He waited, his heart racing, his fists clenched. Then he approached the foot of the tower, craned his neck, and called up in a cracked, old-woman voice, ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair.’
The amazingly long strong braid of hair swung down out of the window. The prince seized it eagerly, marvelling at its warm silkiness, and started climbing up and up and up … and in at the window.
Rapunzel screamed as he jumped into the midst of her chamber. She tried to run, but she’d wound her hair round a hook at the window to relieve the strain on her scalp and she was caught fast.
‘Allow me,’ said the Prince, and he deftly unhooked her and helped her haul her hair back up into the room. C roem" ali
Rapunzel wrapped her plait around herself in her anxiety.
‘I thought you were Mother returning. Where is she? You haven’t harmed her?’
‘Of course not, Madam.’
‘Who are you? You’re not one of the boys from the village?’
The Prince stood up straight, displaying his courtly clothes.
‘I am a Prince,’ he informed her. ‘And you must be an enchanted Princess, shut up in this golden tower.’
‘I’m not a Princess. I’m only Rapunzel,’ she said, giggling.
‘You’re a Princess to me,’ said the Prince, and he took her hand and kissed it.
He stayed very late that night. He came the next day, after the old woman had paid her visit. He stayed even later. He came every evening at sunset, courting his beautiful Rapunzel – and now he did not leave until sunrise. He loved Rapunzel with all his heart and soul and she loved him too, deeply and passionately.
‘How can I carry you away, my darling Rapunzel? I want to take you to my Palace and make you my real Princess,’ said the Prince, stroking the long shimmering waterfall of her hair. ‘You’re so beautiful. Your hair is so strong and yet it’s so silky too.’
Rapunzel started. ‘Skeins of silk!’ she said. ‘That’s it. Bring me a skein of silk every time you visit me, dearest Prince. I will braid them tight and strong so that they make a ladder. When the ladder is long enough I will tie it to the window hook and climb down from the tower into your arms.’
It seemed a splendid plan. The Prince did as she suggested and brought a skein of silk every day. Rapunzel spent hours every day constructing the silken ladder. It was good to have something to do with her time. Since the Prince started visiting her she had grown bored with all her old childish games. She could not even amuse herself dressing up in all her rainbow gowns because many of them did not fit her any more. Even the loosest purple gown was growing tighter and tighter at the waist.
The old woman seemed to be growing smaller and frailer as Rapunzel grew bigger and more bonnie. She had difficulty clambering up the rope of Rapunzel’s hair. Rapunzel had to reach out when she got to the window to haul her in.
One morning the effort was so great that the taut seams on her purple gown couldn’t take the strain any more. As she pulled the old woman into her chamber Rapunzel Cr Rou visi217;s dress tore almost in two and slithered about her thickening waist. The old woman stared at her soft new curves and gave a great howl of realization.
‘You are going to have a child!’ she gasped.
Rapunzel was very frightened – and yet in the midst of her fear and anxiety a deep happiness made her blush.
‘I am going to have the Prince’s baby!’ she said. ‘Oh, how wonderful!’
‘You wicked deceitful ungrateful girl! You are no longer my daughter,’ screamed the old woman.
She seized a pair of sharp scissors and cut her way straight through Rapunzel’s wonderful plait, sawing it right off at the nape of her neck. Then she took the girl and shook her hard until the red chamber whirled all around her and Rapunzel’s eyes rolled up and she fell down down down into darkness …
When she awoke she was alone in a barren desert. She put her poor shorn head on her knees and wept.
The old woman stayed hidden in Rapunzel’s tower. Towards sunset the Prince came eagerly to meet up with his love.
‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair,’ he called.
The witch took Rapunzel’s cut-off braid, secured one end to the window hook and let the golden plait slither down to the ground. The Prince climbed up and up and up, and put one leg over the window ledge – and then stopped dead, staring at the old woman in front of him, her face contorted with rage.
‘Where is Rapunzel?’ he gasped.
