Rapunzel

A kind woodcutter and his wife really wanted a child. They prayed every day for one, but they didn’t have any luck. Behind their house, there was a beautiful garden filled with pretty flowers and plants. But they couldn’t go into it because it belonged to a witch named Mother Gothel.

One day, the woodcutter’s wife got sick, and she really wanted to eat a special kind of food called “rampion” that grew in Mother Gothel’s garden. The woodcutter asked her, “What can I do to make you feel better, my dear wife?”

She said, “I’ll only get better if I can eat some of the rampion that grows in the garden behind our house.”

The woodcutter loved his wife so much that he decided to try and get some rampions for her. That night, he climbed over the garden wall and picked some. He brought it to his wife, and she made a tasty salad. She liked it so much that she wanted more.

The next night, the woodcutter went back to the garden to get more rampions, but the witch was waiting for him. She was upset because she knew someone had taken her rampion the night before.

The witch said, “How dare you come into my garden like a thief and take my rampion? You’ll be in trouble!”

The woodcutter was scared and explained, “My wife was sick, and she really wanted to eat your rampion.”

The witch thought for a moment and said, “Okay, you can have all the rampion you want, but on one condition: when your wife has a baby, you must give the baby to me. I’ll take care of the baby like a mother.”

The woodcutter didn’t like this idea, but he was afraid of the witch, so he agreed. When the baby was born, a little girl, the witch came and took her away. They named the baby Rapunzel.

As Rapunzel grew up, she became very beautiful. When she was twelve, the witch locked her in a tall tower in the middle of the forest. The tower had no doors or stairs, only a small window at the top. The witch would visit Rapunzel and call out,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.”

Rapunzel had long, golden hair, and she would let it down for the witch to climb up. One day, a prince heard Rapunzel singing from the tower and wanted to meet her. He tried to find a way in but couldn’t.

The prince kept coming back to the tower and listening to Rapunzel sing. He saw the witch coming and heard her say,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.”

The prince had an idea. The next day, he called,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.”

Rapunzel lowered her hair, and the prince climbed up. At first, Rapunzel was scared because she had never seen a man before. But the prince was kind and asked her to marry him. After thinking for a bit, Rapunzel said yes because she didn’t like the witch.

They made a plan to escape the tower. The prince would come with a long rope, and Rapunzel would climb down. They did this while the witch was away. They got away just in time. The prince took Rapunzel to his kingdom, and they lived happily ever after, free from the witch. This story teaches us that love and courage can overcome even the toughest challenges and that true love always finds a way.