to his wife.  She at once made herself a salad of it and ate it with much relish.  She, however, liked it so much, so very much, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before, and, if he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden.  In the gloom of evening, therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him.  “How can’t thou dare,” said she with angry look, “to descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief?  Thou shalt suffer for it!” “Ah,” 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 window, 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 thou sayest, I will allow thee to take away with thee as much rampion as thou wilt, only I make one condition—­thou must give me the child which thy 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, 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.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath the sun.  When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower which lay in a forest and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window.  When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath this, and cried cried—­

  “Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
  Let down thy hair to me.”

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, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

After a year or two, it came to pass that the King’s son rode through the forest and went by the tower; there he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened.  This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound.  The King’s son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found.  He rode home, 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—­

  “Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
  Let down thy hair.”

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