(Long Music) #4 RAPNOODLE - Jasons Bed Time Story Time

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland and this is Jason's Storytime. Now, as per request, I'm going to do Rapunzel. When I say I'm going to do Rapunzel, I mean I'm going to tell the story of Rapunzel.

It's by the Grimm Brothers in 1886. I've checked, it says it's in the public domain. English translation by Margaret Hunt, illustrations by Walter Crane, 1886.

So that's over 15 years ago. So it's not a long story, but I'm going to read it anyway. So yeah, here we go.

There's been quite a few different versions. I think Tangled was a Disney version of the Rapunzel book and the Brothers Grimm, I think they were German. Not that that really means anything, I'm just saying that because it's actually germanstories.vcu.edu. That's the website I'm reading it on.

So, here we go. There was once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. It's getting a bit chilly in here.

So, at length, the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house. It's a bit of a random change, isn't it? A desire to have a child.

They hoped God would grant their desire. And they had a little window in the back of the house, which seems to be a bit of a jump from topic. Anyway, these people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs.

It was, however, surrounded by a high wall and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress who had great power and was dreaded all by all the world. So, I guess that is leading into the story, isn't it? Because I'm guessing the enchantress is going to be part of this particular story. So, I suppose looking through a window at something that you can't have, can't belong because it doesn't belong to you, is what they're doing in a sense.

They're looking through that window of the garden and they're not allowed in the garden, just like they want a baby, but they can't seem to have a baby because he's shooting blanks. One day, the woman was standing by his window. The woman? Oh, this window, not his window.

One day, the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion. I just have a duvet on my bed. What's a rampion? Sounds good, doesn't it? Planted with the most beautiful rampion.

Rapunzel. Okay. And it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it.

She just really wanted stuff that she didn't have, didn't she? You know, does that sound like a very satisfied person to me? What about like, you know, appreciating what you do have? No, I want that. I want that because I can't have it. They've got it so I want it.

But I shouldn't judge. And had the greatest desire to eat some. This desire increased every day and as she knew that she could not get any of it, couldn't get any, she quite pined away and began to look pale and miserable.

Okay. So, she's looking into a garden, see something she wants to eat because she's not allowed to. She starts to get ill.

I mean, that's, she needs counselling. Some kind of psychological intervention, I would say. Andre, can you be quiet, please? Daddy's trying to talk to you.

He's trying to read a bedtime story. It's hard to get any kind of peace around here. Beside the garden.

Some rampion, isn't it? Some Rapunzel rampion, whatever that is. Anyway, then her husband was alarmed and asked, Andre, would you shut up? That's not what the husband said. And Andre isn't part of this story, but he is trying to be.

He was fast asleep when I started reading this. Seriously, fast asleep. Again, as soon as I start talking into a microphone, his ears perk up and he has to run around and cause havoc.

Again, this is not what her husband said. So, he said to her, and he was suddenly alarmed. And he asked, I'm guessing he held his hands up in a kind of an alarmed expression on his face, whatever that would be.

Maybe he looked up, maybe his eyes were wide, maybe he had a little bit of a dribble. Not everyone that's alarmed dribbles, but I'm just... And I don't mean dribbling as in baseball. Baseball? Basketball.

What ails you, dear wife? He said. I think that no one's ever said to anybody ever. What ails you, dear wife? When was this written? Ah, she replied.

If I can't eat some of the rampion which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die. Her husband said, and if that bloody ferret doesn't shut up, someone else is going to die. And she said, but dear husband, what are you talking about? He said, I, dear wife, are talking about Andre the ferret, who won't shut up whilst I'm trying to read this story.

Because he wants attention all the time, like a little baby. Like a little baby. Like a little baby, Andre.

I'll get you a pram. Anyway, yeah, she said, I shall die if I don't have some of that from the garden. The man who loved her thought, sooner than his wife die, bring her some of the rampion himself.

