Rapunzel

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rapunzel by Margaret Hunt. There were once a man and
a woman who had long in vain wished for a child.
At length, the woman hoped that God was about to
grant her desire. These people had a little window at
the back of their house from which a splendid gordon
could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful

(00:23):
flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall,
and no one dared to go into it, because it
belonged to an enchantress who had great power and was
dreaded by all the world. One day, the woman was
standing by this window and looking down into the garden
when she saw a bed which was planted with the

(00:45):
most beautiful rampion rapunzel. And it looked so fresh and
green that she longed for it and had the greatest
desire to eat some. This desire increased every day, and
as she knew that she could not get any of it,
she quite pined away and looked pale and miserable. Then

(01:07):
her husband was alarmed and asked, what aileth thee dear wife. Ah,
she replied, if I can't get some of thee rampion
which is in the garden behind our house to eat.
I shall die, the man who loved her thought, sooner
than let thy wife die, bring her some of the

(01:29):
rampion thyself. Let it cost thee what it will. In
the twilight of the evening, he clambered down over the
wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a
handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She
at once made herself a salad of it, and ate
it with much relish. She, however, liked it so much,

(01:53):
so very much, that the next day she longed for
it three times as much as before. If he was
to have any rest, her husband must once more descend
into the garden in the gloom of evening. Therefore he
let himself down again. But when he had clambered down
the wall, he was terribly afraid, for he saw the

(02:16):
enchantress standing before him. How canst thou dare, she said,
with an angry look, to descend into my garden and
steal my rampion like a thief. Thou shalt suffer for it,
Ah answered, he let mercy take the place of justice.

(02:37):
I only made up my mind to do it out
of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the window,
and felt such a longing for it that she would
have died if she had not got some to eat.
Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and
said to him, if the case be as thou sayest,

(02:59):
I will allow thee to take away with thee as
much rampion as thou wilt. Only I make one condition.
Thou must give me the child which thy wife will
bring into the world. It shall be well treated, and
I will care for it like a mother. The man,

(03:19):
in his terror, consented to everything, and when the woman
was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave
the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away
with her. Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath
the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress

(03:41):
shut her into a tower which lay in a forest
and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the
top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to
go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried, Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down thy hair to me. Rapunzel had magnificent long hair,

(04:05):
fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice
of the enchantress. She unfastened her braided tresses, wound them
round one of the hooks of the window above, and
then the hare fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress
climbed up by it. After a year or two, it

(04:26):
came to pass that the king's son rode through the
forest and went by the tower. Then he heard a
song which was so charming that he stood still and listened.
This was Rapunzel, who, in her solitude, passed her time
in letting her sweet voice resound. The king's son wanted

(04:47):
to climb up to her, and he looked for the
door of the tower, but none was to be found.
He rode home, but the singing had so deeply touched
his heart that every day he went out into the
forest and listened to it. Once, when he was thus
standing behind a tree, he saw that an entrantress came there,

(05:10):
and he heard how she cried, Rapunzel. Rapunzel let down
thy hair. Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair,
and the enchantress climbed up to her. If that is
the latter by which one mounts, I will for once
try my fortune, said he, And the next day, when

(05:32):
it began to grow dark. He went to the tower
and cried, Rapunzel. Rapunzel let down thy hair. Immediately the
hair fell down, and the king's son climbed up. At first,
Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man such as her

(05:52):
eyes had never yet beheld came to her. But the
king's son began to talk to her quite like a friend,
and told her that his heart had been so stirred
that it had let him have no rest, and he
had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear,
and when he asked her if she would take him

(06:14):
for her husband, and she saw that he was young
and handsome, she thought he will love me more than
old Dame Gofild does, And she said yes, and laid
her hand in his. She said, I will willingly go
away with thee, but I do not know how to
get down. Bring with thee a skein of silk every

(06:38):
time that thou comest, and I will weave a ladder
with it, and when that is ready, I will descend,
and thou wilt take me on thy horse. They agreed
that until that time he should come to her every evening,
for the old woman came by day The enchantress remarked

(06:58):
nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her, tell me,
Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much
heavier for me to draw up than the young king's son.
He is with me? In a moment, Ah, thou wicked child,
cried the enchantress, What do I hear THEE say? I

(07:21):
thought I had separated thee from all the world, and
yet thou hast deceived me. In her anger, she clutched
Rapunzel's beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round. Her left hand,
seized a pair of scissors with the right and snip snap.

(07:42):
They were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on
the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took
poor Rapunzel into a desert, where she had to live
in great grief and misery. On the same day, however,
that she cast out Rapunzel, the enchantress in the evening

(08:03):
fastened the braids of hair which he had cut off,
to the hook of the window. And when the king's
son came and cried Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down thy hair.
She let the hair down. The king's son ascended, but
he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above. But the enchantress,

(08:26):
who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks Aha,
she cried mockingly, Thou wouldst fetch thy dearest, But the
beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest. The
cat has got it and will scratch out thy eyes
as well. Rapunzel is lost to thee Thou wilt never

(08:50):
see her more. The king's son was beside himself with pain,
and in his despair he leapt down from the tower.
He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which
he fell pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind
about the forest ate nothing but roots and berries, and

(09:12):
did nothing but lament and weep over the loss of
his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for
some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel,
with the twins to which he had given birth, a
boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice,

(09:34):
and it seemed so familiar to him that he went
towards it. And when he approached, Rapunzel knew him, and
fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears
wetted his eyes, and they grew clear again, and he
could see with them as before. He led her to

(09:55):
his kingdom, where he was joyfully received, and they lived
lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented end
of Rapunzel