“Rapunzel”
There once was a couple who wished for a
child. Next to their house was a beautiful garden that belonged to a witch. One
day the wife noticed some rampion (a blue flower that can be used in a salad)
in the garden and really wanted it, for some reason.
After several days, she asked her husband
to go get her some. So he did. The wife loved the salad, and begged for more.
When the husband went the second time, the witch caught him.
At first the witch was upset, but then she
came up with a deal. The couple could have all the rampion they wanted, but she
would get their child.
When a girl was born to the couple, the
witch came and took her. She gave her the name Rapunzel, which is apparently
another name for rampion.
By the time Rapunzel was twelve, she had
long, golden hair. The witch at this time shut her into a tower that didn’t
have a door. So Rapunzel had to let down her hair for the witch to climb it to
get in to the tower.
Some years later, the king’s son was
riding in the forest when he heard lovely singing. He stopped and tried to find
a door to the tower, but could not find any. Each day he returned to listen to
Rapunzel sing.
One day he was there when the witch
visited, and he saw how to enter the tower. The next evening, he went to the
tower and called out for Rapunzel to let down her hair.
The prince climbed up and Rapunzel was
surprised to see a man, because she had never seen one before. But, he seemed
so nice so she agreed to marry him. But she had no way to get down, so she
asked that he visit her each evening and bring a piece of silk rope so she
could get herself down.
The witch finds out about this because,
despite trying to keep this a secret, Rapunzel asks the witch why it takes her
so long to climb her hair when the prince does it so quickly. The witch was so
angry she cut of Rapunzel’s hair and then – somehow – took Rapunzel far away.
But that night, the prince visited again,
but this time it was the witch who lowered the hair. The prince was so upset
with grief he jumped from the tower. He lived, but thorns plucked out his eyes.
The prince then wandered for several
years, until he happened upon the place Rapunzel lived, with her children. When
they met, her tears healed his eyes, and they went back to the kingdom and
lived happily ever after.
#
I don’t care how fantastic a salad is, why
would anyone go into a witch’s garden?
Wait, Rapunzel can’t tell the difference
between the witch and the prince calling out to her? Did the witch have a manly
voice?
How high is this tower that the prince
can’t find a rope long enough he can just carry up once to let her escape?
So Rapunzel is rather dense when she lets
slip she’s seeing a man.
No comments:
Post a Comment