'Ah,' answered he, 'let mercy take the place of justice, 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.'
The enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him: 'If the case
be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you
will, only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife
will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it
like a mother.'
The man in his terror consented to everything.
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 under the sun. When she was twelve
years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower in the middle of a forest. The
tower had neither stairs nor door, but near the top was a little window. When
the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried:
'Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair to me.'
Let down your hair to me.'
Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, 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 hair fell twenty ells down,
and the enchantress climbed up by it.
After a year or two, it came to pass that the king's son rode through the
forest and passed by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so charming
that he stood still and listened. It was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her
time in letting her sweet voice resound. The king's son wanted to climb up to
her, and 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.
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