Blog Entry 10

 English Talking Book - Rapunzel

The cartoon I found online that shares the same “Rapunzel” motifs was of the video “English Talking Book - Rapunzel” by the cartoonist and YouTuber ‘APPUSERIES.’ This video is both similar and different to that of the Grimm version of “Rapunzel.”

            In the YouTube video, there is a farmer and his wife. They stole fruit from a witch’s garden. The witch then threatened them that if they steal from her again she would turn them into rats. She did not make a deal with them that they could take as much fruit or vegetables from the garden in exchange for their first born child, like in the Grimm version. Instead, she told the farmer and his wife that she would let them go unharmed if they agreed to give up their first born child to her.

            As time goes on, the witch names the child Rapunzel, just like in the Grimm version. Then she locks the girl in a tower. The girl grew up to beautiful with long, golden hair. The only person who Rapunzel was familiar with was the witch. She would come to the tower every day and call out “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” The witch would climb up Rapunzel’s hair to get into the tower.

            Another difference with this story and the Grimm version is that the prince that is in the Grimm version hears Rapunzel’s voice and follows it. In the YouTube story, the prince passes by the witch and his curiosity got the best of him as to what she is up to. But similarly to the Grimm version, the prince decides to use what the witch says: “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” He was able to climb up to her room.

            The prince and Rapunzel fell in love at first sight and began to secretly meet every day after the witch left. Then Rapunzel mistakenly said the witch that she is much heavier than the prince. The witch was infuriated and cut off Rapunzel’s hair and sent her off deep into the forest. In the Grimm version, Rapunzel was sent out into a desolate land.  Further into the YouTube video, the prince found the witch waiting for him at the tower and she cast a spell on him to lose his eyesight. In the Grimm version, the prince was taken up by the witch to the tower using Rapunzel’s hair and then fell out the window by surprise. He fell into a thorn bush and lost his eyesight from that.

            Days later, Rapunzel found the prince wondering around the forest and wounded. She started to cry about his eyesight being gone. Her tears cured his blindness just like in the Grimm version. They found love within each other again and went away to the prince’s kingdom and lived happily ever after.

Blog Entry 9

“The Robber Bridegroom” is one of the versions of “Bluebeard.” This was about how a miller having a beautiful daughter who should get married by anyone of his interest. It turn out that this rich bridegroom was of his interest, but he was also a murderer. The daughter found out he was a murderer by going to his house in the forest and discovering his hidden secret. She even saw him kill a maiden. There to warn the beautiful daughter was a bird; then an old woman helped her to escape the murderer bridegroom’s home. He was executed because at the wedding celebration, the daughter told the people of her “dream” that she experienced at the murderer’s home.

            In the fairytale “Fitcher’s Bird,” a sorcerer disguised himself as an old poor beggar to lure women back to his home. He found three sisters at house and put one of them in a basket to take back with him. He gave her the keys to all of the rooms in his house but warned her about opening one of the doors. He forbid her to go in the door but still gave the daughter the key to the door. She opened the forbidden door and discovered a large basin in the middle of the room with cut-up women in it. The daughter was so shocked that she dropped the egg that the sorcerer had given her before he left. The egg was stained with blood because she dropped in it in the room. The sorcerer chopped her up because she disobeyed his orders and found out she went into the room. He then lured the next sister into his basket and took her to his home. She did the same thing the first sister did. The sorcerer tricked the next sister, but this time it was different. This sister was able to put the body parts of her sisters back together and not drop the egg when she had seen the basin. She was set to marry the sorcerer but outwitted him and pretended to be a bird out in the forest. He and his house were set to flames by the three sister’s family.

            In the fairytale “Bluebeard,” there is a man with a bluebeard who has been known to being married to several women before. The youngest daughter of a family he knows thought Bluebeard was an agreeable man and decided to marry him. He had to go away on a business trip, so he gave his new wife the keys to all the rooms in his country house. There was a catch to this though, he forbidden her to go into one door and just one door only. But curiosity got the best of this young woman and she opened the door and dropped the key in blood. The room was full of his previous wives’ heads. The key was stained in blood and Bluebeard found out about this. He was to kill his new wife but she had to “pray.” Her praying led to calling out to one of her sisters to have her brothers save her. Thus, her brothers killed Bluebeard and saved the youngest sister.

The actual fairytale “Bluebeard” by Charles Perrault also relates to the other two versions explained above. There is the main character being the man who is the villain, in this sense. These men trick the women to make it seem like they are being married to a man who is rich. Another similarity between all three versions of Bluebeard is that the women’s curiosity over the secrets of their men gets the best of them. They decide to enter the home and rooms of these men to discover the hidden truth about them all being murderers. The keys represent temptation or trust the female has in the male. The key also is the knowledge for finding out what is hidden. In this case, the hidden secret is that these husbands/soon-to-be husbands are murderers. The bloody basin, the dead wives in the locked room, and the drunken robbers killing the maiden, are all examples of the consequences of curiosity and the women giving into temptation.

Personally, my favorite “Bluebeard” fairytale is “Fitcher’s Bird” because the woman outwits the male in a more interesting way. She uses a skull and decorates it to get her “lover’s” attention so that he goes up to the room where it is in and then that is when her family comes to burn the house down with the bridegroom in it. I also like how the male gives the women an egg; it is just different. Why does the woman need an egg? What is it for? It gets the readers thinking about what is the importance of the egg. I liked all the versions of “Bluebeard” but “Fitcher’s Bird” was more exciting to me.