RAPUNZEL

Retold with soft illustrations by popular artist Maja Dusikova, the story begins: 'Once there was a man and a woman who wanted a child. After waiting many years, the woman became pregnant. A window in their house looked over a garden that was full of flowers and herbs and was surrounded by a high wall. No one ever went into the garden, because it belonged to a powerful enchantress. Standing at the window, the pregnant woman began to long for a leafy plant called rapunzel that she could see. Each day she grew paler, and she said to her husband, 'I am weak because I want rapunzel leaves so much.' Her husband loved her and decided he must go into the walled garden... the enchantress carried the baby away who grew up into a lovely girl with long, long golden hair and was named Rapunzel. She shut her in a tower with a high window but no stairs, deep in the forest and would call each day 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!' And the braid hung right to the ground and the old woman would climb up. One day, a King's son was riding through the forest... Beautifully abridged by Joy Cowley for ages 4-7, 32 pages.