Rapunzel

There once lived a man and his wife beside a garden that belonged to an enchantress. In that garden grew fresh rampion, and the wife longed for it so deeply that she grew pale and weak. Her husband, wishing to comfort her, climbed over the wall by night to gather some. But the enchantress caught him. She agreed to spare him only if the child to be born was given into her care.

When the little girl came into the world, the enchantress took her away and named her Rapunzel. The child grew into a maiden with hair as bright and long as spun gold. The enchantress shut her in a tower deep in the forest. The tower had no door and no stair, only a small window high above the ground. Whenever the enchantress wished to enter, she called, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” and the long braid fell like a golden ladder.

Rapunzel passed her days watching clouds and birds from the window, and she often sang. Her voice was so clear and lonely that a prince riding through the forest stopped to listen. He learned the words the enchantress used, climbed to the tower, and met Rapunzel. He told her of the world beyond the trees, and together they began to hope for escape.

The prince planned to bring silk, piece by piece, so Rapunzel could weave a ladder. But the enchantress discovered the secret. In anger she cut off Rapunzel’s hair and sent her far away into a lonely waste. Then she fastened the severed braid to the window and deceived the prince. When he climbed up and found the enchantress instead of Rapunzel, he fell from the tower into thorns and lost his sight.

For a long time he wandered in sorrow. At last he heard the song he had never forgotten. He followed it and found Rapunzel, who was living far away with her two young children. Her tears fell upon his eyes, and his sight returned. Together they went to his kingdom. Rapunzel had learned that hope may be wounded, but it can still sing until the path opens again.