Last week's entries on the boundary between life and death have prompted me to think about material memory, sentiment, and the body. Along these lines, the entries for the next few days will focus on one particular bodily manifestation of sentiment, memory, selfhood, sexuality & health: hair. The first entry is taken from a familiar fairy tale:
"One day, after three years had passed, it happened that a young prince who was hunting in the forest passed close to the tower and saw Rapunzel standing in her window singing and brushing out her hair. She sang so sweetly that the prince fell in love with her at once. But since there was no door to the tower and no stiarway or ladder, he despaired of reaching her. Still, after that day, he went to the forest again and again and made his way to the tower and listened to her songs. One day, as he was standing concealed in the shadowy wood, he saw the wtich come down the path and call, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair." And she, thinking it was the witch, let down her hair, not braided now, but flowing like a golden waterfall, and drew him up."
--"Rapunzel," in The Magic Carpet and Other Tales, Retold by Ellen Douglas with the Illustrations of Walter Anderson (1987)
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