Let it cost what it will. See, that, that's, that's romance, isn't it? You know, live next door to some witch that could turn you into a prince or whatever. Or a glocking spiel.

It's like, nope, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it because I love me wife. So, um, I'm thinking about it really though, because it's not realistic, is it? I think it sounds like she probably had a spell put on her, which is why she wanted, she, she wanted this thing so much. Anyway, the man who loved her thought, so at twilight, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion and took it to his wife.

Again, you may want to Google rampion. I can't be bothered. Should I look it up? Let's have a look it up.

I've got a thesaurus on here somewhere. Thesaurus, where's my thesaurus? Dictionary, rampion, rampion, R-A-M-P-I-O-N. Okay, no such word exists.

No such word exists. Brilliant. That's great.

Hey, thanks a lot. So I've got no idea what it is. So he took it to his wife, the non-existent plant.

She at once made herself a salad of it. We're getting a little bit closer to what it is. I'm guessing it's some kind of green vegetable, kind of salad-y.

Well, clearly, because she's making a salad of it. Maybe like parsley or lettuce, possibly, that kind of thing. So she at once made herself a salad of it and ate it greedily.

They're not really painting a nice picture of her, are they? I think greedy is the real kind of word connected to her. Greedy, wants what everyone else has. Not satisfied with what she's got herself.

It's about greed. Very greedy. I don't think it's fair.

You know why? We're only like a little bit into it yet. She's being tarred with this brush of greed. She might be a really lovely person.

I'm a little bit upset. Anyway, it tasted so good to her. So very good that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before.

Yeah, she is a bit of a pig. I mean, that's greed, isn't it? Well, so she wanted it, longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any... Oh, this is a bit sexist.

If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. He must have any rest. Before he was doing it because he loved her.

Now he's just doing it to shut her up. Yeah, marriage guidance counselling, I'm thinking. Anyway, in the gloom of evening, therefore, he let himself down again.

I think we could use that in a different term. He did let himself down again by stealing. There's no justification.

It's just wrong. He shouldn't have been doing it, stealing off a neighbour. Why didn't he just go around and say, Oi, hello, we're your neighbours.

We've been living next door to you for 73 years. I suppose we can... We're making a salad. And perhaps you'd like to come and have a salad with us.

Perhaps bring some of that... Oh, we've got everything, but we don't have any rampion. I suppose we could bring some rampion with you. Just enough to last for three months.

Hmm, maybe... We'll make some cakes. Anyway, so he let himself down again. Yeah, he definitely did let himself down.

But when he had clampered down the wall, he was terribly afraid. For he saw the enchantress. Standing before him.

How dare you? Well, that's not actually very... How can you dare? She said, or said she... Back to front there. Said she with angry look. Not with an angry look, just with angry look.

Descend into my garden and steal my rampion. Like a thief, you shall suffer for it. I kind of... I see her point though, don't you? I do see her point.

Not big on the way she talks. I mean, she sounds lovely. I'm just saying the way she talks.

How can you dare? Instead of how dare you? I used to hear that a lot when I was a kid. How dare you? Do you know how dare I? Are you the queen? Are you the royal family? How dare I? How dare I? What? Be an equal human being? You're five, he used to say to me. You're five years old.

Two years old. Anyway. And so she said, hey.

Descend into my garden and steal my rampion. Like a thief, you shall suffer for it. You shall suffer for it.

Oh, answered he. Let mercy take the place of justice. I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity.

My wife saw your rampion from the garden, from the window rather, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat. Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened and said to him, if the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you will. Only I will make one condition.

You must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world. It shall be well treated and I will care for it like a mother. The man in his terror consented to everything.

He just wanted to get out of there, didn't he, really? I mean, he's shooting blacks anyway, so he probably figured, well, yeah, right then. And when the woman was brought to bed, what? This is moving quickly as well. He's still in the garden and suddenly, when the woman was brought to bed, and the man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

So in one sentence, he's terrified. He says, okay. And then the baby's born, named Rapunzel, and is taken away in one sentence.

