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The Carpenter and His Wife  

ONCE UPON A TIME, there lived a carpenter and his wife.  More than anything, they wanted a child of their own.  At long last, their wish came true –  the wife was going to have a baby!   

From the second floor window of their small house, the wife could see into the garden next door.  Such fine fresh rows of plants and flowers there were!  But no one dared to go over the garden wall to see them up close. For the garden belonged to a witch!

 One day the wife was looking down at the garden from her window.  How fresh-looking were those big green heads of lettuce! “It is just what I need to eat!” said the wife to her husband.  “You must go and get me some.”

“But we cannot!” said the carpenter.  “You know as well as I do that the garden belongs to the witch, who lives next door.”

“If I cannot have that lettuce,” said the wife, “I will not eat anything at all!  I will die!”

What could the carpenter do?  Late that night, he climbed over the garden wall. With very quiet steps, he took one green head of lettuce.  With more quiet steps, he went back over the garden wall.  His wife ate up the lettuce right away.  

But eating the lettuce only made her want more! If she could not have more lettuce, she said, there was nothing she would eat at all! So the next night, the carpenter climbed back over the garden wall.  He picked up one more head of lettuce. All at once came a high, loud, voice.  

“STOP!  What do you think you are doing?”

“I…uh…am getting lettuce for my wife,” said the carpenter.

“You thief!” yelled the witch.  “You will pay for this!”

“Please!” said the carpenter.  “My wife is going to have a baby.  She saw your lettuce and wanted it so very much.”

“Why should I care about that?” shouted the witch.

“I will do anything!” said the carpenter.  He thought, “Maybe I can build her something.”  

“You say you will do anything?” said the witch.

“Yes,” he said.a

“Fine!” said the witch.  “Here’s the deal.  Go ahead – take all the lettuce you want.  Your wife will have a baby girl.  And when she does, the baby will be mine!”

“What?!” said the carpenter.  “I would never agree to that!” “You already did!” said the witch.  And she laughed an evil laugh.

Chapter 2 – The Tower

Soon the wife had a baby girl, just as the witch had said.  To keep the baby safe from the witch, the carpenter built a tall tower deep in the woods.  He built stairs that led up to a room at the very top, a room with one window.  He and his wife took turns staying with the baby.  

 But the witch had a magic ball.  The ball showed her just where the baby was, at the top room of the tower.  One day when the carpenter and his wife were both in the house, she cast a spell over both of them.  They fell into a deep, deep sleep.  And at once, the witch went to the tower.

At the top room, the witch said to the baby, “I will call you Rapunzel. For that is the name of the lettuce that brought you to me.  Now Rapunzel, you are mine!”

But the witch did not know how to take care of a baby.  Rapunzel grew into a child, and the witch did not even know how to cut her hair. The girl’s blond hair grew longer and longer every day.  

All the witch could do was keep the child locked in the room at the very top of the tower.  She told the girl that the world was a very bad place.  That was why she could not leave the tower.

As she grew up, many times Rapunzel said to the witch, “There is nothing here for me to do! Why must I stay in this tower all the time?”

And the witch shouted back, “I already told you so many times! The world is a very bad place.  Now go comb your hair and be quiet.”

“But is it really so bad out there?  Sometimes I hear people laughing down below,” Rapunzel would say sometimes.

At such times the witch would yell, “How many times do I have to repeat myself? Don’t listen to anything you see or hear out there.  The world is much worse than you think!  You will stay in this tower forever, Rapunzel.  So get used to it!”

On her 12th birthday, Rapunzel said to the witch, “I do not care what you say anymore!  I am so tired of staying here alone all the time! When you are gone, I will chip away at the door.  I will make a hole.  I will run down the stairs and outside, no matter what you say!”

“Think again!” said the witch.  With her power, she made all the stairs in the tower fall down.  She made the doors close up.  Now there was no way for Rapunzel to escape!