Золушка. Спящая красавица. Рапунцель / Cinderella. The Sleeping Beauty. Rapunzel

But this was no ordinary castle tower.

This tower had no door and no way to the top, only a small window that allowed Rapunzel to see the world outside.

Rapunzel was not allowed to tell anyone how to get into the tower[56].

When the witch wanted to go inside the tower, she cried out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.”

Then, the witch would climb up her hair and go inside the castle tower.

A few more years went by. One day when she was alone in the castle tower, a Prince rode by on a beautiful white horse and heard a wonderful voice coming from the tower.

But when he tried to find the door to go inside to see Rapunzel, he could not find it.

Feeling sad that he could not speak to her[57], he rode home to his castle.

He thought of Rapunzel and her delightful singing voice every day and went to listen to her sing every afternoon.

One day as he was resting against a tree outside of the castle tower, he saw the evil witch ride up and yell out to Rapunzel, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair.”

Curious, the Prince kept watching[58]

and saw Rapunzel let her long flowing hair down for the witch to climb up.

So, the very next day, the Prince went back to the castle tower and decided to call out to Rapunzel the same way[59] the evil witch had. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your golden hair” he shouted.

Immediately Rapunzel let her hair fall down and the Prince climbed up her golden locks into the castle tower.

At first Rapunzel did not know what to say to the Prince as she only saw the witch each day.

But once he began to talk to her and tell her how much he loved her beautiful singing voice, she became very comfortable and told him of her life in the castle tower.

The Prince was in love and asked Rapunzel to marry him.

She liked the Prince very much and she said “yes”.

Rapunzel and the Prince decided the best way[60] for Rapunzel to get down from the tower was for the Prince to bring her a bit of silk thread every day which she would weave into a ladder[61] for her to climb down.

But one day as Rapunzel was weaving the ladder the witch came and yelled, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your golden hair.”

When the evil witch came inside Rapunzel’s room, she saw the ladder and became very angry. “You have betrayed me!” she said.

With that, the evil witch took a pair of scissors and cut off Rapunzel’s lovely golden locks of hair.

The next day when the Prince came with more silk thread, the evil witch tricked him by throwing the hair out the window for him to climb up.

When he got inside[62] the castle tower he did not see his darling Rapunzel but instead the evil witch.

“You will never see your Rapunzel again” the witch cackled. “I am taking her to a desert where you will never find her[63].”

The Prince was so upset that he jumped out of the castle tower and fell onto some thorns which made him blind[64].

He feared the witch was telling the truth and that he had lost his darling Rapunzel forever.

Now blind, he stayed in the forest eating just roots and berries.

For years he stayed away from everyone.[65]

But one day he walked and walked and stumbled upon a beautiful lake.

There he heard a beautiful voice he recognized as the sweet singing sounds of Rapunzel.

He walked towards the voice and it was indeed Rapunzel.

When she saw the Prince she recognized him instantly and fell over him weeping.

Two of her tears landed on the Prince’s eyes and he could again see[66].

The Prince and Rapunzel hugged each other and went to the Prince’s castle.

At that moment Rapunzel and the Prince knew they would live happily ever after… and they did[67].

Exercises

1. Answer the questions.

1. Where did a man and a woman live?

2. Whom did the enchanted garden belong to?

3. Why did the man steal food from the enchanted garden?

4. What did the man promise to the witch?

5. Did the evil witch take the man and the woman’s daughter?

6. Was Rapunzel beautiful or ugly?

7. What happened when Rapunzel turned 12 years old?

8. What did the witch do when she wanted to go inside the tower?

9. How did the Prince get into the castle?

10. Did the Prince fall in love with Rapunzel?

11. Did Rapunzel agree to marry the Prince?

12. What happened to the Prince when he jumped out of the castle tower?

13. How did the Prince meet Rapunzel again?

2. True or False?

1. The man and his wife lived near an enchanted garden.

2. The man and the woman were rather rich and could grow enough food to eat.

3. The witch was kind and allowed the man to gather vegetables and fruits from her garden.