The Great Rapunzel Race

Rapunzel the fair
let down her long hair
when two men came up a riding.
“Let's settle this square,
there's two of us here,
but no good will come out of fighting.”

“What I propose
is that each of us goes
up separate braids to the top.
Thus the fastest man here
wins the maiden up there.
Fair warning: I will not stop!”

So they climbed neck-in-neck;
they both looked quite a wreck
after hours of rigorous working.
The second man paused;
the first wondered what caused
the second man's devilish smirking.

Said the second man now,
as he wiped off his brow,
“I admit, you are the stronger one.
But bronze can't out muscle
a clever brain in a tussle!”
'Snip snip' and the first man was done.