Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 3:53
Rapunzel
A girl with very long hair, a tower with no door, and a prince who learns the magic words. The Grimm classic, retold as a warm, funny bedtime story.
Narrator
Rapunzel
Dame Gothel
The Prince
The Father
The MotherOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
Rapunzel is a German fairy tale published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, in the first volume of Children's and Household Tales; it grew out of an older French story, Persinette (1698). This gentle bedtime retelling keeps the stolen rampion, the tower with no door and the famous call, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair," and adds a nesting bird and a witch who gets stuck in her own tower. The ending is softened: in the Grimm tale the prince is blinded by thorns and wanders for years, while here he is only scratched and lost, Rapunzel's tears clear his eyes, and the couple even find her parents again.
What it teaches
Love and kindness find a way through walls, and honesty is worth keeping even when it lands you in trouble. It is also a gentle story about growing up and leaving a nest that has become too small.
Suits
Ages 4–8
Tips for telling it
- Use a croaky voice for Dame Gothel's call and a silly old-lady voice for the prince's, and let your child guess who's at the bottom of the tower.
- Lower a scarf or a dressing-gown cord from the bed like Rapunzel's braid and haul up a teddy.
- Ask: why did Dame Gothel lock Rapunzel away, and what would have been a kinder way to keep her safe?
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of Rapunzel?
- Most readers see it as a story about the harm of shutting someone away from the world, and about love and loyalty winning through. Rapunzel's tears healing the prince show that love can mend what has been hurt.
- What does the name Rapunzel mean?
- Rapunzel is the German name for rampion, a leafy plant once eaten as a salad. Her mother craved it from the witch's garden, and the baby was named after it.
- What happens to the prince in the original Rapunzel?
- In the Grimm version he jumps from the tower into thorns that blind him, and he wanders for years until he hears Rapunzel singing. Her tears fall into his eyes and he can see again.
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