I do think they could have extended that a little bit. I mean, if this had been one of my essays at college, that one sentence would have made up about 2,000 words. I would have padded it out like a marshmallow.

Seriously. Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was 12 years old, she gave birth to her 15th child.

When she was 12 years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, or neither stairs nor door, but quiet at the top. But quiet. I think it's supposed to be quiet at the top.

Oh, but quiet at the top, there's a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress, she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above.

Excuse me a minute. Andre, do you have to do that right now? For those of you that don't realize, Andre's a ferret, and he's decided to start date night early with my old slipper. I'll try and, let's just forget that, let's move on with this.

What? Go away. Andre, go away. Okay, so she had long hair.

So when she was 12 years old, she must have had that long hair already by the age of 12. Otherwise, how would the enchantress have got up there? I mean, wood hair, I used to grow, I had my hair grown, I was about, started growing it when I was about 20. It took about, yeah, it took well over a year, maybe two years before it was halfway down my back.

I'm gonna do the same again, just to annoy people. I just don't know. I mean, you think she's up there, she's not having her hair cut.

Because you do have to have the ends cut off, don't you? The split ends, so that it grows, continues to grow, otherwise it won't. Um, anyway. And anyway, she used to lower her hair down, and the hair fell 20 L's down.

20 L's? Wow. That's a long way, isn't it? I've no idea. What's 20, what's one L? Anyone? You write in and you don't win a prize, but you just feel good about yourself.

Anyway, the enchantress climbed up by it, by her hair. See, that was the longest sentence, and all they covered was that she had long hair, and the enchantress would climb up. But the other, shorter sentence, went through like a year, or nine months of time.

I could zip right through it. After a year or two, it came to pass that the king's son rode through the forest, and passed by the tower. He then heard a song.

Which was so charming, excuse me, which was so charming, that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel. Yeah, we kind of figured that out.

What do we think? Oh, I wonder where he is. I wonder who he's hearing sing. He's past a tower.

Wow, I wonder who's tower that is. It's Rapunzel's tower. We knew that.

This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude, passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. It's another way of saying she'd sing. The king's son wanted... Why don't you call him a prince? The king's son wanted to climb up to her and looked for the door of the tower.

How did the enchantress get her up there? To start with, I mean, originally. What did they build a tower? Like along the ground and then just push it up. Stick her in the top and then push it up.

I don't know. Doesn't go into enough detail. And yes, he was looking for a door for the tower, but none was to be found.

He rode home, but the singing, he gave up quite quickly, but the singing had so deeply touched his heart that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that an enchantress came there and he heard how she cried. First of all, what was he doing standing behind the tree? I think we all know.

He was doing a wee-wee against the tree-tree. It's like that's what he was doing. And how she cried, when she cried, oh, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair and the enchantress climbed up to her. If that is your ladder by which one mounts, I too will try my fortune, he said. And the next day, when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.

Immediately the hair fell down and the king's son climbed up. At first, Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man such as her eyes had never yet beheld came over her, came to her. But the king's son began to talk to her quite like a friend and told her, he told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest and that he had been forced to see her.

Then Rapunzel lost her fear, just slipped away. And when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, wow, this is moving quick again, isn't it? He asked, when he asked her if she would take him for her husband and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, he will love me more than old Dame Gothel does. Old Dame Gothel? And she said yes and laid her hands in his.

He said to her, who's old Dame Gothel? She says, I'm not sure, it's just part of the story. Yeah, but who is it? She said, I don't know. Is it the Enchantress? She looked at him and said, look, some things don't need to be said.

And he looked at her and said, yeah, but some things do. And can you please tell me? He said, no, no. She said, well, I will willingly go with you, but I do not know how to get down.

Bring with you a skein of silk every time that you come and I will weave a ladder with it. And when that is ready, I will descend and you will take me on your horse. They agreed that until that time, he should come to her every evening for the old woman came by day.

