. Flynn didn't know how or why they had come, but he leaped at the opportunity.

 

Swinging his chains, he knocked over the two guards. He and the thugs raced outside and headed toward the kingdom's gates. The thugs punched and smacked¹¹ and wrestled¹² the royal guards to the ground. Finally one of the thugs grabbed Flynn and put him on a wheelbarrow. Then, using the barrow as a seesaw¹³, another thug jumped on the other end, launching Flynn into the air. He landed perfectly¹⁴ on Maximus's back. The horse snorted at Flynn. He hoped Flynn had finally noticed what an excellent horse he was. Maximus had galloped¹⁵ to find the thugs from the Snuggly Duckling and lead them to Flynn.

 

"Shut the gates! Shut the gates! Shut the gates!" the guards yelled. Maximus charged! The speedy horse zipped right through the gates as they slammed shut. Safely outside, Flynn and Maximus raced to save Rapunzel.

 

高瑟妈妈僵住了。她思绪万千。她的秘密最后还是泄露了。在绝望中，她试图重新获得主导权，粗暴地说：“乐佩，你知道自己在说什么吗？你怎么会问这么可笑的问题？”

 

乐佩走过高瑟妈妈身旁，走下楼梯。高瑟妈妈骗了她。自从她把乐佩从她亲生父母那儿偷走后，就一直在撒谎。

 

“是你！”乐佩冷冷地说。现在，她想起了费林。高瑟妈妈设计陷害了他，“都是你！”

 

“我做的一切都是为了保护你。”高瑟妈妈恳求乐佩。

 

“你要去哪儿？”她突然厉声问道，“他不会在那里等你的。”

 

乐佩转过身，看着她。“你对他做了什么？”她追问道。她察觉到自己心潮澎湃，对费林的爱给了她勇气，让她终于能勇敢地面对高瑟妈妈。

 

“以那个罪犯的罪行，要被处以绞刑了。”高瑟妈妈冷酷地说。

 

“不，”乐佩惊恐地喃喃道，“不。”

 

高瑟妈妈看出乐佩心烦意乱。她挪近了点，想要充分利用这次机会。

 

“好了，好了。没事的。”高瑟妈妈用最能抚慰人心的声音说。她像过去那样张开了手臂，“所有这一切都是理所应当的。”

 

“你怎么能这么对他？我爱他。”乐佩说。

 

高瑟妈妈伸手轻抚着乐佩的头，仿佛她是个小孩子。“我知道你以为自己爱他，亲爱的。”她用最柔和、最舒缓的声音说。

 

“不，”乐佩一把抓住高瑟妈妈伸出的手，坚定地说，“你看错了这个世界，妈妈。你看错了我。我不傻，我也不是小孩子。我永远也不会再让你利用我的头发！”乐佩扭开高瑟妈妈的手臂，推开了她。这位老妇人踉跄地后退了几步，撞上了穿衣镜。镜子碎了，碎片掉落到地上。乐佩转过身，义无反顾地走了。

 

高瑟妈妈愤怒地瞪着她。“很好。”这位老妇人低声说。她已经给了乐佩一个重新回来的机会。现在，高瑟妈妈会用更强硬的手段来留住这个女孩。

 

在王国的监狱里，费林坐在牢房里，他想知道乐佩的下落，她是否受了伤，是否有麻烦。他责怪自己。要是他没有偷皇冠，他永远也不会和钉刺兄弟那样的人搅和在一起。

 

“让我们来个了断吧，雷德。”一名监狱卫兵打开牢门的时候说。费林知道自己有麻烦了。他毕竟偷了失踪公主的皇冠。惩罚就是被处以绞刑。

 

然而，他更担心乐佩。两名卫兵押着他穿过监牢，费林发现钉刺兄弟被关在其中一间牢房里。他挣脱卫兵，抓住了其中一人的领子。

 

“你怎么知道她的事情的？告诉我。快！”费林要知道发生了什么事，他们是怎么知道乐佩的事的——她在哪儿！

 

“不是我们，是那个老太婆。”

 

费林抓得更紧，但是卫兵们已经冲了过来，粗暴地把他拖开。

 

“等一下，等一下！”费林对着卫兵们大吼，“等一下！你们不明白，她有麻烦了！”他不在乎他们正在把他往死路上送。他要去救乐佩！

 

突然，他听到外面一阵喧闹。费林目瞪口呆。舒适小鸭酒馆的恶棍们来了！他们来劫狱救费林出去。费林不知道他们是怎么来的，也不知道他们为什么会来，但他立刻抓住了这个机会。

 

他挥舞着手铐上的锁链，打晕了两名卫兵。他和恶棍们跑到外面，向王国的大门冲去。恶棍们猛击皇家卫兵，把他们摔在地上。最后，一个恶棍抓住费林，把他放上一辆手推车。紧接着，另一个恶棍把手推车当成跷跷板，用力跳上手推车的另一头，费林被弹射到空中。他稳稳地落在捍马的背上。马对着费林喷鼻息，他希望费林最终能意识到他是一匹多么棒的马。是捍马跑去找了舒适小鸭酒馆的恶棍们，然后领着他们来救费林。

 

“关上大门！关上大门！关上大门！”卫兵大喊。捍马冲过去了！飞奔的马刚巧在他们关上门的那一刹冲了出去。费林和捍马安全地到了外面，他们飞奔着去营救乐佩。

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