There once was a man and a woman who were very in love with each other. One day the woman looked in the neighbors garden and saw a beautiful rampion flower. The woman turned and looked to her husband and said, "look at me husband, I long for that flower and if I don't get it soon I will surely die." The husband without thinking twice went down into the neighbor's garden to pick a flower.
When he reached the garden he was met by the enchantress, an evil witch. She stopped him and asked what he was doing in her garden. The husband explained that his wife would die if she didn't get this flower. He was very afraid and the enchantress noticed this. She said you can take all of the rampion flowers you'd like under one condition, you give me your firstborn child so that I may take care of her and act as her mother.
The husband blindly agreed so that his wife may live. So when the day came and the wife had her firstborn child she had to give it up to the enchantress, Gothel. The mother named her daughter Rapunzel, an alternative name for the rampion flower.
Once rapunzel turned twelve Mother Gother locked her away in a very tall tower with no exits but a window. Rapunzel spent all of her time in that tower, only knowing her Mother Gothel when she would come and visit every day. Rapunzel's hair had never been cut over the years of her life so it was very long and beautiful. When mother Gothel would come to visit every day she would say "Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair." then Rapunzel would throw her hair out of the window and Mother Gothel would climb up.
One day a young prince overheard mother Gothel yell this up to the tower so later that day he went up to the tower and said: "Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your hair." She did and he climbed up. She was very afraid at first but then the prince told her how beautiful she was and how he could save her from a life of being trapped away. She took kindly to him and said, "But however will I leave this place?" They devised a plan that the prince would bring a bundle of yarn every day to fashion a rope that they could both climb down.
Mother Gothal found out about her adopted daughter's plans and she banished her away to the desert. When she went to the desert she had twin children. She was in misery without the prince. The prince went up to the tower only to be greeted by the Mother Gothel. She pushed him out of the window and on the way down tree limbs and thorn bushes scratched out his eyes. He then ventured blindly through the forest until he came to a desert where he met his beloved Rapunzel. Her tears of joy heals his eyes and they lived happily ever after.
Bibliography: This story is part of the Brothers Grimm (LibriVox) unit. Story source: Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, an audiobook recording available at LibriVox based on a Project Gutenberg publication.
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