#FairytaleTuesday: Rapunzel

[CW: child abuse, attempted suicide]

Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type 310: Rapunzel

One of the most well known fairytales in the world, this one was published by the Grimm brothers in 1812 but it first appeared several centuries earlier. Giambattista Basile’s Petrosinella is the oldest written version, dating back to 1634. Mademoiselle de la Force published Persinette in 1698 and Johann Gustav Büsching published Das Mährchen von der Padde in 1812, shortly before the Grimm’s published their version.

If you’re curious as to the meaning of Rapunzel, the stuff that the pregnant wife eats like it’s her job, it’s pretty much just salad, y’all. The poor woman just wanted to eat a damn salad.

So she let her hair drop, and when her braids were at the bottom of the tower, he tied them around him, and she pulled him up. At first Rapunzel was terribly afraid, but soon the young prince pleased her so much that she agreed to see him every day and pull him up into the tower. Thus, for a while they had a merry time and enjoyed each other’s company. The fairy didn’t become aware of this until, one day, Rapunzel began talking and said to her, “Tell me, Mother Gothel, why are my clothes becoming too tight? They don’t fit me any more.”

Work Cited:
Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm. The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition. Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.