#285 of 1001 · May 12, 2021

We’re halfway through Rapunzel week, which brings us to a graceful retelling with pictures drawn on stone by Felix Hoffmann. The witch here is a squat, wizened figure who carries the baby Rapunzel away under one arm. The prince, in his scarlet tunic, stands out from the muted environment of blues, greens, and browns. In a touching visual detail, Rapunzel emerges from the forest at the close of the tale (in an illustration replicated on the book’s cover) with the remains of her hair crowned in a wreath of autumn foliage. A note for folklore enthusiasts: Hoffmann makes a number of distinctive changes that lend the story extra flavor. After hearing about the wife’s pregnancy cravings, the witch, in an unusual show of leniency, offers the husband one last chance to leave her garden scot-free; however, the wife insists he return to steal the tempting salad greens once more, thus triggering the punishing condition that they give up their baby. Later, rather than simply confront the prince and shock him into jumping from the tower, the witch actively cuts Rapunzel’s shorn-off braid, causing him to fall. This spiteful tactic, however, proves her undoing: without the hair, she cannot climb down. Trapped in the tower room, she shrinks to the size of a shrivelled apple and is carried away by a huge bird. This epilogue, an original invention of Hoffmann’s, stands out as a rare example of the witch being punished at the end of a Rapunzel story. #rapunzel #garden #witch #tower #hair #prince #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks