Rapunzel Story ~ A Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale, Bedtime

Stories for Kids 4.8/5 (10)

A Story From: Germany

Read Time: ["3 to 5mins","6 to 10mins"]
For Ages: 5 to 7yrs., 8 to 10yrs.

Rapunzel Story, A Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale ~

This is the story of Rapunzel, a Classic Fairy Tale originally written by the Brothers Grimm
in their book, The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales Collection. It was adapted & is brought
to you by Stories to Grow by.
The Carpenter and His Wife
ONCE UPON A TIME, there lived a carpenter and his wife. More
than anything, they wanted a child of their own. At long last, their
wish came true – the wife was going to have a baby!
From the second floor window of their small house, the wife could
see into the garden next door. Such fine fresh rows of plants and
flowers there were! But no one dared to go over the garden wall to
see them up close. For the garden belonged to a witch!
One day the wife was looking down at the garden from her
window. How fresh-looking were those big green heads of
lettuce! “It is just what I need to eat!” said the wife to her
husband. “You must go and get me some.”
“But we cannot!” said the carpenter. “You know as well as I do that
the garden belongs to the witch, who lives next door.”
“If I cannot have that lettuce,” said the wife, “I will not eat anything
at all!”
"That lettuce looks so good!” said the wife. “It is just
what I need to eat."

What could the carpenter do? Late that night, he climbed over the
garden wall. With very quiet steps, he took one green head of
lettuce. With more quiet steps, he went back over the garden
wall. His wife ate up the lettuce right away. But eating the lettuce
only made her want more! If she could not have more lettuce, she
said, there was nothing she would eat at all! So the next night, the
carpenter climbed back over the garden wall. He picked up one
more head of lettuce. All at once came a high, loud, voice.
“STOP! What do you think you are doing?”
“I…uh…am getting lettuce for my wife,” said the carpenter.

All at once came a high, loud voice.

"You thief!" yelled the witch. "You will pay for this!"
“Please!” said the carpenter. “My wife is going to have a baby. She
saw your lettuce and wanted it so very much.”
“Why should I care about that?” shouted the witch.
“I will do anything!” said the carpenter. He thought, "Maybe I can
build her something."
“You say you will do anything?” said the witch.
“Yes,” he said.
"You say you will do anything?" said the witch.

“Fine!” said the witch. “Here's the deal. Go ahead - take all the
lettuce you want. Your wife will have a baby girl. And when she
does, the baby will be mine!”
“What?!” said the carpenter. “I would never agree to that!”
“You already did!” said the witch. And she laughed an evil laugh.

The Tower
Soon the wife had a baby girl, just as the witch had said. To keep
the baby safe from the witch, the carpenter built a tall tower deep in
the woods. He built stairs that led up to a room at the very top, a
room with one window. He and his wife took turns staying with the
baby.
But the witch had a magic ball. The ball showed her just where the
baby was, at the top room of the tower. One day when the carpenter
and his wife were both in the house, she cast a spell over both of
them. They fell into a deep, deep sleep. And at once, the witch went
to the tower.
At the top room, the witch said to the baby, “I will call you
Rapunzel. For that is the name of the lettuce that brought you to
me. Now Rapunzel, you are mine!”
But the witch did not know how to take care of a baby. Rapunzel
grew into a child, and the witch did not even know how to cut her
hair. The girl’s blond hair grew longer and longer every day. All the
witch could do was keep the child locked in the room at the very top
of the tower. She told the girl that the world was a very bad
place. That was why she could not leave the tower.

“Now Rapunzel, you are mine!”

As she grew up, many times Rapunzel said to the witch, “There is
nothing here for me to do! Why must I stay in this tower all the
time?”
And the witch shouted back, “I already told you so many times! The
world is a very bad place. Now go comb your hair and be quiet.”
"But is it really so bad out there? Sometimes I hear people laughing
down below," Rapunzel would say sometimes.
At such times the witch would yell, "How many times do I have to
repeat myself? Don't listen to anything you see or hear out there. The
world is much worse than you think! You will stay in this tower
forever, Rapunzel. So get used to it!"
On her 12th birthday, Rapunzel said to the witch, “I do not care what
you say anymore! I am so tired of staying here alone all the time!
When you are gone, I will chip away at the door. I will make a hole. I
will run down the stairs and outside, no matter what you say!”
“Think again!” said the witch. With her power, she made all the
stairs in the tower fall down. She made the doors close up. Now
there was no way for Rapunzel to escape!
The Singing Voice
By then, Rapunzel’s hair had grown very, very long. Once the stairs
were gone, when it was time for the witch to visit her in the tower,
she would call from outside, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your
hair!” Rapunzel would throw her long blond braid out of the
window. The witch would grab hold of her hair like a rope. And
that is how the witch climbed up the tower wall to the window in
Rapunzel’s room.
Five more long years went by. Poor Rapunzel! She knew she must
stay in the room. All she could do was to sing sad songs out of the
window. Sometimes birds at the treetops would join in her
songs. Then she would feel a bit better. But not much.

For hours, she sang sad songs out the window.

One day, a prince was riding through the woods. He heard a

beautiful singing voice. Where was it coming from? He rode closer
and closer to the sound. At last, he came to the tower.
“This is odd!” he said, looking around the tower wall. “There is no
door at the bottom. Yet someone is singing at the very top. How
does anyone get in or out of there?” Each day, the prince came
back to the tower. There was something about that voice that pulled
him back. Who was that young woman singing at the top? Could he
ever meet her?
One day when the prince rode up, he saw an old woman standing
below the tower. He jumped behind a tree to hide. It was a
witch! He heard her call out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your
hair!” A long blond braid was thrown out from a window at the very
top. The old woman grabbed onto the braid. And she climbed the
wall to the window at the top of the tower.
“Ah, ha!” said the prince. “So that is how it is done!” He
waited. After a bit, the braid was thrown from the window
again. The witch climbed back down the tower wall. Then she left.
The prince waited. He stepped up to the tower. In a voice that
sounded as much like the witch as he could, he called out,
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!” In a moment, the same
long blond braid came out of the window. “It worked!” thought the
prince. He climbed up the wall of the tower.
He heard the witch call out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down
your hair!”

You can be sure that Rapunzel was very surprised to see the prince
climb into her window. She had never seen a person up close before
other than the witch, and never a man! “Who are you?” she said in
fear.
“Do not worry!” said the prince. “I am a friend.”
“But I do not know you,” said Rapunzel.
“I feel as if I know you,” said the prince. “I have heard you sing
songs from up here day after day. I love your voice! And I love it
when the birds sing with you, too.”
“Yes, I like that, too,” said Rapunzel. “It may be the only thing I
like, since I must stay here in this same old tower, day after day, my
whole life long.” Rapunzel told the prince about the witch. She told
him that since the world was such a very bad place, she must always
stay in the tower room.

“Do not worry,” said the prince. “I am a friend.”

“But the world is not as bad as she says!” said the prince. He told
Rapunzel about flowers and festivals, games and gardens. He told
her about puppies and puddles, strawberries and secrets.
Many hours went by. At last, Rapunzel said he must go - the witch
may come back at any time! “Very well,” said the prince. “But I
will be back tomorrow.”
Rapunzel threw her braid out the window, and the prince climbed
down. The next day, the prince climbed back up to Rapunzel’s
room. He said, “I have a surprise for you.” He had brought
strawberries for her.
As she tasted a strawberry Rapunzel thought, "Now I know that what
I was told is not true. The world can be a very fine place! I must get
out of this tower as soon as I can." But how?

Plan to Escape
One day, the prince said, "If only you could get out of this tower. I
can come and go by climbing up the walls by holding onto your
braid. But once I am down, how can you get down, too?"
"I know!" said Rapunzel. "Bring me a ball of silk each time you
come. I can weave the silk into a ladder. Silk folds up so small the
witch won't see it. When the ladder gets long enough to reach the
ground, we will both be able to climb out of here.”
“That's it!” said the prince. Then he moved closer to Rapunzel. "We
will both be free. When we are out in the world, will you marry
me?”
“Yes,” said Rapunzel, "I will." Every day after that, the prince
brought a ball of silk to Rapunzel. Over time, she weaved the silk
into a long ladder.
On Rapunzel’s 18th birthday the witch spoke to her in a sharp voice.
“Before you open your mouth this time," said the witch, "know this. I
am sick and tired of hearing you talk about how alone you are in the
tower all the time. It isn't go to change, Rapunzel! Forever!"

“And when the ladder is long enough, we will both be

able to climb out of here.”

“Who says I’m alone in the room all the time?” said Rapunzel.
“What?!” said the witch. “Who has been up here with you?”
“No one!” said Rapunzel at once, in fear. “I mean, no one but you!”
The witch did not believe her. She started to look everywhere in the
room for something to prove that someone else had been
there. Soon she found the ladder. She held it high in the air. She
yelled, “What is the meaning of this?”
“My friend the prince brought me the silk,” said Rapunzel.
"You will never see this prince again!” yelled the witch. She took out
a knife. Snip, snap, and Rapunzel's lovely braid was cut off!
Holding the braid in one hand, the witch laughed an evil
laugh. With a stroke of her magic, Rapunzel was cast away to a far-
away desert. Then the witch stayed in the tower room. She knew
that soon the prince would come back.

The Last Climb

The witch did not have to wait long. Soon the prince was calling at
the bottom of the tower, in a voice that was supposed to sound like
her own, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”
"So that is how he did it!" thought the witch. Holding tightly to one
end of Rapunzel's braid, she threw the braid out the window. The
prince took hold and climbed up. When he got to the window, he
was much surprised to see the witch!
“Where is Rapunzel?” he called out. “What have you done with
her?”
“You will never see your Rapunzel again!” yelled the witch.
The witch pushed the prince so hard that he lost hold of the
window. Down, down, he fell! The prince landed on some bushes
below. That helped with the fall, but the bushes had sharp
thorns. Some of the thorns went into his eyes. The prince was
blind!

The Desert
For two years the poor blind prince wandered the world, looking for
Rapunzel. From morning to night he called for her, but it was no
use. At last, he reached a desert. One day, he heard a beautiful voice
singing. “Oh!” he thought. “I know that voice!” It was his dear
Rapunzel! He went closer and closer to the voice he knew so well.
“My prince!” called Rapunzel when she saw him. The two of them
hugged tight. Two tears of joy fell into the eyes of the prince. All at
once, he could see again!
And what happened next, well, I'm sure you can guess! The prince
and Rapunzel went back to the kingdom where the prince
lived. They were married as soon as they could. The prince became
king of the land and Rapunzel became queen. The two of them lived
happily ever after.