Excerpt from “Rapunzel” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812)
1Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who had long wished for a child but had never
received one. Finally, however, the woman came to be with child.
2Through the small rear window of these people's house they could see into a fairy's garden that was
filled with flowers and herbs of all kinds. No one dared enter this garden. One day the woman was standing at
this window, and she saw the most beautiful rapunzel in a bed. She longed for some, but not knowing how to get any, she became miserably ill. Her husband was frightened, and asked her why she was doing so poorly. "Oh, if I do not get some rapunzel from the garden behind our house, I shall surely die," she said. The man, who loved her dearly, decided to get her some, whatever the cost.
3One evening he climbed over the high wall, hastily dug up a handful of rapunzel, and took it to his wife.
She immediately made a salad from it, which she devoured greedily. It tasted so very good to her that by the
next day her desire for more had grown threefold. The man saw that there would be no peace, so once again he
climbed into the garden. To his horror, the fairy was standing there. She scolded him fiercely for daring to enter
and steal from her garden. He excused himself as best he could with his wife's pregnancy, and how it would be
dangerous to deny her anything.
4Finally the fairy spoke, "I will accept your excuse and even allow you to take as much rapunzel as you
want, if you will give me the child that your wife is now carrying." In his fear the man agreed to everything.
5When the woman gave birth, the fairy appeared, named the little girl Rapunzel, and took her away. This
Rapunzel became the most beautiful child under the sun, but when she was twelve years old, the fairy locked her in a high tower that had neither a door nor a stairway, but only a tiny little window at the very top....