Rapunzel

"Rapunzel" (/rəˈpʌnzəl/; German pronunciation: [ʁaˈpʊnt͡səl]) is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales.[1] The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Rapunzel by Friedrich Schulz published in 1790.[2] The Schulz version is based on Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698[3] which in turn was influenced by an even earlier Italian tale, Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile, published in 1634.[4] Its plot has been used and parodied in various media and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair") is an idiom of popular culture. In volume I of the 1812 annotations (Anhang), it is listed as coming from Friedrich Schulz's Kleine Romane, Book 5, pp. 269–288, published in Leipzig 1790.
In the Aarne–Thompson classification system for folktales it is type 310, "The Maiden in The Tower".[5]
Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.[6] Other versions of the tale also appear in A Book of Witches by Ruth Manning-Sanders and in Paul O. Zelinsky's 1997 Caldecott Medal-winning picture book, Rapunzel and the Disney movie Tangled.
Rapunzel's story has striking similarities to the 11th-century Persian tale of Rudāba, included in the epic poem Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. Rudāba offers to let down her hair from her tower so that her lover Zāl can climb up to her.[7]Some elements of the fairy tale might also have originally been based upon the tale of Saint Barbara, who was said to have been locked in a tower by her father.[8]
Some researchers also proposed a connection to pre-christian european (or proto-indo-european) sun or dawngoddess myths, in which the light deity is trapped and is rescued.[9][10][11] Extremely similar myths include that of the Baltic solar goddess Saulė, who is held captive in a tower by a king. [12]
Category:Rapunzel
Category:Grimms' Fairy Tales
Category:European folklore characters
Category:Female characters in fairy tales
Category:European fairy tales
Category:German fairy tales
Category:Fictional German people
Category:Fictional princesses
Category:Witchcraft in fairy tales