Rapunzel

#####Rapunzel

Long, long ago, in a wild and dangerous land, there lived a good man and his wife. They longed to have a child and waited patiently, year after year. Then, at last, the woman found that she was expecting a baby.

Now the couple lived next door to a beautiful garden which was surrounded by a high wall. The garden belonged to a fierce witch, and nobody had ever dared go in, for fear the witch would cast a wicked spell on them. At the back of the couple’s house a little window over looked the garden. The woman often stood there, gazing down at the wonderful things the witch had grown-flowers, trees and herbs with magic powers.

One day the woman fell ill. She had to stay in bed, and lost her appetite.

Every day her husband brought her good things to eat, but she would not touch any of them. “Please,” he begged her, “tell me what I can bring. There must be something that will cure you.”

“Bring me a sprig of the rapunzel herb that grows in the witch’s garden,” she whispered. That will make me well again.”

The husband was very frightened. but he was ready to do anything to help his wife get better. “The old witch won’t harm me,” he told himself. He waited until nightfall, then he climbed over the wall into the witch’s garden. With a pounding heart, he looked around him. Nobody was there. He quickly found some rapunzel, snatched a sprig of it, and hurried home.

His wife felt much better when she had eaten the herb. But the next day she wanted some more. “Please,” she begged her husband, “if you don’t bring more rapunzel, I’ll die.”

So late that night, her husband climbed back over the wall into the witch’s garden. Just as he was pulling up the herb, the witch suddenly appeared.

“Thief!” she screeched. “A curse on you! How dare you come into my garden and steal my plants!”

“Oh, please!” begged the man. “My wife is very ill and she’ll die if she doesn’t have this herb.”

“Very well, you can have the herb,” snapped the witch, “but on one condition. In return for the rapunzel, you must give me your first-born child.”

The husband was so desperate that he agreed, and rushed back to his wife.

A few months later, the couple had a baby daughter. And on the very day she was born, the witch appeared. The couple begged her to let them keep the child, but the witch took no notice of them. “I’ll call the girl Rapunzel,” she laughed cruelly. And she swept the baby up into her cloak and carried her away.

Rapunzel grew up to be a very beautiful girl. She had eyes the colour

of violets and long, long hair as fine as spun gold, which she wore in a thick plait.

When Rapunzel was twelve, the witch took her deep into a dark, gloomy forest and locked her up in a tall tower. It had no door and no stairs - just one tiny window in the chamber at the very top.

Rapunzel was shut away from the world. It forgot her. The only person she ever saw was the old witch, who visited her every day with food. She stood at the bottom of the tower and called out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Then Rapunzel would unwind her plait and throw it down to the witch, who climbed up it as if it were a rope.

One day, a prince who was riding through the forest lost his way and came past Rapunzel’s tower. He heard

Rapunzel singing, which she often did so that she would not feel so lonely.

The prince had never heard such a pure, sweet voice, and he stopped his horse and strained to listen. He looked for a door to the tower, but could not find one, and he rode away. But the next day he came back, and then every day after that. He was enchanted by the singing and he was determined to find out who the singer was.

One day, as the prince stood listening, the witch came. He hid behind a tree and peered out to see what would happen.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” called the witch. Down came Rapunzel’s plait and up went the witch into the tower room.

“So that’s what I must do to see the singer,” thought the prince.

That evening, he went back to the tower. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” he called out. There was a soft swishing sound and the golden plait came tumbling down the wall to him.

The prince quickly climbed up and scrambled through the window into the tower room.

Rapunzel had never seen a man before. She was very frightened, and backed away. “Who are you?” she gasped.

“Don’t be afraid,” the prince said gently, taking her hands in his. He had fallen in love the very moment he saw her. “I had to find out who was singing So sweetly.” And he told her how he had listened to her every day. Gradually Rapunzel stopped feeling afraid. “Marry me and leave this dreadful prison,” he said.

The prince was young and handsome, and Rapunzel liked him. “Id gladly come with you,” she said, “but how shall I ever escape from the tower?

You can climb down my hair, but I have no-one’s hair to climb down!” She thought for a moment and then said, “Come and see me every evening, and each time bring me a bundle of silk threads. I’ll plait them into a strong rope. When it’s finished, we can both climb down and ride away together.”

So the prince went to see Rapunzel every evening. And each day she plaited rope with the threads that he brought her. The witch noticed nothing. But Rapunzel was so much in love that she could think of nothing but the prince.

One day, as the old woman scrambled over the window-sill, Rapunzel said, without thinking, “Why are you so much heavier to pull up than the prince?”

“You wicked girl!” screached the witch. “I thought I had locked you up safely. But you’ve been deceiving me all this time!” She seized an enormous pair of scissors and grabbed hold of Rapunzel’s hair. The scissors flashed and snipped, and the golden plait lay in a coil on the floor.

“Now, you ungrateful madam, we’ll see how well you do without me!” shrieked the witch. She flew with Rapunzel to a lonely valley, and left her there, all on her own, to live in misery.

Later, as night was falling, the witch went back to the tower to wait for the prince.

After a while, she heard him call: “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” She tied Rapunzel’s plait to a heavy chair below the window and threw the golden hair down to the prince.

He quickly climbed up, but when he reached the top it was the old witch and not Rapunzel who greeted him at the window.

“She’s gone! The girl’s gone,” cackled the witch. “Your little songbird has flown away and you’ll never see her again!” Then she flung the prince down from the tower. He fell into the brambles below, and the sharp thorns scratched his eyes and blinded him. And he staggered away into the forest.

For many years the prince wandered, sad and blind, through forests and mountains. He would have searched for Rapunzel, but how can a man search without eyes? He asked after her, but nobody had seen a beautiful girl with violet eyes and short, golden hair.

Then, one day, he came to a valley. It was a lonely place, but somewhere he could hear sweet singing.

“I know that voice!” he cried. “It’s my own love! My Rapunzel!” He followed the sound of her voice, and there, at last, he found her.

The prince was thin and ragged, but Rapunzel recognised him at once. She put her arms round him and wept for joy. And as she cried, her warm tears fell on the prince’s eyes. In a few seconds, he could see again.

He took Rapunzel back to his kingdom and married her. The marriage was so happy that the news of it spread throughout the world. And when Rapunzel’s mother and father heard tell of the beautiful Princess Rapunzel, they knew that their daughter was well and happy, and they were very proud.