Week 14 Storytelling: How Rapunzel's dad fell into trouble
"Honey, I need some of that rampion. Like, I need it."
This was a classic line from my wife, Arianna. She was consistently completely overdramatic. She'd had her eye on some rampion — a bluish vine plant growing in the garden in our neighbor's yard.
"Arianna, that's not our rampion. I can't take it. Maybe we can find some seeds in the market and I'll grow you some."
"Frederic, I told you that's not going to work. I need the rampion now. If you don't get it for me, I will literally die."
"Literally?"
"Literally. There is no way we'll be able to have a daughter if I don't have it."
I sighed. We'd been trying for what felt like decades now with no luck.
"Frederic, look how pale I am. I'm dying. I'm sick. I need the rampion," she cried.
"You know our neighbor will literally kill me if I go take her plants," I reminded her.
Our neighbor wasn't a normal neighbor by any stretch of the imagination. A better word for her would be enchantress, or maybe even witch. She rarely came out from her home, draped with dark ivy along the walls. Overgrown grass had taken over her yard and sometimes encroached on ours, but along the side of her house, she had a neat garden where she grew beautiful plants and herbs.
Once, our pet dog got out of the house and ran into her yard, and by the time I had run out to chase him down, she was holding the dog by the neck. I think she was about to put a spell on him, but I grabbed him away from her before she could.
All that is to say, I really didn't want to go get this plant, but I decided to do it for Arianna. I could run to the garden, snip some of the rampion and run back before the enchantress-next-door would have any idea.
"OK, OK, I'll go, fine," I said to Arianna, who just smiled contentedly and fell back onto our bed.
"I'll wait here," she said.
I flung open the front door and dashed to the garden between our house and the neighbor's with a pair of tiny scissors in my pocket. I cut off just a few leaves and ran back to Arianna.
"I got them, dear," I said, pushing a bowl of the leaves into her hands.
She ate them so fast, I'd have guessed she hadn't eaten in weeks.
"Oh my god, Frederic, that was literally the best thing I'd ever eaten," she said in typical melodramatic fashion.
We heard a knock at the door, and I felt a little flutter of panic in my heart — the enchantress was at the door.
Author's note: This story is based on the beginning of the Brothers' Grimm story of Rapunzel, in which a husband and wife who desperately want a child, and the wife wants to eat rampion, a bluish leafy plant that can be eaten in salads. In the story, she said she'd actually die if she didn't get to eat the plant, and that sounded so overdramatic to me, so I wrote this in a tongue-in-cheek fashion with little quips between the couple, Frederic and Arianna. (Full disclosure: I looked up those names from what Rapunzel's parents were named in the movie Tangled.) This story stops short of the rest of the Rapunzel story, so it's written almost as a lighthearted prequel to it.
Bibliography: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, via Librivox. Web source: Class website
This was a classic line from my wife, Arianna. She was consistently completely overdramatic. She'd had her eye on some rampion — a bluish vine plant growing in the garden in our neighbor's yard.
"Arianna, that's not our rampion. I can't take it. Maybe we can find some seeds in the market and I'll grow you some."
"Frederic, I told you that's not going to work. I need the rampion now. If you don't get it for me, I will literally die."
"Literally?"
"Literally. There is no way we'll be able to have a daughter if I don't have it."
I sighed. We'd been trying for what felt like decades now with no luck.
"Frederic, look how pale I am. I'm dying. I'm sick. I need the rampion," she cried.
"You know our neighbor will literally kill me if I go take her plants," I reminded her.
Our neighbor wasn't a normal neighbor by any stretch of the imagination. A better word for her would be enchantress, or maybe even witch. She rarely came out from her home, draped with dark ivy along the walls. Overgrown grass had taken over her yard and sometimes encroached on ours, but along the side of her house, she had a neat garden where she grew beautiful plants and herbs.
Once, our pet dog got out of the house and ran into her yard, and by the time I had run out to chase him down, she was holding the dog by the neck. I think she was about to put a spell on him, but I grabbed him away from her before she could.
All that is to say, I really didn't want to go get this plant, but I decided to do it for Arianna. I could run to the garden, snip some of the rampion and run back before the enchantress-next-door would have any idea.
"OK, OK, I'll go, fine," I said to Arianna, who just smiled contentedly and fell back onto our bed.
"I'll wait here," she said.
I flung open the front door and dashed to the garden between our house and the neighbor's with a pair of tiny scissors in my pocket. I cut off just a few leaves and ran back to Arianna.
"I got them, dear," I said, pushing a bowl of the leaves into her hands.
She ate them so fast, I'd have guessed she hadn't eaten in weeks.
"Oh my god, Frederic, that was literally the best thing I'd ever eaten," she said in typical melodramatic fashion.
We heard a knock at the door, and I felt a little flutter of panic in my heart — the enchantress was at the door.
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Bibliography: Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, via Librivox. Web source: Class website
Hey Dana,
ReplyDeleteThis was a great story! I love the Brothers Grimm stories and this was a great retell of the story. The way that you italicized literally every time it was used made it seem like everything was dramatic and the husband said it to be sarcastic. I like how the story ended in an abrupt manner but it made me want to know what happened next and what the enchantress ended up doing to the family. Thank you for sharing your story!
Hello Dana,
ReplyDeleteNice story. I never read the Grimm story of Rapunzel so your retelling of the story has inspired me to read it. This does sound like something a normal couple would go through to this day. The husband would risk whatever good judgement he had to make sure his wife has what she needs and wants. You could feel the sarcasm from the characters as if you were in the room with them.