Book extract - Doctor Grimm's Notebook: Rapunzel

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 very little but from the window at the back of their house a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to a sorceress, who had great power and was dreaded by the entire world. One day the woman became sick and began to die.

“What aileth thee, dear wife?” the man asked in grief.

“Ah,” she replied, “if I can’t get some of the herbs which are 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 healing herbs thyself—let it cost thee what it will.

In twilight of evening, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the sorceress, hastily clutched a handful of herbs, 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, 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 sorceress standing before him.

“How canst thou dare,” said she with an angry look, “to descend into my garden and steal my herbs like a thief? Thou shalt suffer for it!”

“Ah,” answered he, “let mercy take the place of justice. I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife would have died without the magic they contained.”

Then the sorceress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him, “If the case be as thou sayest, I will allow thee to take away with thee as much herbs as thou wilt, only I make one condition. Thou must give me the child which thy wife will bring into the world; it will be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother.” The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the little one came to them the sorceress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the palest and most withdrawn child for, when she was twelve years old, the sorceress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was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 sorceress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath this and cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair to me.”

Rapunzel had neglected and matted, yet strong, long hair, as steady as rope, and when she heard the voice of the sorceress 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 sorceress climbed up by it. After a year or two, it 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 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. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that the sorceress came there, and he heard how she cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair to me.”

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the sorceress climbed up to her. “If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I will for once try my fortune,” said he, and the next day, when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried,

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair to me.”

Immediately the hair fell down and the King’s son climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man as her 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 for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, He will love me more than the sorceress, and she said yes, and laid her hand in his. She said, “I will willingly go away with thee.”

Rapunzel laid down her hair for the prince to descend but in his excitement he slipped and, caught in Rapunzel’s hair, his neck did snap. The sorceress returned home to find the hanging prince and Rapunzel sobbing by the window.

“Ah! Thou wicked child,” cried the sorceress. “What do I hear thee say? I 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, snip, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. Rapunzel, in a rage, picked up the scissors and buried them deep into the sorceress, who died. It was weeks before Rapunzel was found and by that time all sanity had fled. Rapunzel was removed from the tower and taken to the asylum, where she had been ever since.

From THE ASYLUM OF FAIRY TALE CREATURES, free for a limited time on Amazon, Apple and other retailers.

Sebastian’s latest book THE BOY IN THE CEMETERY is only £0.99 for a limited time on Amazon, Apple and other retailers.

THE GRUESOME ADVENTURES OF ALICE IN UNDEADLAND is also £0.99 for a limited time on Amazon, Apple and other retailers.

 

 

Look out for A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY, coming in December.