Rapunzel was not a princess. Hair does not have magical properties. He did not accept the thief. First of all, he didn’t greet her with a friendly pat on the head.
Parents in the Middle Ages sometimes offered one of their children to God. Here at last he was to undergo the rigors of monastic life.
Something similar happened to Rapunzel. Before she was born, her father offered her not to God, but to a witch named Frau Gothel. It just happened.
The witch protected the garden with a great wall. But not high enough. A lady next door saw what was in it when she looked out of her window. He saw some nice twigs in the garden, and he asked for them so urgently that he would die if he could not eat some of them.
So her husband climbed the wall when it got dark and quickly took a few steps.
After some days, she wanted more, so her husband went into the garden again. But the time of the witch was waiting for him. He greeted him with dire threats.
When the husband had explained how desperately his wife was in need of help, the sorceress decided to make a deal. Let him take as many as he wished, so that he might have a wife in a short delivery. The prospective father agreed, presumably because he did not want to be turned into a toad, a rat, or something similar.
The witch brought the child as soon as it was born. Since the German word Rapunzel translates to rampant, he called the boy Rapunzel.
The witch had promised her father that she would do well. Perhaps he kept his word. The girl certainly had many vegetables to eat.
But when he was twelve years old, the witch hid Rapunzel in the tower in the dark forest. She probably did this so that her extraordinary beauty would not attract unwanted attention. For this tower became his home, and he could not leave it even for a moment, because there were no gates or steps or anything like that. Its only entrance was a small window at the top of the tower.
How did the witch get into the tower and leave it when she wanted to do it? Rapunzel had very long hair, which the witch used as a rope to climb the tower or descend to the ground when necessary.
After two years the prince happened to be riding in the neighborhood of the tower. A dear song greeted his ears. It was Rapunzel who often spent time singing.
Afterwards he rode home, unsuccessfully seeking a way to enter the tower. But every day he returned to listen to her singing.
One day, while the prince was watching from behind the tree, the witch came to the tower, asked Rapunzel to let down her hair, and let her climb up to the window.
The next day, the prince made a witch, and I went to the tower.
Rapunzel was dismayed to see the man entering the tower. And the prince addressed her politely, and explained that he felt he could see her, because he was so delighted with the song.
When Princess Rapunzel asked him to marry her, she agreed. But he could not descend from the tower.
She suggests that the prince bring a silk rope whenever he comes to see her. He was weaving a silken ladder. When this was done, he rode with him.
The prince came every day to see his bride. But one day Rapunzel accidentally let the cat out of the bag. He asked the witch why she went up to the window so much slower than the prince.
The angry witch cut off Rapunzel’s head, carried her off the tower, and set her down in a barren wilderness, where she lived a miserable life.
She returned to the tower and prepared for the prince unknown. He tied Rapunzel’s hair in a suitable place and threw it to the prince when he appeared. When he entered the tower, he greeted him with angry words. She laughingly declared, “The beautiful bird no longer sits in her nest and sings. The cat has caught her and will gouge out her eyes too. You have lost Rapunzel. You will never see her again.”
Desperate, the prince jumped from the tower. He escaped with his life, but fell upon some brambles, which blinded his itchy eyes. From there he wandered about for several years.
Meanwhile he had become a father. Rapunzel had given birth to twins: a a boy and a girl.
One day he happened to hear Rapunzel’s voice, and he quickly made his way back to the source of the sound. Rapunzel, seeing him coming, fell upon his neck and cried. Two tears watered his eyes. His eyes were opened so that he could see again.
The prince brought his wife and children back to his kingdom. They were well received, and lived a long and happy life.
According to the New World Encyclopedia, the plant called Rapunzel in this fairy tale may be one of the following species: Valerianella locusta, Campanula rapunculus , or Phyteuma spicata
Relationship:
Grimm Stories: Rapunzel
http://www.grimmstories.com/de/grimm_maerchen/rapunzel
New World Encyclopedia: Rapunzel
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Rapunzel#What_is_.22Rapunzel.22.3F
