There once lived a man and
a woman who always wished for a child, but could not have one. These people had a little window at the back
of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen. The garden was full of the most beautiful
flowers and herbs. It was, however,
surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged
to an witch, who had great power and was feared by all the world.
One day the woman was
standing by the window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed
which was planted with the most tasty rapunzel.
It looked so fresh and green that she longed for it and had the greatest
desire to eat some. This desire
increased every day. The woman knew that
she could not get any of it and grew more pale and miserable each day.
Her husband was worried
about her and asked "What is wrong my dear?"
"Ah," she
replied, "if I can't eat some of the rapunzel from the garden behind our
house I think I shall die."
The man, who loved her,
thought, "Sooner than let my lovely wife die, I will bring her some of the
rapunzel myself, no matter what the cost."
In the twilight of the
evening, he climbed over the wall into the garden of the witch, hastily grabbed
a handful of rapunzel and took it to his wife.
She at once made herself a salad and ate it happily. She, however, liked it so much -- so very
much, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must
once more descend into the garden. In
the gloom of evening, therefore, he set out again; but when he had climbed over
the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the witch standing before him.
"How dare you,"
she said with angry look, "sneak into my garden and steal my rapunzel like
a thief? You shall suffer for
this!"
"Ah," the
frightened husband answered, "please have mercy, I had to have the
rapunzel. My wife saw it from the window
and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some
to eat."
Then the witch allowed her
anger to be softened, and said to him, "If this is true, I will allow you
to take as much as you like, only I make one condition. You must give me the baby daughter your wife
will bring into the world; she shall be well treated, and I will care for it
like a mother." The man in his fear
consented and when the baby was born the witch appeared at once, gave the child
the name of Rapunzel and took the baby away with her.
Rapunzel grew into the
most beautiful child beneath the sun.
When she was twelve years old, the witch shut her into a tower, which
lay in a forest. The tower had no stairs
or doors, but only a little window at the very top. When the witch wanted to go in, she stood
beneath the window and cried,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair."
Rapunzel had magnificent
long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the witch she
wound her braids round one of the hooks of the window, and then the hair fell
down the side of the tower and the witch climbed up by it.
After a year or two, it
came to pass that the Prince rode through the forest and went by the
tower. He heard a song which was so
lovely that he stood still and listened.
This was Rapunzel who in her loneliness passed her time singing. The Prince wanted to climb up to her, and
looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so deeply
touched his heart, that every day he went out into the forest and listened to
it.
Once when he was standing
behind a tree listening to Rapunzel's song, he saw the witch come and heard how
she cried,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair."
Then Rapunzel let down the
braids of her hair, and the witch climbed up to her.
"If that is the
ladder by which one mounts, I will for once try my fortune," thought the
Prince and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and
cried,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair."
Immediately the hair fell
down and the Prince climbed up.
At first Rapunzel was
terribly frightened when a man such as her eyes had never seen, came to her;
but the Prince began to talk to her quite like a friend and told her that his
heart had been so stirred by her singing that it had let him have no rest. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he
asked her if she would take him for her husband -- and she saw that he was kind
and handsome, she said yes, and laid her hand in his.
She said, "I will
willingly go away with you, but I do not know how to get down. Bring a bit of silk with you every time you
come and I will weave a ladder with it.
When that is ready I will climb down and we shall escape
together." They agreed that until
that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day.
The witch knew nothing of
this, until once Rapunzel said in her distraction, "Oh my, you are so much
heavier when you climb than the young Prince."
"Ah! you wicked
child," cried the witch "What do I hear thee say! I thought I had
separated you from all the world but you have deceived me."
In her anger she clutched
Rapunzel's beautiful hair, seized a pair of scissors -- and snip, snap -- cut
it all off. Rapunzel's lovely braids lay
on the ground but the witch was not through.
She was so angry that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had
to live in great grief and misery.
The witch rushed back to
the tower and fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off, to the hook of
the window, and when the Prince came and cried,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair,"
she let the hair
down. The Prince climbed to the window,
but he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above, but the witch, who gazed at him
with a wicked and venomous look.
"Aha!" she cried
mockingly, "You've come for Rapunzel but the beautiful bird sits no longer
singing in the nest; the cat has got it and will scratch out your eyes as
well. Rapunzel is banished and you will
never see her again!"
The Prince was beside
himself and in his despair he fell down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into
which he fell pierced his eyes. Then he
wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries and
did nothing but weep over the loss of his dearest Rapunzel.
In this way, the Prince
roamed in misery for some months and at length came to the desert where the
witch had banished Rapunzel. He heard a
voice singing and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it. When he approached, Rapunzel knew him and
fell into his arms and wept.
Two of her tears fell on
his eyes and the Prince could see again.
He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived
for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.
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