133 lines
7.4 KiB
Text
133 lines
7.4 KiB
Text
Rapunzel
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There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a
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child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her
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desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house
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from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most
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beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high
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wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an
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enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. One
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day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the
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garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful
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rampion (rapunzel), and it looked so fresh and green that she longed
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for it, and had the greatest desire to eat some. This desire increased
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every day, and as she knew that she could not get any of it, she quite
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pined away, and looked pale and miserable. Then her husband was
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alarmed, and asked, “What aileth thee, dear wife?” “Ah,” she replied,
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“if I can’t get some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our
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house, to eat, I shall die.” The man, who loved her, thought, “Sooner
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than let thy wife die, bring her some of the rampion thyself, let it
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cost thee what it will.” In the twilight of the evening, he clambered
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down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched
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a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself
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a salad of it, and ate it with much relish. She, however, liked it so
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much—so very much, that the next day she longed for it three times as
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much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more
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descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening, therefore, he let
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himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was
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terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him. “How
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canst thou dare,” said she with angry look, “to descend into my garden
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and steal my rampion like a thief? Thou shalt suffer for it!” “Ah,”
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answered he, “let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my
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mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the
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window, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she
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had not got some to eat.” Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be
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softened, and said to him, “If the case be as thou sayest, I will allow
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thee to take away with thee as much rampion as thou wilt, only I make
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one condition, thou must give me the child which thy wife will bring
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into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a
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mother.” The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the
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woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the
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child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.
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Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath the sun. When she
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was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay
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in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was
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a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed
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herself beneath it and cried,
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“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
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Let down thy hair to me.”
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Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she
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heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses,
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wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the
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hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.
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After a year or two, it came to pass that the King’s son rode through
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the forest and went by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so
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charming that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in
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her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. The
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King’s son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the
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tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so
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deeply touched his heart, that every day he went out into the forest
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and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he
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saw that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried,
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“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
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Let down thy hair.”
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Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress
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climbed up to her. “If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I will
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for once try my fortune,” said he, and the next day when it began to
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grow dark, he went to the tower and cried,
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“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
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Let down thy hair.”
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Immediately the hair fell down and the King’s son climbed up.
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At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man such as her eyes
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had never yet beheld, came to her; but the King’s son began to talk to
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her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so
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stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see
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her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would
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take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome,
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she thought, “He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does;” and she
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said yes, and laid her hand in his. She said, “I will willingly go away
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with thee, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with thee a skein
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of silk every time that thou comest, and I will weave a ladder with it,
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and when that is ready I will descend, and thou wilt take me on thy
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horse.” They agreed that until that time he should come to her every
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evening, for the old woman came by day. The enchantress remarked
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nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her, “Tell me, Dame
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Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up
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than the young King’s son—he is with me in a moment.” “Ah! thou wicked
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child,” cried the enchantress “What do I hear thee say! I thought I had
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separated thee from all the world, and yet thou hast deceived me.” In
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her anger she clutched Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice
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round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and
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snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground.
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And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where
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she had to live in great grief and misery.
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On the same day, however, that she cast out Rapunzel, the enchantress
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in the evening fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off, to
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the hook of the window, and when the King’s son came and cried,
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“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
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Let down thy hair,”
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she let the hair down. The King’s son ascended, but he did not find his
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dearest Rapunzel above, but the enchantress, who gazed at him with
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wicked and venomous looks. “Aha!” she cried mockingly, “Thou wouldst
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fetch thy dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the
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nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out thy eyes as well.
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Rapunzel is lost to thee; thou wilt never see her more.” The King’s son
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was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the
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tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell,
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pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate
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nothing but roots and berries, and did nothing but lament and weep over
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the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some
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years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins
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to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness.
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He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards
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it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and
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wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and
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he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he
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was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy
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and contented.
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