‘She is gone – and you will never see her again,’ the old woman screamed.
She pushed the Prince hard so that he fell back out of the window, down and down and down. Thorn bushes suddenly sprouted out of the green grass. The Prince landed in these thorns and was almost torn to pieces. Two big thorns pierced his eyes so that he could no longer see.
He stumbled off in this new dark world, calling for Rapunzel.
He felt his way right through the forest and journeyed to and fro across the land, blindly searching for his lost love. A year went by, and then another. Time had no meaning for the Prince. He knew he had to search for Rapunzel to the end of his days.
But then, one evening when there was a beautiful blood-red sunset (though of course he couldn’t see it) the Prince heard the sweetest saddest singing. It was very so Ct wim, her ft and far away – but unmistakable.
‘Rapunzel!’ he said, and he started running, stumbling and tapping his stick before him frantically.
Rapunzel stopped singing for an instant, hearing his dear voice calling her name.
‘My Prince?’ she said, and she ran out of the makeshift hovel that was now her home.
She saw a blind man in rags staggering towards her – but knew at once who he was.
‘My Prince!’ she cried, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks.
‘Rapunzel!’ cried the Prince. He threw away his stick and held out his arms.
Rapunzel ran right into his embrace. Her tears fell on his wounded eyes, washing out the deeply embedded thorns. The Prince could see again. He saw his own beloved Rapunzel, her hair now growing way past her shoulders. He also saw the rosy-cheeked fair twins tumbling outdoors to meet their father for the first time.
The Prince took his family back to his Kingdom where they lived happily ever after.
The distraught old witch-woman wandered the world but ended up back in her original old cottage with dragons on the door and the griffin weathervane on the roof. Rapunzel’s parents had moved away, but the villagers said the wife had given birth to a fine son a year after she lost her daughter.
A new husband and wife lived in their cottage. They had no children. One night the old woman heard noises coming from the garden and found the husband in her rampion patch …
Aesop’s Fables
Retold by Malorie Blackman
Illustrated by Patrice Aggs
Foxy and the Sour Grapes
FOXY WAS WALKING along the dusty road one day, minding his own business and thinking foxy thoughts, when he came across a high vine. Now this vine was laden down with big, beckoning grapes.
‘My! You look juicy. You look sweet! You look good enough to F amus04" alt=" eat,’ said Foxy, licking his lips.
So up he hopped, he jumped, he leaped. But he just couldn’t reach those grapes. He took a running jump at them. He bounced. He vaulted. He sprang. But nothing doing.
Slinking away, Foxy had a growl, a scowl, a glower. He said, ‘I bet those grapes are yuck and sour!’
The Sun and the North Wind
‘WHEN YOU GET right down to it, I’m stronger than you,’ said the North Wind.
‘You really think so?’ smiled the Sun.
‘All right then, I’ll prove it,’ said the North Wind. ‘You see that man down there with a coat on? I bet I can blow his coat right off. Watch this!’
And the North Wind blew and Blew and BLEW. He blew around the man’s head, around his legs, around his back and his chest, trying to tear his coat off. But the man just pulled
his coat even more firmly around him, shivering against the cold.
‘D’you mind if I have a try?’ said the Sun.
And he shone. Warm, soft, golden rays.
‘What funny peculiar weather!’ said the man, unbuttoning his coat.
And the Sun shone some more. Bright, light rays everywhere.
‘I’m melting,’ the man gasped. And he pulled off his coat and slung it over his shoulder.
‘I win! I win!’ grinned the Sun. ‘Deal with that!’
The Tortoise and the Hare
‘TORTOISE, YOU ARE so slow! How can you stand it?’ asked the Hare.
‘I like my pace. I have time to admire the sky and the flowers and listen to the breeze blow.’
‘Phooey!’ Hare snorted. ‘When I run I get to where I’m going almost before I leave!’
Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ Tortoise said. ‘Speed isn’t everything. I bet if we had a race right here and now, I’d have a good chance of beating Kce righ you. How about a race over the hill and back?’
