Janet was brushing her golden locks. It took ages to get them plaited as her hair was so long, but Horace, her knight in shining armour, liked them that way. Not that he particularly noticed the lovely golden colour of her hair, or the care she put into plaiting them. No, Horace mainly liked her hair as it was long, and he could use it like a rope to climb up to the tower that was Janet’s home.

Janet had been thinking about this arrangement more and more in recent weeks. At first she was delighted to have found her Knight, and willingly let down her hair to let Horace up , hoping that he would marry her and take her away from the tower that her witch stepmother had imprisoned her in. Unfortunately, Horace seemed more interested in the tower itself, ranting enthusiastically about the machicolations, and the quality of the external stonework. Horace was apparently a ‘castle explorer’ and had a website describing all his castle visits.

At first this had not bothered Janet as her many years in the tower had made her lonely, and she happily listened to his tales about a girl called Doris who had shown him around her castle as gratitude for him waking her from a long sleep.

Janet was suddenly interrupted in her thoughts by the familiar cry ‘ Yoo-hoo, Janet my love, let down your golden hair!’ It was Horace, waving a camera, clearly wanting yet more photos of the tower for his website. ‘ Er, sorry, no can do, I’m in the middle of washing it, can you get yourself a ladder instead?’ she replied. Horace looked a tad put out, but skulked off, only to return twenty minutes later , ladder in hand.

Up he climbed, up to the waiting Janet. She helped him scramble in through the window, and then he began the usual, snapping away at the tower interior, taking lots of good shots for his website. He was so engrossed he did not even notice Janet climbing out of the window and down the ladder, which she then quickly removed.

Free at last, Janet started whooping and doing cart wheels around the base of the tower. This caused Horace to stop snapping away on his camera, and come to the window. ‘I say Janet, what are you doing down there- and where’s the ladder gone?’ he shouted down to her. ‘I’ve taken it ’ Janet shouted back up. ‘So how will I get down?’ Horace asked, a little worried. ‘Don’t know, but as you are so keen on the tower, you live in instead. I’m off!’

With that, she cartwheeled away, congratulating herself on her lucky escape.