Right, the Enchantress remarked nothing of this until once Rapunzel said to her, tell me, Dame, oh, is Dame Gothel. Tell me. You see, they just waited.

I don't know why you're so impatient. Why can't you just wait for it to, you know, trying to read the story? Why do you need to buy in all the time? Just, just let me read it. Thank you.

I'm trying to offer a service here, trying to help you to sleep. But he's like, Dame Gothel, just let me just get on with it. Okay, thanks.

I don't mean to be rude. I'm just saying. Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young king's son.

He is with me in a moment. Really? Is that what she said? Not quite a keeping secret, was she? Wow. Aha, you wicked child, cried the Enchantress.

What do I hear you say? I thought I had separated you from all the world and that you have deceived me. In her anger, she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off. And the lovely braids lay on the floor.

And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery. It was lucky there was a desert nearby, really, wasn't there? I mean, what's the chances? On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the Enchantress fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off to the hook of the window and when the King's son came and cried, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.

She let the hair down.

The King's son ascended. But instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the Enchantress. Who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks.

Aha! She cried, mockingly. You would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest. The cat has got it and will scratch out your eyes as well.

Rapunzel is lost to you. You would never see her again. The King's son said, that's okay, I prefer you.

What are you doing tonight? Do you want to come out for a pizza? No, he didn't say that. The King's son was beside himself with pain and in his despair, he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes.

He wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries and did knout but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. They weren't married, were they? They weren't married, they didn't get married. You know, they wanted to, but they weren't actually married.

I used to work with someone that every two seconds, my fiance, my fiance, like just calling by his name, my fiance, Clive, my fiance. It doesn't mean anything to anyone else, only to you. My fiance.

Is it the same for men as well, isn't it? My fiance. Yeah, my bethroved, my bethroved, bethrobed, beho, beheaded, not beheaded, bethrobed, bethroned. Anyway, thus he roamed about in misery for some years and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, what, really? A boy and a girl lived in wretchedness.

Right, so now she's given birth to twins. They missed that bit out in the story, didn't they? And he heard a voice and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and he died instantly, right, and he wept. Fell on his neck, it's a bit weird, but actually like a cuddle or a hug.

You haven't got to fall on someone's neck. Go over the top. Yeah, I suppose two wrestlers maybe do that if they fall in love.

How did you know you loved each other? Well, he chucked himself on my neck. Yeah, broke my spine and I knew it was true love. And two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again and he could see with them as before.

And he saw how old she had become and he ran away screaming. No, and... Oh dear. And he could see with them as before.

He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received. No one had bothered looking for him. He noticed that.

He's the king's son. No one went out looking for him. No search parties for years.

Does that, huh? I mean, if it was Prince Andrew, I'd understand, but, you know, it's... He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented. Oh, doesn't say happy ever after though, does it? It's almost opening the possibility of divorce. I don't know.

Are you just... So that was... What's it called? Rapunzel by the Grimm Brothers. So, and yeah. I think this skipped through quite a lot, quite quickly, but the outline of the stories there is that I can see why it's been embellished and, you know, you could turn it into a cartoon movie, Disney thing, because... I guess really pictures, because there's no pictures of this.

Didn't really get an idea what she looked like. I mean, she had long hair, but... It's like saying he had big feet. You know, it doesn't really give you an outline.

Oh, there is one picture. Yeah. I found it weird that, you know, he said, will you marry me? Be my wife.

And then she looked upon him and saw how handsome he was. So what, for the first half an hour she had her eyes closed or was she just looking the other way? I don't know. There's so much missing from my brain.

So thank you very much. That's the end of the Rapunzel. So I'm gonna go.

I hope this was sleepy, sleepy, nice and sleepy for you. Remember to be kind to yourself because you deserve to be happy. Lots of love.

Isn't it weird? Now that I've come to the end, Audrey is quiet. Blessing. Bye.