Once upon a time there was a man and his wife who lived in a house and at the back of their house was a window which looked into the most lovely garden you have ever seen. But they could not go into the garden because it belonged to a wicked old witch.
One day the woman stood at the window and saw some of the finest, sweet tasting herb called Rapunzel. Every day she looked at the Rapunzel and wanted it more and more.
Her husband could see his wife was sad and asked her what the matter was. She said, ‘if I don’t get some Rapunzel to eat, I know I will die.’
The man, who loved his wife very much, thought to himself, ‘I have to get her some Rapunzel, no matter what the cost.’
So that night he sneaked into the witch’s garden and quickly gathered some Rapunzel leaves. He took them home and his wife made a salad with them which tasted so good she wanted even more!
The next night her husband went back into the garden but this time when he got there, he froze with fear as, standing before him, was the old witch.
‘How dare you come into my garden and steal my Rapunzel? she said, ‘You shall suffer for what you have done.’
‘I am so sorry,’ said the man, ‘but I had to take the Rapunzel. My wife wanted it so badly she was sure she would die if her wish had not been granted.’ The Witch’s anger eased a little, as she replied:
‘If this is true you can take as much Rapunzel as you like, but on one condition – you give me the child your wife will shortly have.’ The man, in his fear, agreed and quickly ran home.
A few months later a child was born, and the Witch appeared to collect the baby. She gave it the name Rapunzel after the sweet herb and took her away.
Rapunzel was the most beautiful child, but the witch wanted her all to herself, so when she was twelve, she locked her up in a tower in the middle of a great wood. The tower had no stairs or doors and only a small window at the very top. When the Witch wanted to get in she stood underneath the tower and called out:
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair,’
Now Rapunzel had wonderful long hair and whenever she heard the Witch’s voice, she untied her plats and let her hair fall-down out of the window so the Witch could climb up it.
They lived like this for a few years until one day a Prince was riding nearby. He heard someone singing so sweetly he stood still spell-bound and listened.
It was Rapunzel in her loneliness trying to pass away the time. The prince wanted to see the owner of the voice but even though he looked in vain for a door to the tower he could not see a way in.
He rode home but was so haunted by the song he returned every day to listen to her voice. One day, when he was standing behind a tree, he saw the Witch approach and heard her call out:
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair.’
Rapunzel let down her plats, and the Witch climbed up them. ‘So that’s the staircase!’ said the prince. ‘Then I too will climb up it and try my luck!’
The following day he went to the foot of the tower and cried:
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair,’
And as soon as Rapunzel had let her hair down the prince climbed up.
At first Rapunzel was frightened when a man appeared as she had never seen one before; but the prince spoke to her so kindly that very soon she lost all her fear.
After several visits the prince asked Rapunzel to marry him, she said yes at once. ‘But first I have to get out of the tower’.
Quickly she had an idea, ‘Every time you come to see me you must bring a piece of silk. I will then make a ladder out of them and when it’s finished, I will climb down, and you can take me away on your horse.’
The old Witch knew nothing of what was going on, until one day Rapunzel, not thinking of what she was saying, turned to the Witch and said, ‘How is it, that you are so much harder to pull up than the young Prince?’
‘Oh! you wicked child,’ cried the Witch. ‘I thought I had hidden you from the whole world, but you have still managed to trick me.’
In her anger she grabbed Rapunzel’s hair with one hand and grasping a pair of scissors with the other, snip snap and off it came, leaving the beautiful plats on the ground. And worse than this, she was so cold-hearted she took Rapunzel to a lonely desert and left her there to live in misery by herself.
In the evening the Witch fastened the plats onto a hook by the window and when the prince came and called out:
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your golden hair,’
She threw them down for the prince to climb up but instead of seeing his beloved Rapunzel, he found the old Witch, who cried mockingly:
‘Ha! you thought you would find your lady love here, but the pretty bird has flown, and its song is silent. Rapunzel is lost to you forever and you will never see her again!’
The prince was so upset that in his despair he jumped down from the tower. Although he escaped with his life, his heart was broken in two. Full of sadness he wandered through the woods eating nothing but roots and berries and weeping about the loss of his lovely bride.
He wandered about for some years, sad and unhappy, until finally he came to the desert where Rapunzel was living. Suddenly he heard a voice which seemed strangely familiar to him. He walked quickly towards the sound and when he was quite close, he saw Rapunzel.
The two of them ran to each other and cried with joy. After this he led her to his kingdom where they were he promised he would never leave her again and they lived happily ever after.
The end
To watch the animated video of this Fairy Tale on the Oxbridge Baby YouTube Channel click here (please note these links take you to an external website).