Rapunzel 
A Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale

​Once, after a man and his wife had long wished in vain for a child, the wife had reason to hope that God would grant their wish.

Behind their house was a small window that overlooked a wonderful garden full of beautiful flowers and vegetables. But a high wall surrounded the garden, and no one dared enter it because it belonged to a powerful witch whom everyone feared.

One day, as the wife stood at this window looking down into the garden, her eyes lit upon a bed of the finest rapunzel, a kind of lettuce. It looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, and her mouth watered. Her craving for it grew stronger each day, and she began to waste away, knowing she would never have any.

Seeing her so pale and wretched, her husband took fright and asked, “What is the matter, dear wife?”

“Oh,” she said, “I shall die unless I eat some of that rapunzel from the garden behind our house.”

Her husband, who loved her dearly, thought, Sooner than let my wife die, I shall get her some of that rapunzel, cost what it may.

As night fell, he climbed over the wall into the witch’s garden, gathered a handful of rapunzel, and brought it to his wife. She immediately made it into a salad and ate it hungrily. But the taste was so delicious, so very delicious, that the next day, her craving for it was three times as great.

Her husband could see she would know no peace unless he made another visit to the garden. So, at nightfall, he climbed the wall again. But as he came down on the other side, he had an awful fright—for there stood the witch, right in front of him.

“How dare you!” she said angrily. “How dare you sneak into my garden like a thief and steal my rapunzel! You shall pay dearly for this.”

“Oh, please,” he begged. “Please temper justice with mercy. I only did it because I had to. My wife saw your rapunzel from the window, and her craving for it was so great that she would have died if I hadn’t brought her some.”

At this, the witch’s anger softened, and she said, “If that is how it is, you may take as much rapunzel as you wish—but on one condition: You must give me the child your wife will bear. It will have a good life, and I shall care for it like a mother.”

In his fear, the man agreed to everything, and the moment his wife gave birth, the witch appeared, named the child Rapunzel, and took her away.

Rapunzel grew to be the loveliest child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the witch took her deep into the forest and shut her in a tower that had neither stairs nor doors—only a small window at the very top. When the witch wished to enter, she stood below and called out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair for me!”

Rapunzel had beautiful, long hair, as fine as spun gold. When she heard the witch’s voice, she unbraided her hair, fastened it to the window latch, and let it fall twenty ells to the ground. The witch would then climb up by it.

A few years later, it happened that the king’s son was passing through the forest. As he rode near the tower, he heard someone singing, and the song was so lovely that he stopped to listen. It was Rapunzel, who, in her loneliness, sang to pass the time.

The prince wished to climb up to her, but he found no door to the tower. He rode home, but the song had so touched his heart that he returned to the forest every day to listen.

One day, as he stood behind a tree, he saw the witch approach the tower and heard her call out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.”

At once, Rapunzel let down her braids, and the witch climbed up.

“Aha,” thought the prince, “if that is the ladder that leads to her, then I shall try my luck as well.”

The next evening, as night began to fall, he went to the tower and called out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.”

A moment later, her hair fell to the ground, and he climbed up.

At first, Rapunzel was terribly frightened, for she had never seen a man before. But the prince spoke gently to her, telling her how her singing had moved him so deeply that he could find no peace until he had seen her. At this, Rapunzel lost her fear.

When he asked if she would have him as her husband and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, He will love me better than my old godmother. So she said yes and placed her hand in his.

“I would gladly go with you,” she said, “but how can I get down? Each time you visit, bring a skein of silk. I will weave a ladder, and when it is ready, I shall climb down, and you will carry me away on your horse.”

They agreed that he would visit every evening, for the old witch came only during the day.

For a long time, the witch suspected nothing. But one day, Rapunzel innocently said, “Tell me, godmother, how is it that you are so much harder to pull up than the young prince? With him, it hardly takes a minute!”

“Wicked child!” cried the witch. “What is this I hear? I thought I had shut you away from the world, but you have deceived me!”

In her fury, she seized Rapunzel’s beautiful hair, wound it several times around her left hand, and, snipping it with a pair of scissors, let the golden braids fall to the floor. Then, she banished poor Rapunzel to a desolate place, where she lived in misery and want.

That evening, after sending Rapunzel away, the witch fastened the severed braids to the window latch. When the prince arrived and called out:

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.”

She let the hair down.

The prince climbed up—but instead of his dearest Rapunzel, he found the witch, glaring at him with angry, poisonous eyes.

“Aha!” she sneered. “You’ve come to take your darling away, but the bird is no longer in the nest. She won’t be singing anymore! The cat has taken her, and before she’s done, she’ll have scratched your eyes out too! You will never see Rapunzel again!”

The prince was beside himself with grief. In his despair, he leapt from the tower. Though he survived, the brambles below scratched out his eyes, and he was left blind.

Wretched and lost, he wandered through the forest, living on roots and berries, weeping and wailing over the loss of his dearest wife.

For years, he roamed in misery until, at last, he came to the desolate land where Rapunzel now lived with the twins she had borne—a boy and a girl.

Hearing a voice that seemed familiar, he drew near. Rapunzel recognized him at once, threw her arms around his neck, and wept. Two of her tears fell onto his eyes, and at once, they were made clear again—he could see as well as ever.

He took Rapunzel and their children to his kingdom, where they were welcomed with great joy. And there they lived, happily and contented, for many years to come.