RAPUNZEL´S SUMMARY

RAPUNZEL

Brothers Grimm

There were once a man and a woman who had long, in vain, wished for a child. At length it appeared that God was about to grant their desire.

These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world.

One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion, and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it. She felt very sad.

Her husband was alarmed, and asked: 'What ails you, dear wife?'

'Ah,' she replied, 'if I can't eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.'

The man, who loved her, at twilight, he decided to clam down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it,. It tasted so good to her - so very good, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before.

Her husband he knew he must once more descend into the garden. However, this time the enchantress discovered him and she was very angry, She threatened him, but he asked for mercy to she and he explained to enchantress who did it for his wife.

The enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him: 'If the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you will, only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother. The man in his terror consented to everything.

When the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower in the middle of a forest. The tower had neither stairs nor door, but near the top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried:

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, 
Let down your hair to me.'

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress, she unfastened her braided tresses, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

The enchantress was the only one who could see Rapunzel until after one or two years a handsome prince heard a sing´s Raponzel.

The king's son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found.However, he was still going to listen raponzel sing, until that one day  he saw to enchantress and he heard how she cried:

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, 
Let down your hair to me.' 

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her.

The next day he did the same: 

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, 
Let down your hair to me.'

Immediately the hair fell down and the king's son climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the king's son began to talk to her quite like a friend and both fell in love and he asked her to be his wife. Rapunzel agreed to go with him but she did not know how to get down. So, She asked him to bring a skein of silk and so, she weaves a ladder to go with he.

One day, the enchantress realized of the visits the prince by a comment made for Rapunzel and the enchantress angrily cut off her Rapunzel´s beatiful tresses and she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.

On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair, which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the king's son came and she let the hair down and she wait The king's son climbed and she said:

'Aha!' she cried mockingly, 'you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her again.'

The king's son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes.

He wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.