Rapunzel

This story is called Rapunzel, written by the Brothers Grimm, and read by Corrie Legge. This is a LibraryCall adaptation and recording. Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who more than anything else wished to have a child. They lived in a small house, with a small window that looked out over a beautiful garden surrounded by high walls. But the garden was not their own – it belonged to a very powerful sorceress, who was feared throughout the land. One day, the woman stood at the window and looked out to admire the garden. The beds were planted with such lush greenery, and the vegetables were so vibrant, that she was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to eat them. And after that, with each day that passed the hunger grew stronger, until she lost interest in eating anything else. She began to grow weak and pale. Her husband was alarmed and asked her, “what is wrong? Why won’t you eat?” “Oh!” she replied, “if I can’t eat the vegetables from the garden behind our house, I will die of hunger!” Well, thought her husband, I’m not going to let her die! I’ll get those vegetables no matter what it takes. And at nightfall, he climbed out the window, and went down into the sorceress’s garden. He quickly picked a handful of vegetables, and took them back to his wife. She immediately made herself a salad, and ate it all up. It tastes so good to her, so very good, that the next day, her hunger for those vegetables was three times stronger than it had been before. Her husband knew what must be done, and the next night, once again, he climbed down into the sorceress’s garden. But this time, as soon as he set foot on the ground, the sorceress appeared before him, giving him a terrible fright. She looked at him angrily and said, “How dare you climb down to my garden like a thief and steal my vegetables? You shall suffer for this!” “Please have mercy,” the man replied. “I had no choice! My wife saw these vegetables from the window and felt such a strong craving for them that she would eat nothing else. She would have died if I had not brought her some to eat.” At this the sorceress’s face softened, and she said “In that case, then I’ll make you a deal. I will let you take her as many vegetables as she wants, but – in return, you must give me your firstborn child. Don’t worry, I will care for her as if she were my own child.” The man was so afraid of the sorceress, that he agreed. And indeed, after many months, when the woman gave birth to her first child, the sorceress appeared suddenly, named the baby girl Rapunzel, and took her away. Rapunzel grew to be the most beautiful girl in the world. When she grew to be a young woman, the sorceress locked her in a tower deep in the forest. The tower had thorny brambles around its base, and it had no doors or stairs, just a window at the top. Whenever the sorceress wanted to go up she would stand at the base of the tower and call, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, like fine strands of gold, and every time she heard the sorceress call to her like this, she would undo her long braids, wrap them once around a hook at the window, and let them hang down the side of the tower so that the sorceress could climb up, using her hair like a rope. One day, a few years later, a prince was riding on horseband through the forest and happened to pass nearby this tower. As he got close, he heard a voice singing so sweetly that he had to stop and listen. It was Rapunzel; she often sang to herself to pass the time, locked in her lonely tower. The prince looked for a door to go in, or stairs to climb up, but could find none, and so he rode home. But the singing had captivated him, and he returned to the forest every day, just to listen to her sing. And it wasn’t long before one day, while he was in the forest, he saw the sorceress approach the tower and call up, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” And then he watched as a long braid of hair came out the window, and the sorceress climbed up. “If that’s how you get to the top,” the prince thought to himself, “then I’ll try it too.” And the next day at sunset, he went to the tower, and he cried out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” Down came the hair, and up he went. At first, Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a strange man leapt into her room. But there was such kindness in his voice, that, as he explained how his heart had been touched so deeply when he heard her singing, she began to lose her fear. The prince, seeing that she was held prisoner in her tower, offered to help set her free, and together they came up with a plan. “Come only at night,” Rapunzel said, “For the sorceress visits only by day. And every time you come, bring me some silk. And I will use that to make a ladder. When it is finished, we can climb down together and escape on your horse.” They agreed. So night after night the prince came to visit and bring her more silk, and as time passed, the two fell in love. Meanwhile, the sorceress suspected nothing. Until one day, when the sorceress was climbing up, and Rapunzel said without thinking, “Why do you take so long to climb up? The prince climbs up so quickly!” “Oh you wicked child,” cried the sorceress, “what’s this I hear? I thought I’d managed to keep you safe from the world, and yet you’ve been deceiving me!” And she was so angry that she grabbed Rapunzel’s braids in one hand, grabbed a pair of scissors in the other and, snip, snap, she cut them off. And then she sent Rapunzel far away to live in a desert wasteland. But the sorceress wasn’t done. She picked Rapunzel’s long braids up off the floor, tied them to the hook at the window, and waited. When she heard a voice call from below, calling for Rapunzel, she tossed down the hair. The prince climbed up, but instead of finding his beloved, he found himself face to face with the malevolent sorceress. “Aha!” She jeered, “You wanted to take the pretty girl away, but she’s no longer here and she’ll never sing again, and you’ll never see her again!” The prince was overcome with despair, and without thinking, he leapt from the tower. He landed in the thick brambles, which cushioned his fall and saved his life, but the thorns pierced his eyes. Thus, wounded and blind, he wandered the world aimlesslessly for many years, until he finally wandered into the same wasteland where Rapunzel lived. He heard a beautiful voice, and it seemed so familiar, he went towards it. Rapunzel recognized him at once and went to embrace him, weeping tears of joy. As she wept, two of her tears wetted his eyes, and at that moment, his eyes were healed and he could see with them as before. He took her back to his kingdom, where they were welcomed back joyfully, and there they lived, happy and content, for a long time. We hope you enjoyed Rapunzel, written by the Brothers Grimm, and read by Corrie Legge. This is a LibraryCall adaptation and recording.