Rapunzel

Once upon a time, there wereThere were once a man and a woman who had long wished for a child without successin vain wished for a child.

At lastlength the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house. Through it, they could see a splendid gardenhouse from which a splendid garden could be seen, which 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 enchantress with great power, feared by everyone, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. One day the woman stood at the window looking down into the garden. She saw a bed of beautiful rampion (rapunzel), a plant eaten in salads. It looked so fresh and green that she longedwas standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion (rapunzel), and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, and had the greatest desireExplanation: Rampion is an edible plant. Rapunzel receives the same name as the plant in the enchantress’s garden. to eat some. This desire increased every day. As she knew she could not get any of it, she grew weakday, and as she knew that she could not get any of it, she quite pined away, and looked pale and miserable.

Then her husband was alarmed, and asked, “What is wrongaileth thee, dear wife?” “Ah,” she replied, “if I can’t eat some of the rampion in the garden behind our house,get some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die.”

The man, who loved her, thought, “Rather than let your wife die, bring her some rampion yourself, whatever it costs youSooner than let thy wife die, bring her some of the rampion thyself, let it cost thee what it will.” In the twilight of the evening, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife.

She at once made herself a salad of it, and ate it with much relish. 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 peace, her husband had to go down into the garden againrest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening, therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him. “How dare you,” she said angrily, “climb downcanst thou dare,” said she with angry look, “to descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief? You willThou shalt suffer for it!” “Ah,” answered he, “let mercy take the place of justice. I only did it because I had no choice.justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion 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 enchantress’s anger softened, and sheenchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him, “If it is as you say, I will let you take as much rampion as you want. But I have one condition: you must give me the child your wife will bring into the world. It will be treated wellthe case be as thou sayest, I will allow thee to take away with thee as much rampion as thou wilt, only I make one condition, thou must give me the child which thy wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother.” In his terror, the man consented to everything. When the woman gave birth, the enchantress appeared at once, named the childThe man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath the sun.

When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her in a tower in a forest. It had neither stairs nor door, but rightinto a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window.

When the enchantress wanted to go in, she stoodplaced herself beneath it and cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down yourthy hair to me.”

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold. When she heard the enchantress, she unfastened her braids and wound them around a window hook. Her, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell a good many yardstwenty ells down. The enchantress climbed up, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

After a year or two, theit came to pass that the King’s son rode through the forest and went by the tower.

Then he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened.

This was Rapunzel, who passed her lonely hours singing in her sweet voicein her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound.

The King’s son 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 heartheart, that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. One day, as he stood behind a tree, he saw an enchantress approach and heard her call,Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down yourthy hair.”

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. “If that is the ladder to use, I will try my luck for once,” he said. The next day,by which one mounts, I will for once try my fortune,” said he, and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down yourthy hair.”

Immediately the hair fell down and the King’s son climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened: she had never seen a man before. But the King’s son spoke to her like a friend. He told her that his heart had been so deeply stirred that he could find no rest and had when a man such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the King’s son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear. When he asked her to marry him, she saw that he was young and handsome andfear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, “He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does.” She said yesdoes;” and she said yes, and laid her hand in his.

She said, “I will gladly go away with youwillingly go away with thee, but I do not know how to get down. Bring a bundle of silk thread every time you come, and I will weave a ladder. When it is ready, I will climb down and you will take me on yourwith thee a skein of silk every time that thou comest, and I will weave a ladder with it, and when that is ready I will descend, and thou wilt take me on thy horse.” They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day. The enchantress noticed noneremarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her, “Tell me, Dame Gothel, why are you so much heavier for me to pullhow it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young King’s son—he is with me in a moment.” “Ah! youthou wicked child,” cried the enchantress.enchantress “What do I hear you say! I thought I had cut you off from the whole world, and yet you havethee say! I thought I had separated thee from all the world, and yet thou hast deceived me.” In her anger she clutched Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses and wrapped them twice round her left hand. She seized a pair of scissors with her right hand and snip, snap, cut off the hair. Thetresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.

That same evening, after casting out Rapunzel, the enchantress fastened the cut braids to the window hook. WhenOn the same day, however, that she cast out Rapunzel, the enchantress in the evening fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the King’s son came and cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down yourthy hair,”

she let the hair down.

The King’s son climbed up. Instead of his dearest Rapunzel, he foundascended, but he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above, but the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. “Aha!” she cried mockingly, “You have come for your dearest, but the beautiful bird no longer sings in its nest. The cat has caught it and will leave you blind too. Rapunzel is lost to you. You will never see her againThou wouldst fetch thy dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out thy eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to thee; thou wilt never see her moreExplanation: Exceptional softening for children: keep the cat’s threat and the loss of sight, without the graphic description of scratching out eyes. The original is retained..” The King’s son was beside himself with pain. In his despair, he badly hurt himself.pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower.Explanation: Exceptional softening for children: keep the despair and serious injury without detailing the act from the tower. The original is retained.

He survived, but the thorns left him blind.escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell, pierced his eyes.Explanation: Exceptional softening for children: keep survival, the thorns and blindness while omitting graphic eye details. The original is retained.

Then he wandered through the forest, completely blind. He ate nothing but roots and berries, and did nothing but mourn and weep forquite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did nothing but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. He wandered in misery for several years. At last he reached the desert where Rapunzel lived in poverty with the twins she had borne, a boy and a girlThus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice so familiar that he went towards it. As he approached, Rapunzel recognised him, threw her arms around, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears fell into his eyes. They grew clear again, and he could seewetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before.

He led her to his kingdom, where he was joyfully received. Theykingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.

Translator’s note. Rapunzel, Campanula rapunculus (rampion), a relativecongener of the common harebell.

It has a long white root, tapering at both ends, which is eaten raw like a radishspindle-shaped root which is eaten raw like a radish, and has a pleasant sweet flavour. Its leaves and young shoots are also used in salads—and so are the roots, sliced. — Tr.