Hare roared with laughter. ‘You and me have a race? You wouldn’t stand a chance.’
‘We’ll see.’ Tortoise smiled.
But Hare didn’t reply. He’d already started running. It wasn’t long before Hare was way, way out in front.
‘Why am I hurrying? That tortoise is so slow, I could run this race fifteen times before he’s even finished once. I might as well take it easy.’ So Hare settled down for a nap. ‘I can have a little sleep and still beat that tortoise – easy peasy, lemon squeezy!’ And he closed his eyes and started snoring.
A little while later, the tortoise plodded past the sleeping hare and continued on his way, over the hill and back again. Hare awoke and raced to catch up but he’d left it too late. Tortoise crossed the finish line first and beat him.
The Lion and the Fox
AN OLD LION came up with a plan to get himself some food without having to run and sweat and work for it. He lay in a cave and moaned and groaned for all he was worth.
‘Ooh, my head hurts. Ooh, my back aches. Ooh, my paws are so sore. I’m ill! I’m sick! I’m dying!’
It wasn’t long before animal after animal came to see how the poor lion was doing. But the moment they entered the lion’s cave, he pounced on them and gobbled them up.
One day a fox came to call. He stood outside the cave and asked, ‘How are you, Lion? Feeling better?’
‘Not at all,’ croaked the lion. ‘Come in and see for yourself.’
‘I would,’ said the wise fox, ‘if it wasn’t for the fact that I can see plenty of tracks going into your cave and not a single one coming out again!’
The Lion and the Man
A LION AND a man were travelling along a road together. They started arguing about which one of them was the stronger, the more powerful. They came across a statue at the side of the road – a statue of a man strangling a lion with his bare hands.
‘You see that!’ said the man. ‘That just proves my point. Over there is a statue of a man Katu th over-powering a lion.’
The lion smiled a wry, dry smile. ‘If lions bothered to carve and sculpt, I’m sure you’d see a lot of statues of lions with humans under their paws.’
The Ants and the Grasshopper
IT WAS SUMMER. And while the ants gathered seeds and nuts for the cold days to come, grasshopper jumped about and sang happily in the sun. But summer didn’t last for ever. Winter came. It blew cold and hard and fierce. Poor grasshopper was starving. There was no food anywhere. Dying of hunger and cold, he made his way to the ants and begged them for something to eat.
‘And what were you doing in summer while we were working hard to gather up all this food?’ the ants asked.
‘I was singing,’ the grasshopper replied.
‘Really!’ said the ants, less than impressed. ‘Well, as you sang then, you can dance now – and see where that gets you.’
The Wolf’s Dinner
A WOLF WAITED until the goatherd went away to have his dinner and then he pounced. He caught up a kid in his powerful jaws and turned to run away and devour his catch in private.
‘Wait a moment,’ said the kid. ‘I know you’re going to eat me, but I have also heard that you play the flute more sweetly than any other animal alive. I’m sure if you were to play now, many more of my family would willingly follow you.’
So the wolf picked up the goatherd’s flute and started to blow. The noise alerted the goatherd who came back with help and drove the wolf away.
‘Serve me right,’ said the wolf as he ran off. ‘I’m a butcher. I had no business being a musician as well.’
The Vixen and the Lioness
‘REALLY! IS THAT all you could manage?!’ scoffed the vixen. ‘Look at my lovely cubs. I have loads! Five beautiful cubs. You only have a measly one.’
‘Only one,’ came the reply. ‘But a lion.’
The Dog and the Bone
A DOG STOLE a juicy bone and ran off with it in his mouth. He came to a calm river where, looking down, he was surprised to see another dog staring back at him. This other dog also had a bone in his mouth, but the other dog’s bone looked much more meaty and juicy.
‘Give me that bone. It’s mine!’ the first dog growled. And he lunged for it.
