格林童话 [19]
to the tower; and as he drew near he heard a voice singing so sweetly that he stood still and listened. It was Rapunzel in her loneliness trying to pass away the time with sweet songs. The King's son wished to go in to her, and sought to find a door in the tower, but there was none. So he rode home, but the song had entered into his heart, and every day he went into the wood and listened to it. Once, as he was standing there under a tree, he saw the witch come up, and listened while she called out:
“O Rapunzel, Rapunzel!Let down your hair.”
Then he saw how Rapunzel let down her long tresses, and how the witch climbed up by it and went in to her, and he said to himself:
“Since that is the ladder, I will climb it, and seek my fortune.” And the next day, as soon as it began to grow dusk, he went to the tower and cried:
“O Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair.” And she let down her hair, and the King's son climbed up by it.
Rapunzel was greatly terrified when she saw that a man had come in to her, for she had never seen one before; but the King's son began speaking so kindly to her, and told how her singing had entered into his heart, so that he could have no peace until he had seen her herself. Then Rapunzel forgot her terror, and when he asked her to take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and beautiful, she thought to herself:
“I certainly like him much better than the old mother Gothel,” and she put her hand into his hand, saying:
“I would willingly go with you, but I do not know how I shall get out. When you come, bring each time a silken rope, and I will make a ladder, and when it is quite ready I will get down by it out of the tower, and you shall take me away on your horse.”They agreed that be should come to her every evening, as the old woman came in the daytime. So the witch knew nothing of all this until once Rapunzel said to her unwittingly:
“You are much heavier to draw up, Mother Gothel, than the King's son, who has just left me!” “O wicked child,” cried the witch,“What is this I hear! I thought I had hidden you from all the world, and you have betrayed me!”
In her anger she seized Rapunzel by her beautiful hair, struck her several times with her left hand, and then grasping a pair of shears in her right—snip, snip－the beautiful locks lay on the ground. And she was so hard-hearted that she took Rapunzel and put her in a waste and desert place, where she lived in great woe and misery.
The same day on which she took Rapunzel away she went back to the tower in the evening and made fast the severed locks of hair to the window hasp, and the King's son came and cried:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair”
Then she let the hair down, and the King's son climbed up, but instead of his dearest Rapunzel he found the witch looking at him with wicked, glistening eyes.
“ Aha!” cried she, mocking him,“ you came foryour darling, but the sweet bird sits no longer in the nest, and sings no more; the cat has got her, and will scratch out your eyes as well! Rapunzel is lost to you; you will see her no more.”
The King's son was beside himself with grief, and in his agony he sprang from the tower: he escaped with life, but the thorns on which he fell put out his eyes. Then he wandered blind through the wood, eating nothing but roots and berries, and doing nothing but lament and weep for the loss of his dearest wife.
So he wandered several years in misery until at last he came to the desert place where Rapunzel lived with her twin-children that she had borne, a boy and a girl. At first he heard a voice that he thought he knew, and when he reached the place from which it seemed to come Rapunzel knew him, and fell on his neck and wept. And when her tears touched his eyes they became clear again, and he could see with them as well as ever.
Then he took her to his kingdom, where he was received with great joy, and there they lived long and happily.
afraid
“O Rapunzel, Rapunzel!Let down your hair.”
Then he saw how Rapunzel let down her long tresses, and how the witch climbed up by it and went in to her, and he said to himself:
“Since that is the ladder, I will climb it, and seek my fortune.” And the next day, as soon as it began to grow dusk, he went to the tower and cried:
“O Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair.” And she let down her hair, and the King's son climbed up by it.
Rapunzel was greatly terrified when she saw that a man had come in to her, for she had never seen one before; but the King's son began speaking so kindly to her, and told how her singing had entered into his heart, so that he could have no peace until he had seen her herself. Then Rapunzel forgot her terror, and when he asked her to take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and beautiful, she thought to herself:
“I certainly like him much better than the old mother Gothel,” and she put her hand into his hand, saying:
“I would willingly go with you, but I do not know how I shall get out. When you come, bring each time a silken rope, and I will make a ladder, and when it is quite ready I will get down by it out of the tower, and you shall take me away on your horse.”They agreed that be should come to her every evening, as the old woman came in the daytime. So the witch knew nothing of all this until once Rapunzel said to her unwittingly:
“You are much heavier to draw up, Mother Gothel, than the King's son, who has just left me!” “O wicked child,” cried the witch,“What is this I hear! I thought I had hidden you from all the world, and you have betrayed me!”
In her anger she seized Rapunzel by her beautiful hair, struck her several times with her left hand, and then grasping a pair of shears in her right—snip, snip－the beautiful locks lay on the ground. And she was so hard-hearted that she took Rapunzel and put her in a waste and desert place, where she lived in great woe and misery.
The same day on which she took Rapunzel away she went back to the tower in the evening and made fast the severed locks of hair to the window hasp, and the King's son came and cried:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair”
Then she let the hair down, and the King's son climbed up, but instead of his dearest Rapunzel he found the witch looking at him with wicked, glistening eyes.
“ Aha!” cried she, mocking him,“ you came foryour darling, but the sweet bird sits no longer in the nest, and sings no more; the cat has got her, and will scratch out your eyes as well! Rapunzel is lost to you; you will see her no more.”
The King's son was beside himself with grief, and in his agony he sprang from the tower: he escaped with life, but the thorns on which he fell put out his eyes. Then he wandered blind through the wood, eating nothing but roots and berries, and doing nothing but lament and weep for the loss of his dearest wife.
So he wandered several years in misery until at last he came to the desert place where Rapunzel lived with her twin-children that she had borne, a boy and a girl. At first he heard a voice that he thought he knew, and when he reached the place from which it seemed to come Rapunzel knew him, and fell on his neck and wept. And when her tears touched his eyes they became clear again, and he could see with them as well as ever.
Then he took her to his kingdom, where he was received with great joy, and there they lived long and happily.
afraid