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( Excerpt from 'Rapunzel' -- the R-Rated version from the Grimms' first edition (1812) (translated by D. L. Ashliman) )
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I want the story of when she's living alone in the forest, between the time the witch Gothel kicks her out and the prince finds her again (he wasn't even searching for her, just wandering blind through the forest, feeling sorry for himself, until he accidentally comes upon her place of dwelling).
This Rapunzel I see as fairly kick-ass.
One: she doesn't simply "let" him climb her hair -- she arranged for him to come every evening, and pulled him up. So she must have been strong, and able to do a lot for herself. And --
Two: Yes, this version of the story focuses on the trope of the pitiful woman giving birth alone. But think about it: the prince (young king) doesn't meet up with her again until several years later, when her son and daughter are out of babyhood and into childhood. If she's living in a house, she must have built it. If she's fed herself and her kids, she must have hunted and gathered for herself. So Wilhelm Grimm wrote that she lived in misery. But if you're going to survive, you can't be miserable 100% of the time.
I'm picturing her making her way through the forest, her hair now cropped short, with a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder, perhaps working sorcery that she'd learned from Frau Gothel.*
I mean, it's all between (or even buried under) the lines. But it's there. Unlike Sleeping Beauty, where neither the princess nor her 'rescuing' prince do anything,** Rapunzel is the one who rescues them both.
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BTW: "Rapunzel" is the name given to either of two plants: a wildflower called Rampion in English, or a wild herb (brought under cultivation and gone wild again), also called Corn Salad ('Corn' being an old word for any grain, and this plant really likes to grow in old wheat fields). Seeing how it's highly nutritious, craved by a pregnant woman, and the only description of it mentions its green leaves, but no flowers, my money's on the latter.
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*The name "Gothel" and the fact that Rapunzel's tears have healing powers are the only details in the Disney movie Tangled that bear any resemblance to the original version/s. In this 1812 version, Gothel is a powerful fairy; in the rewrites from 1819 - 1857, she's a sorceress.
**(the spell Sleeping Beauty was under was timed to last 100 years exactly. The prince just happened to kiss her the moment the precise moment the 100 years was up; she would have woken up even if he'd never been there)
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A link to the 1812 and 1857 versions, side-by-side comparison
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I want the story of when she's living alone in the forest, between the time the witch Gothel kicks her out and the prince finds her again (he wasn't even searching for her, just wandering blind through the forest, feeling sorry for himself, until he accidentally comes upon her place of dwelling).
This Rapunzel I see as fairly kick-ass.
One: she doesn't simply "let" him climb her hair -- she arranged for him to come every evening, and pulled him up. So she must have been strong, and able to do a lot for herself. And --
Two: Yes, this version of the story focuses on the trope of the pitiful woman giving birth alone. But think about it: the prince (young king) doesn't meet up with her again until several years later, when her son and daughter are out of babyhood and into childhood. If she's living in a house, she must have built it. If she's fed herself and her kids, she must have hunted and gathered for herself. So Wilhelm Grimm wrote that she lived in misery. But if you're going to survive, you can't be miserable 100% of the time.
I'm picturing her making her way through the forest, her hair now cropped short, with a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder, perhaps working sorcery that she'd learned from Frau Gothel.*
I mean, it's all between (or even buried under) the lines. But it's there. Unlike Sleeping Beauty, where neither the princess nor her 'rescuing' prince do anything,** Rapunzel is the one who rescues them both.
--
BTW: "Rapunzel" is the name given to either of two plants: a wildflower called Rampion in English, or a wild herb (brought under cultivation and gone wild again), also called Corn Salad ('Corn' being an old word for any grain, and this plant really likes to grow in old wheat fields). Seeing how it's highly nutritious, craved by a pregnant woman, and the only description of it mentions its green leaves, but no flowers, my money's on the latter.
-----
*The name "Gothel" and the fact that Rapunzel's tears have healing powers are the only details in the Disney movie Tangled that bear any resemblance to the original version/s. In this 1812 version, Gothel is a powerful fairy; in the rewrites from 1819 - 1857, she's a sorceress.
**(the spell Sleeping Beauty was under was timed to last 100 years exactly. The prince just happened to kiss her the moment the precise moment the 100 years was up; she would have woken up even if he'd never been there)
---------
A link to the 1812 and 1857 versions, side-by-side comparison
