Once upon a time, there lived a baker and his wife. They lived above their bakery in a small village, next door to a mysterious vegetable garden. The garden had thick brick walls built on all four sides to protect its vegetables from pests.
In all their time living above the bakery, the baker and his wife never met the owner of the garden, nor did they see anyone going in or out of it. However, from the window of their bedroom, they could peer down into it and gawk at all the delicious crops growing between the walls.
The tomatoes were bright red and ripe, the cabbage was healthy and full, and the mushrooms were plump and lush. Sadly, no one ever seemed to enjoy the vegetables growing there. The crops always rotted back into the earth before being eaten.
The baker and his wife had much more important things to worry about than the neglected garden; they were expecting their first child.
While carrying the baby, the wife was experiencing the strongest cravings she had ever felt. Being a good husband, the baker happily fetched his wife whatever it was she wanted to eat.
One day, the wife’s hungry gaze fell upon the lettuce in their neighbor’s garden. They were some of the juiciest greens she had ever seen. Day and night she dreamed about making a salad or stew out of the leaves. The wife’s craving for the lettuce increased every day, until she almost died from desire.
“Oh, darling, I would love nothing more than to have a bite of the delicious lettuce in our neighbor’s garden,” she said. “Would you mind climbing the wall and bringing me back some?”
“You want me to steal from our neighbor, my dear?” the baker asked.
“It’ll only go to waste if we don’t eat it,” the wife said. “Besides, we’ve never seen so much as a mouse next door! No one will ever know.”
The baker was hesitant at first, but he was willing to do anything to be a good father and husband. He figured some mild thievery wouldn’t harm anyone.
As soon as the sun set that night, the baker climbed the wall into his neighbor’s garden and brought back some lettuce for his wife. She cooked it, and the happy couple enjoyed it for dinner without a care in the world. Little did they know that stealing the lettuce would be the biggest mistake of their lives.
Unbeknownst to the baker and his wife, the garden next door belonged to a terrible witch, who noticed that the head of lettuce was missing as soon as it was taken. She barged into the baker’s home and caught him and his wife eating it.
“Thieves!” the witch yelled. “How dare you steal from me! I’ll curse you for this!”
The baker and his wife fell to their knees and begged the witch for forgiveness.
“We’re so sorry!” the baker said. “We’ve never seen the crops in your garden harvested before!”
“We didn’t know the lettuce would be missed!” the wife said.
“Fools!” the witch roared. “The vegetables in my garden are not meant for eating—they’re meant for making potions! The lettuce you stole from me is called rapunzel. When it’s prepared correctly, it will bring hair back to the bald or sight back to the blind!”
“Please take something of ours in exchange,” the baker said.
“Yes, anything you’d like!” the wife said. “But please don’t curse us!”
The witch was looking forward to putting a curse on their house, but their offer was very intriguing.
“Anything I’d like, you say?” she asked.
“Yes, anything!” the baker and his wife said together.
The witch looked around their tiny home. She didn’t find anything that interested her until her eyes fell upon the wife’s pregnant belly. A child was something the witch had never owned before, so it was an easy decision.
“I shall return when you give birth, and your child shall be mine!” the witch declared.
“No!” the baker pleaded. “Anything but our child!”
“Do not argue with me!” the witch warned. “You will hand the child over to me, or I will curse you into oblivion!”
Two months later, the wife gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl. She had been in her mother’s arms for only a few short moments when the witch returned. Although every fiber of his being urged him not to, the baker handed his newborn daughter over to her.
“I shall name her Rapunzel, so what you stole and what was stolen from you shall always be one and the same,” the witch said.
She disappeared with the child, and the baker and his wife never saw her again.
The witch took the child into the middle of the woods and locked her away in the room of a very tall tower where no one could reach her. There were no doors or stairs in the tower, just a single small window, so the witch had to climb the tower brick by brick every day when she visited.
As the witch got older, this became a much harder and harder task, but an alternative method presented itself when Rapunzel grew into a young woman.
Thanks to the magic of the lettuce her mother had consumed, Rapunzel’s hair grew faster, longer, and stronger than that of all the other maidens in the land put together. When the witch came for a visit, she would call up to the tower:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”
Rapunzel would lower her hair, and the witch would climb it as if it were rope.
Every day during the witch’s visit, Rapunzel would ask her the same question.
“Mother,” Rapunzel called the witch, for she had never known any other. “One day, when I am older and wiser, will you let me down from this tower so I may explore the world?”
“Absolutely not,” the witch replied. “The world is a dark and cruel place, my dear. You’re much better off staying here where it’s safe.”
“But I get so lonely in this tower all by myself,” Rapunzel said.
“My dear, greed is your problem, not loneliness,” the witch said. “There are maidens in this world with far less than you. They would be happy to have the protection of this tower. I will not hear any more of this nonsense. You should be grateful for the life I’ve given you.”
Despite what the witch said, this daily exchange didn’t make Rapunzel more grateful, only more curious. She didn’t believe the world was as bad as the witch made it seem. She spent all day gazing at the woods around her, dreaming about what it was like outside her tower.
Rapunzel prayed every day that she would find a way to leave the tower and have someone to leave it with. Soon, an answer to her prayer arrived… but she didn’t find it—it found her.
A handsome young man was wandering through the forest when he discovered Rapunzel’s tower in the woods. He was a curious person himself and circled the base of the tower to find a way inside.
The witch arrived for her daily visit with Rapunzel, and the young man hid from her behind a thornbush. He watched as she called up to the tower:
“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!”
Rapunzel appeared in the window and dropped her hair for the witch to climb. The young man’s heart raced upon seeing her. He had never seen a girl as beautiful as she, and he wanted nothing more than to climb up the tower and meet her.