Once upon a time 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."
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."
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."
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,"
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