Rapunzel

Once upon a time, there lived a man and his wife who had long wished for a child, but none had come. Behind their little house stood a high stone wall, and behind that wall was a magnificent garden full of flowers and vegetables. But no one dared enter, for the garden belonged to a powerful witch, feared by everyone.

One day, the wife stood at her window and looked down into the garden. She saw a bed of beautiful greens called rapunzel, and she wanted so badly to eat some that she could think of nothing else. Day by day she grew paler and unhappier, until her husband asked, "What is wrong, dear wife?"

"Oh," she said, "if I cannot eat some of that rapunzel from the garden behind our house, I shall surely die."

Her husband loved her so much that he decided to fetch some, no matter the cost. That evening, he climbed over the wall, quickly gathered a handful of rapunzel, and brought it to his wife. She made it into a salad at once and ate it eagerly. But it tasted so good that the next day she wanted three times as much!

A Promise Made in Fear

To make his wife happy, the husband climbed the wall again. But this time, as he landed in the garden, he came face to face with the witch herself.

"How dare you steal from my garden!" she cried. "You will pay dearly for this!"

The man begged for mercy, explaining how his wife had longed for the greens. The witch's anger softened, just a little. "Take as much rapunzel as you like," she said, "but on one condition: when your child is born, you must give her to me. I will care for her like a mother."

Terrified, the man agreed, hoping to escape with his life. Soon after, a baby girl was born, and true to his promise — though his heart broke to do it — he gave her to the witch. The witch named the child Rapunzel, after the plant her mother had loved so much.

The Tower in the Forest

Rapunzel grew to be the most beautiful child under the sun. Her hair was long and golden, finer than spun silk, and it never once was cut. When she turned twelve years old, the witch led her deep into the forest and locked her inside a tall tower. The tower had no door and no staircase — only a single small window near the very top.

Whenever the witch wished to visit, she would stand at the bottom and call out:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb your golden stair!"

And Rapunzel would wind her long braids around a hook by the window and let them fall all the way to the ground. The witch would climb up, using the hair like a ladder, and that was the only way in or out of the tower.

The Prince Hears a Song

Years passed, and Rapunzel grew lonely in her tower, but she had a beautiful voice, and she often sang to pass the time. One day, a young prince was riding through the forest and heard her sweet singing drifting through the trees. He followed the sound until he found the tower, but search as he might, he could find no door and no stairs.

He rode home, but he could not forget the beautiful voice, and he returned to the forest again and again. One evening, hidden behind a tree, he watched as the witch approached the tower and called out, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" He watched in wonder as the golden braid tumbled down and the witch climbed up.

"So that is the ladder that leads to the beautiful voice," the prince said to himself. "Then I shall try my luck upon it too."

The next evening, once the witch had gone, the prince stood beneath the window and called out just as she had:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

And down came the golden braid, shining in the moonlight. The prince climbed up, and when Rapunzel saw him, she was frightened at first, for she had never seen a man before. But he spoke to her so gently and kindly, telling her how her song had touched his heart, that soon her fear turned to joy, and the two became the dearest of friends.

The Witch Discovers the Secret

For a time, the prince visited Rapunzel in secret, and they were happy together. But one day, Rapunzel spoke without thinking and asked the witch, "Why is it so much harder to pull you up than the young prince who visits me?" In an instant, the witch understood everything, and her fury was terrible to see.

"You have deceived me!" she cried, and in her anger she cut off Rapunzel's beautiful hair and sent her away to live alone in a wild and distant place, far from anyone who might help her.

That evening, when the prince called out as always, the witch herself let down the shorn braid of hair she had cut away. When the prince climbed up, expecting to see his beloved Rapunzel, he found the witch instead, glaring at him with cold, angry eyes.

"Your little bird has flown, and you will never see her again!" the witch declared.

In his grief, the prince leapt from the tower window. He survived the fall, but thorns below scratched his eyes, and he could no longer see. For a long time, he wandered blindly through the world, mourning the loss of his beloved Rapunzel, until at last, after many trials, fate brought the two of them together again — and their tears of joy at finding one another restored his sight at last. They returned together to his kingdom, where they lived happily for the rest of their days.

Moral / Lesson: True love and kindness can overcome even the darkest magic, and patience through hardship often leads to the happiest of reunions.

Attribution: Adapted from The Brothers Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812) — public domain.