Rapunzel

RAPUNZEL Once upon a time there was a man and woman who were very sad because they had no children. A window in the back of their house over-looked a lovely garden. It was full of beautiful flowers and vegetables; but the garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to enter it, for it belonged to an old witch of great power, who was feared by the whole world. One day the woman stood at the window looking at the garden, and she saw that it was full of the finest basil she had ever seen. The leaves looked so fresh and green that she wanted to eat them. The desire to eat the basil grew day by day, and because the woman knew she couldn’t have any of that forbidden basil, she pined away and became quite pale and sickly. Her husband grew alarmed and asked: ‘What is wrong, dear wife?’ The woman told him, if I do not eat some of that basil from the garden behind the house, I know I will die.’ Now the man loved his wife dearly, so he thought he had better go get his wife some basil so she would not die. So just before dark he climbed over the wall into the old witch’s garden, and quickly gathered a handful of basil leaves, which he then took to his wife. She added the basil leaves to a salad. The salad tasted so good that it made her want more of the forbidden basil. So her husband once again climbed over the garden wall to fetch his wife more basil, but when he reached the other side of the wall he screamed in terror. The old witch was standing there waiting for him. ‘How dare you climb into my garden and steal my basil like a common thief! You will pay for your thievery. I am so sorry to steal from your garden, but my wife saw your beautiful basil from our window and had such a desire for it that she became sickly and would have died if she did not eat some of your basil. So I climbed over the wall to take a bit of it to put into her salad. She loved it so much I had to come and get her some more. The old witch listened to the man and said if you are telling me the truth, you may take as much basil as you like, but only on one condition. You must bring me the baby that your wife will soon have and I will look after the child like a mother would. The man in his terror agreed to everything the old witch asked, and when the child was born the old witch appeared, named the baby girl Rapunzel, she took the baby away with her. Rapunzel was a beautiful child and when Rapunzel turned twelve years old the old witch shut her up in a tower. The tower was in the middle of a large forest and the tower did not have stairs or a door, it only had a small window at the very top. When the old witch wanted to enter the tower she would stand underneath the window and call out: Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair. Rapunzel had beautiful long hair, and it was as fine as spun gold. Whenever Rapunzel heard the old witch’s voice she would loosen her braids, and let her hair fall from the window to the ground which was about twenty yards below. The old witch would climb up her hair like a ladder After many years of living in the tower by herself with the old witch visiting her during the day, a Prince happened to ride through the forest and passed by the tower. As he rode by he could hear someone singing so sweetly that the prince stopped and listened spell-bound by the beautiful voice he was hearing. In her loneliness Rapunzel would spend her time singing and letting her sweet voice be heard in the forest. The Prince wanted to see the owner of that beautiful voice, but he could not find a door anywhere in the tower. He went home, but he was so haunted by the voice that he had heard that he returned every day to the forest and stood by the tower and listened to her singing.. One day, while listening and standing behind a tree he saw the old witch approach the tower and heard her call out: Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair and Rapunzel would loosen her braids and the old witch would climb up into the tower. So that is how you get into the tower thought the prince. I will try my luck tomorrow. The following day, just before dark, the prince went to the bottom of the tower and called out Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair and once again Rapunzel loosened her braids and let down her hair. The prince immediately climbed her hair to the top of the tower. Rapunzel was frightened when a man came in the window instead of the old witch per normal as she had never seen a man before, but the prince spoke to her kindly, and he told her that his heart had been so touched by her singing, that he felt that he had to meet her. Soon Rapunzel forgot her fear, and when he asked her to leave with him and to marry him she said yes at once. Rapunzel thought the prince was young and handsome, and much better than the old witch. Rapunzel put her hand in his and said: ‘Yes, I will happily go with you, but how do I get out of the tower? Every time you come to see me you must bring a skein of silk with you, and in turn I will braid it together and I will make a ladder. When it is finished, I will climb down and you will take me away on your horse. They arranged that until the ladder was finished, the prince was to come and see her every evening, because the old witch came to see her during the day. The old Witch, of course, knew nothing of what was going on, until one day Rapunzel, not thinking before she spoke, turned to the old witch and asked Mother, why are you so much harder to pull up than the young Prince? He always climbs to the top of the tower so quickly. ‘Oh! you bad child,’ cried the old witch. I thought I had hidden you safely away from the whole world, and in spite of that you have managed to deceive me.’ In her anger the old witch grabbed Rapunzel’s beautiful hair, wound it round and round her left hand, and then grasping a pair of scissors in her right, snip snap, off it came, and the beautiful braids lay on the ground. But the worse part for Rapunzel is that the old witch in her anger banished her to a lonely desert, and left Rapunzel to live there in loneliness and misery. The next evening the old witch fastened the braids to a hook in the window, and when the prince came and called out: Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair, the old witch let down the braids and the prince climbed up as usual, but instead of his beloved Rapunzel he found the old witch, who stared at him with her evil glittering eyes and cried out. ‘Ah, ah! you thought to find your lady love, but she is gone and her song is quiet and Rapunzel is lost to you forever as you will never see her again! The prince was so sad to hear this and in despair he jumped right out of the window of the tower and, though he lived after such a long fall from the tower he lost the sight in his eyes. The Prince wandered blind, sad and miserable, through the forest, eating nothing but roots and berries, crying over the loss of his beautiful Rapunzel. He wandered about the world for many years. One day he came to the desert where Rapunzel was living. All of a sudden he heard a sweet voice singing, a voice he knew immediately. He walked quickly in the direction of the voice, and when he was very near, Rapunzel saw him and ran to him crying and hugging her lost prince. Two of Rapunzel’s tears touched the princes’ blind eyes and in an instant the Prince could see again. The prince took Rapunzel to his kingdom, where there was great rejoicing and happiness. They were finally married and they lived happily ever after. The End!