As his own bone fell into the river and was swept away, too late the dog realized that he had been growling at his own reflection.
At Dinner with Stork and Fox
FOX INVITED THE stork over for dinner. He served delicious soup in a wide, flat soup bowl. Try as she might, Stork couldn’t pick up a drop in her long beak, much less swallow anything.
‘Not eating, Stork?’ asked Fox, enjoying himself. ‘Here! Let me help.’
And Fox licked up Stork’s portion as well. Poor Stork had to go home hungry but she was determined to get her own back. The following week, Stork invited Fox to dinner.
‘I’m cooking loads, so come hungry,’ said Stork.
Ravenous, Fox sat down to dinner. He could smell wonderful smells coming from Stork’s kitchen.
‘I’ve cooked one of your favourites,’ said Stork.
And in she came with two long, thin pitchers of stew.
‘Eat up!’ said Stork, dipping her beak into the pitcher and eating her fill.
But try as he might, the fox couldn’t get a bite. He couldn’t get his snout into the thin pitcher.
‘Not hungry? Here! Let me help you,’ said Stork. And she ate Fox’s portion as well, as he slunk back home with his tail between his legs.
The Lion, the Fox and the Donkey
ONE DAY A lion, a fox and a donkey went hunting. After a hard day’s work, they had caught and killed a number of animals.
‘Now then,’ said the lion to the donkey. ‘If you will divide up the food, we can each take o Kn ener.ur share and go home.’
The donkey divided the food into three equal portions. But when the lion saw this, in a rage he turned on the donkey and killed him. The lion turned to the fox.
‘If you will divide this food into two portions, we can each take our share and go home.’
The fox put the best, tenderest, choicest meats into one pile for the lion, taking only a few morsels for himself.
‘Who taught you to divide up food like that?’ asked the lion.
‘Oh, I don’t know. What happened to the donkey might have had something to do with it!’ came the fox’s reply.
The Goose Who laid Golden Eggs
A MAN ONCE owned a goose who laid one gold egg each morning. But as time passed, the man grew more and more impatient with waiting for his special egg each day.
He said to himself, ‘I bet that goose has got a huge lump of gold inside.’
So he killed the goose and opened it up and surprise, surprise! There was no gold, just normal, ordinary goose innards.
The Fox and the Corn
A FARMER CAUGHT the fox who had been stealing corn from his corn field and decided to have some fun. He tied some kindling to the fox’s tail
and set it alight. How he laughed as the poor fox ran around in agony. But his laughter soon turned to anguish and tears as the fox, distraught with pain, ran up and down the farmer’s corn field setting all his corn alight and destroying his crop for that year.
The Shipwreck
THERE WAS A terrible storm. A ship was being pummelled by the savage wind and huge waves and soon it began to sink. Everyone on board jumped off the ship and started swimming for their lives. All, that is, except one man. He stayed on board as the ship was going down, crying out, ‘Save me. Athena, save me and I will place gems and the finest foods and wines on your altar.’
From the sea below, another man called out to him, ‘Don’t leave it all to Athena. Let your arms and legs do some of the work as well!’
The Mouse and the Lion
A SLEEPING LION was wakened up by a mouse running over him. Catching the mouse with one paw, the lion was just about to snack on her when the mouse begged, ‘Please don’t eat me. I’m not even a morsel for a big lion like you. If you spare my life, I promise that some day, in some way, I will repay you.’
The lion thought about it and, admiring the mouse’s courage, said, ‘You’re right. You aren’t even a mouthful. You’re barely worth me opening my mouth! So I’ll let you go. But I don’t see what a tiny thing like you could ever do to repay me, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t hold my breath!’
The lion let the mouse go nevertheless.
A few days later, the lion was caught in a huntsman’s net and couldn’t get out, no matter how hard he struggled. The mouse saw that the lion was trapped. Without a word, she chewed through first one section of rope, then another and another. Very soon, the lion was free.
Magic Beans: A Handful of Fairytales From the Storybag Page 6