Bedtime Story | Rapunzel

Listen and relax to this slightly modified version of Rapunzel, originally written by The Brothers Grimm, narrated in a soft and soothing female voice. This bedtime story includes peaceful nature sounds in the background.

Royalty-free sound effects by Pixabay.

Transcript

Rapunzel Original Story By The Brothers Grimm In a distant kingdom where the mountains touched the sky and the forests whispered ancient secrets,

A young couple lived in a quaint village.

They longed for a child for many years,

And their prayers were finally answered.

This couple had a little window at the back of their house from which 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 an enchantress who had great power and was dreaded by all.

As the wife neared her due date,

She was standing by this window and looking down into the garden when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful Rapunzel herb,

And it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it and had the greatest desire to eat some.

This desire increased every day,

And as she knew that she could not get any of it,

She quite pined away for it and looked pale and miserable.

Then her husband,

Who was alarmed,

Asked her what ailed her,

And she replied,

I fear that if I can't get some of the Rapunzel,

Which is in the garden behind our house,

To eat,

I shall die.

Desperate to satisfy his wife's craving,

One evening in the twilight the man clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress.

He hastily clutched a handful of Rapunzel and took it to his wife.

She at once made herself a salad of it and ate it with much joy.

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 climbed down the wall,

He was terribly afraid,

For he saw the enchantress standing before him.

How dare you,

She said with an angry look,

To descend into my garden and steal my Rapunzel like a thief?

You shall suffer for it.

He begged her to let mercy take the place of justice.

He explained his wife's condition and that she felt such a longing for the Rapunzel that she would have died if she had not got some to eat.

The enchantress then allowed her anger to be softened,

But demanded a heavy price to be paid.

She told him he could take as much Rapunzel as he needed,

But in return,

They must give her their child when it was born,

And that she'd care for it like a mother.

The man in his terror consented to everything,

And when the little one was born,

The enchantress appeared at once,

Gave the baby girl the name of Rapunzel,

And took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath the sun.

When she was twelve years old,

The enchantress shot her into a tower,

Which lay in a forest,

And had neither stairs nor door,

But at the top there was a little window.

When the enchantress wanted to go in,

She placed herself beneath it and cried,

Rapunzel,

Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.

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 yards down,

And the enchantress climbed up by it.

Rapunzel grew up isolated in the tower,

Her only company being the enchantress and the birds that perched on the window ledge.

She spent her days singing sweetly,

Painting,

And dreaming of the world beyond the tower walls.

The enchantress forbade her from leaving,

Warning her of the dangers outside.

After several years,

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.

The prince 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 standing behind a tree,

He saw that an enchantress came there,

And he heard how she cried,

Rapunzel,

Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.

And he watched how Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair,

And the enchantress climbed up to her.

Determined to meet the girl with a captivating voice,

He waited until the enchantress left,

And then he called out,

Imitating her voice,

Rapunzel,

Rapunzel,

Let down your hair.

To his surprise,

The golden hair fell from the window,

And he climbed up.

At first,

Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man,

Such as her eyes had never yet beheld,

Came to her.

But the king's son began to speak to her kindly like a friend,

And told her that his heart had been so stirred that he had had no rest,

And he had felt compelled to see her.

Rapunzel soon lost her fear,

And over the following weeks,

The prince visited her regularly and their bond deepened into love.

One day,

When he asked her if she would take him for a husband,

She thought,

He will love me more than the old enchantress does,

And she said yes,

And laid her hand in his.

She said,

I will willingly go away with you,

But I do not know how to get down.

Bring with you a piece of silk every time that you come,

And I will weave a ladder with it,

And when that is ready,

I will descend,

And we will go away on your horse.

They agreed that until that time,

He should come to her every evening,

For the old woman came by day.

The enchantress remarked nothing of this,

Until one day Rapunzel said to her,

Tell me how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the prince.

He is with me in a moment.

The enchantress called her a wicked child,

Thinking that she had separated her from all the world,

And yet Rapunzel had deceived her.

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,

And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert,

Where she had to live in great grief and misery.

On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel,

The enchantress in the evening fastened the braids of hair,

Which she had cut off to the hook of the window,

And when the prince came and cried,

Rapunzel,

Rapunzel,

Let down your hair,

She let the hair down,

The prince ascended,

But he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above,

But the old woman,

Who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks.

She told him his beautiful bird no longer sits singing in the nest,

The cat got it,

And the cat would scratch his eyes out as well.

Rapunzel was lost to him,

And he'd never see her again.

The king's son was beside himself with pain,

And in his despair,

He leaped down from the tower.

He escaped with his life,

But the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes.

Then he wandered,

Quite blind,

About the forest,

Ate nothing but roots and berries,

And did nothing but weep over the loss of his dearest Rapunzel.

Thus,

He roamed about in misery for some time,

And at length came to the desert,

Where Rapunzel lived in wretchedness.

He heard a voice,

And it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it,

And when he approached,

Rapunzel knew him,

And fell upon him and wept.

Two of her tears wetted his eyes,

And they grew clear again,

And he could see with them as before.

He led her to his kingdom,

Where they were joyfully received.

Rapunzel was then reunited with her parents,

And soon after married the prince,

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Reviews

Loved it a little short but other than that,
amazing 🤩